CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — With one week until Election Day, Cook County voters are on pace to shatter some records.
Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough called the momentum surrounding the Nov. 3 election “unprecedented.”
“My office has received more than 550,000 requests for mail ballots in this election,” Yarborough told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “That’s five times greater than 2016.”
Over 230,000 have voted early in suburban Cook County and the more than 1.6 million voters currently registered is a 5% spike since the March primaries, and a 9% boost since 2016.
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“It’s clear to me that the voters are not going to allow this virus to suppress their right to vote,” she said.
Deputy of Elections Ed Michalowski said over 250,000 mail-in voters have already been notified that their ballots have been counted, a number that’s expected to rise each day.
“The goal is to make certain that the voter knows that we have the ballot,” he said. “The ballot is secure and they have nothing to worry about.”
The deadline to request a mail in ballot is Thursday.