DeKalb County Clerk Sharon Holmes deals with a lot of phone calls from students about voting.

Holmes, who serves as DeKalb County’s chief election official, said the biggest confusion that happens on Election Day is usually students who call in for an absentee ballot or show up to vote even though they are not registered to vote in DeKalb County.

“I can’t help somebody vote here if they are not registered here,” Holmes said.

By knowing where to vote, Holmes said, students can help cut down on long lines that plague some polling places.

One thing she doesn’t have to worry about, though, is fraudulent voter registration. She said the election staff is very familiar with the county and any suspicious activity, like having the same last four digits of a Social Security Number, is immediately flagged.

“We have a good set of checks and balances here in the state,” Holmes said.

There is a national group, however, trying to undo these precautions.

The group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, (ACORN), is currently being investigated by the FBI. According to an article by The Associated Press Thursday, an ACORN employee has been arraigned on 108 counts, including forgery, theft and records tampering for his alleged altering of 18 voter-registration applications.

Holmes said, to her knowledge, ACORN is not operating in Illinois. ACORN is a community-based organization that has come under fire for allegations of fraudulent voter registration.

Valerie Berg, sophomore speech-language pathology major, said she is not worried about allegations of voter fraud tainting the election.

“One person’s fraud is less than the number of honest people voting,” Berg said. “I’m not too concerned.”

Upping the stakes, however, is the fact that the presidential race between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain could be very close.

Holmes said she hopes whoever does win the presidential election, wins by a large majority.

“We don’t want another close race,” Holmes said, adding there’s not much she can do but operate the electoral process in DeKalb County according to the law.