CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The race for the Democratic nomination to replace Kim Foxx as the Cook County State’s Attorney grew even tighter, after the Chicago Board of Elections added more than 10,000 votes to its total count in the race.
As of Saturday night, Eileen O’Neill Burke was leading Clayton Harris III by about 5,000 votes.
The latest update came with a statement from Chicago Board of Elections Director of Public Information Max Bever, who said that when he provided election numbers earlier in the week, he “mistakenly left out additional ballots that had been received back via USPS the evening of Monday, March 18.”
“I traded speed for accuracy in reporting out numbers this week as quickly as I could,” Bever said. “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 added that poll watchers from both campaigns would be present for continued ballot counting that was expected to take place on Sunday.
After the announcement, Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) took to social media to praise the Chicago Board of Elections and to remind his constituents that this process is in line with how mail-in ballots have been counted since the absentee ballot program began in the 1990s.
“All election results are certified once all ballots have been received, generally 14 days after the election to allow for all mail-in ballots to be received,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Nobody ever noticed because only recently have outcomes been so close on Election Day that winners can’t be called in a timely manner because the number of outstanding ballots was greater than the margin of victory.”
As the popularity of vote-by-mail has grown, Lopez said it has become very difficult to estimate how many ballots are still to be counted.
At about noon on Sunday, the Associated Press estimated that 5% of the vote was still to be tallied.
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