Elections officials in Illinois say dozens of counties are experiencing problems with their ballots, which will likely delay the release of official results from Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary there.

The problem: the ballots are too wide to fit in the optical scanning machines, which tally the votes.

“We don’t know if they printed a little off or the humidity got to them,” said Jane Gasperin, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Board of Elections. “Nobody is being disenfranchised, but it will be a long voting night.”

The issue is affecting 25 of the state’s 110 voting jurisdictions, Gasperin said. After the polls close this evening, workers will probably have to hand-trim the ballots -- or hand count them.

While it will make for a late night for election workers and perhaps some journalists, there probably won’t be a lot of suspense about the outcome of the race, thanks to exit polling and Mitt Romney’s significant lead over his Republican rivals in recent polls in the state.