MARION COUNTY — According to the Marion County Clerk’s Office, difficulties with paper ballots this election are due to an amendment question that appears on the Illinois ballot.

Because the question is quite lengthy, and the “yes” and “no” boxes are at the bottom of that question, the machines don’t find the ink they’re looking for and kick the ballot back out.

The problem is wide-spread and election judges have been instructed to not hold up the lines and to instead take those kicked-back ballots and place them in a locked compartment on the side of the machine.

Once the polls close, two judges — one from each party — will then feed those ballots into the machine and the machine will record and print the votes and will then be taken to the County Clerk for tabulation.