'Whitey' on machine ballots will be fixed

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CHICAGO, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The Chicago elections board says the problem of a name misspelled as "Whitey" on 8,000 voting machines will be corrected.

The machines with the misspelled name of Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney will be fixed by Sunday but city elections board Chairman Langdon Neal said the error won't be corrected on the 5,000 ballots already cast, WGN-TV, Chicago, reported Friday.

The misspelling turned up on touch-screen machines in 23 election districts -- about half in predominantly African-American areas. Earlier, election officials said the problem couldn't be corrected by Election Day, Nov. 2.

Whitney's name is spelled correctly on all paper ballots.

Problems also surfaced at the state level, WGN said, because military absentee ballots mailed overseas missed the Sept. 18 deadline. Other states have been sued for missing cutoff dates.

U.S. Justice Department officials will discuss the matter with the Illinois state board of elections to ensure any ballot postmarked by midnight Nov. 1 will be counted, the television station reported.