CHICAGO -- Super Tuesday was billed as a fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but one Chicago polling place saw that fight come to actual blows.

Chicago police said they were called to a West Side polling place Tuesday morning when two female election judges got into a fight, leaving one injured and one in police custody.

The incident occurred about 10:50 a.m. at 600 W. Washington St., according to News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.

An altercation turned physical between two female judges when one judge, in her 50s, was struck in the face by Evon McAllister, 37, of the 2800 block of West Jackson Boulevard, police News Affairs Officer Tom Polick said, unable to comment on what started the fight.

McAllister was charged with one count of misdemeanor battery.

Fire Media Affairs spokesman Richard Rosado said one person was taken from the Washington Street address in good condition to Rush University Medical Center. An Internet search showed 600 W. Washington St. is the IBEW Local 134 Hall.

Elsewhere around Chicago and the suburbs, the primary election was much less eventful, with plenty of people voting, though not as many as some had predicted, and problems relatively few outside of Kane County.

Robyn Ziegler, a spokesman for the Illinois Attorney General's Office, said inspectors and hotline operators were reporting only minor complaints Tuesday. "Everything seems to be going pretty well statewide and there have been very few problems overall," she said at about 4:30 p.m.

Ziegler said there have been a few instances where teams of inspectors were sent to polling places to assure laws were being followed, but overall things were going pretty smoothly.

Local election officials agreed, reporting few Election Day headaches and only minor glitches.

Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen reported that all but nine of the city's 2,500-plus polling places opened on time, with only minor problems reported. One downtown site opened late when four of five judges were no-shows, and one North Side site opened late because of miscommunication with a bank security guard. All of the delays in poll opening were less than 20 minutes, he said.

The only exception was in the 35th Ward, 28th Precinct on the Northwest Side, where voting equipment was delivered to the wrong address. The Election Board has petitioned a court to allow that polling site to stay open an extra hour, until 8 p.m., because of the delay, Allen said.

While weather was not a big factor through the day, Allen said it could play a role as the evening wears on. However, he does not expect weather to affect ballot counting.

"For any returns that have to be driven back, it could be a factor. But in the worst case, someone with a 45-minute ride in needs 90 minutes to get here."

"But we have been expecting this. They had to know this might come up when you move a primary to February," Allen said. "We'll just knock on wood."

In DuPage County, the biggest problem occurred at the Career School in West Chicago, where judges were turning voters away under the belief that the necessary Republican ballots had not been delivered to the precinct, according to Doreen Nelson, assistant executive director of the DuPage County Election Committee. She was unsure as of late Tuesday morning what would be done to remedy that situation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Executive Director of the DuPage County Election Committee Robert Saar counted the incident as the worst problem encountered Tuesday. It was basically a case of judges forgetting to follow procedure, he said.

Cook County Clerk David Orr said "things went smoothly throughout the day, though two precincts were forced to open about an hour late."

A location at the William Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park faced a problem involving a locked entrance door, which caused voters to believe the polling place was not yet open. And a Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Worth Township, not enough judges showed up to open on time.

Both locations will remain open until 8 p.m., an hour later than planned, Orr said. "The thing is, polls can open late if no one shows up, but if you open late and people lose the chance to vote, than we get the court to allow us to stay open."

In Kane County, all precincts opened on time at 6 a.m. and authorities faced only a few small problems, most due to human error, according to Kane County Clerk John Cunningham.

That changed quickly as a variety of problems started popping up, with voters reporting a variety of problems with ballots at Aurora polling places. The Aurora Election Commission reports a flood of calls with election complaints ranging from faulty ballots, to untrained and/or rude election judges, to shoddy accommodations for handicapped people at one polling station, to precincts only providing federal ballots, preventing residents from picking candidates in local races.

Aurora resident Claire Keasler told the Beacon News she wanted to vote for her mother, Arlene Shoemaker, a candidate for precinct committeeman. But at her polling place at the Methodist church on Fourth Street, no local races appeared on Keasler's ballot. She voted for president, but was told by an election judge and later the Aurora Election Commission that she could only vote once, eliminating the chance to vote for her mother.

"It's very frustrating," Keasler said. "How can you send the wrong ballot (to the polling place)? I just think this is wrong and everybody should know about it."

The Aurora Election Commission was swamped with calls throughout the day, many answered by an automated message stating the mailbox "is full," and not accepting new messages.

Linda Fechner, assistant executive director, said three lines were available and she tries to "listen to and clear messages" as much as she can throughout the day. Fechner also said that at polling stations where voters complained of faulty ballots, commission officials hand-delivered proper ballots once the rumors of wrong ballots were confirmed.

In Will County, voting has run remarkably smoothly. The county reported no problems besides the usual calls about where to vote and how long polls are open, according to County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots.

"All polling sites opened on time and the majority of judges showed up for work ... No problems and no major complaints, just the usual stuff like people complaining about polling places being moved. But they were only moved where necessary and people were sent at least two notices," Voots said.

Saar expects slightly higher voter turnout Tuesday than average, saying a lot of voters have showed up at the polls.

As for the weather, the snow may cause some delays because officials have to physically drive the memory cards with the votes on them to the election commission. "If the roads are bad it's going to take them a while to get there," Saar said.

In Lake County, there were no major problems reported, according to Clerk Willard Helander. "The snow might have slowed things down some, but it appears to be stopping," she said at about 5:15 p.m.

"We did have a few people fall because what they thought was water turned out to be ice, but overall things have gone fairly smoothly," Helander said.

Copyright 2008, Sun-Times News Group