More than 10K ballots mistakenly left out of unofficial vote count, Chicago Board of Elections says

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago Board of Elections has admitted to a mistake as the city awaits the outcome of the Democratic primary race for Cook County state’s attorney.

The board said it is working to add more than 10,000 votes to its total count after its director of public information said he mistakenly left out some vote-by-mail ballots.

Chicago Board of Elections Public Information Officer Max Bever released a statement, saying vote-by-mail ballots delivered on Monday, March 18 were left out of the count.

“I traded speed for accuracy in reporting out numbers this week as quickly as I could. I truly regret this error on my part and for the confusion that it has caused the voters of Chicago. I will share updated numbers only when they are accurate and verified,” Bever said.

Bever said additional counting will continue on Sunday with poll watchers from both campaigns in attendance.

Bever continued, “I made an error in reporting the number of Vote By Mail ballots received back on Monday, March 18 before Election Day that should have been included in the ‘received by Election Day’ numbers.

Previously, I reported that 66,399 Vote By Mail ballots were received back and scanned for signature verification by the end of Monday, March 18. I initially reported that 7,009 VBM ballots received back via USPS on Election Day, 3/19/24. This number was incorrect – I only reported on the Vote By Mail ballots received back on Election Day only.

Approximately 9,143 Vote By Mail additional ballots received back on Monday should have been included in this ‘received by Election Day’ number that would be processed and counted after Election Day, March 19.

These Vote By Mail ballots received back Monday, March 18, through Tuesday, March 19, were secured in a receiving cage at 69 W. Washington until they could be run through the Agilis scanning machine for purposes including verifying that those voters had not cast ballots during Early Voting or on Election Day, and to prepare signature specimens for verification. These ballots were inspected, processed and counted by election judges on Friday, March 22, through Saturday, March 23, and are already reflected in the unofficial results at ChicagoElections.Gov.”

Meanwhile, Eileen O’Neill Burke is leading Clayton Harris III by just under 4,800 votes.

O’Neill Burke has 255,010 votes, and Harris has 250,239 votes.

Could Cook County SA race go to recount?

City elections officials said we’ll have a better idea of who may come out on top.

“We will see a drop off by this weekend of what has been appropriately post marked, we anticipate an upload early next week with final results,” said Cook County Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski.

State law gives election officials until April 2 to count late-arriving ballots, but Chicago and Cook County expect to have a winner before then. And regardless of how tight the race ends up, Illinois law does not mandate an automatic recount. The losing candidate, if they are within 5% of the winning candidate, has to request a recount. That process could take several days.

The Democratic nominee will go on to face Republican Bob Fioretti and Libertarian Andrew Charles Kopinski in the November general election.