East St. Louis election observers out in full force

An armada of election observers has descended upon the city of East St. Louis in the first general election since several city Democratic leaders were convicted of vote fraud.

Officials from the Illinois State Police, State Board of Elections and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department were among those roaming several of the city's polling places, carefully overseeing voting practices, according to an observer on the scene.

Credentialed as a poll watcher, Collinsville Republican Ron Jedda said he had not observed any voting peculiarities as of late morning.

He also indicated that voter turnout appeared lower than normal. Jedda had visited seven polling places: East St. Louis 10, 16, 18, 24, 25, 34 and 39.

In one polling place, he said the vote tabulating machine malfunctioned resulting in a later start.