ROGERS PARK — The city had to break in to Leona's Restaurant because no worker had been scheduled to come at 5 a.m. Tuesday to open the longtime polling place, a manager said.
Leona's opened as usual at 11 a.m. the day after Election Day.
But Jared West, an assistant manager there, said that the snafu happened because new staff members were "not familiar" with the polling place process.
"It was just a little bit of a miscommunication," West said.
Jim Allen, spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said Tuesday afternoon the Chicago Police and Fire departments had to "bust the door down" to let voters in.
"The owner didn't show up," Allen said.
To make up for lost time, the polling place remained open until 8 p.m.
For years Leona's has served as a polling place at 6935 N. Sheridan Road in the 9th Precinct of the 49th Ward. But the restaurant chain was sold by Leon Toia to Tania Mavrakis last year.
Mavrakis didn't respond to a request for comment.
West, the restaurant manager, said his staff wasn't aware it needed to open the restaurant at 5 a.m. so the polling place could be set up for a 6 a.m. opening.
So officials broke a small window pane on a side door to reach in and unlock the door. Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said election judges were able to set up the polling place and allow voters in by 7:20 a.m.
Later that night, West said, the window pane was replaced.
West said he spoke with a Board of Election official Tuesday and assured him that they had made changes at the restaurant "so that doesn't happen again."
Besides the busted window and opening late, voting went "smoothly," he said.
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