The Chicago Board of Elections said election judges will process more than 13,000 mail-in ballots Sunday amid an increasingly tight Cook County State's Attorney's race.
According to spokesperson Max Bever, the 13,086 ballots were reviewed for signature verification, voter history and timeliness before being accepted for counts on Sunday, with poll watchers from Eileen O'Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III's campaigns both in attendance.
The ballots were "mostly" received back via dropbox on Election Day, but weren't included in initial counts of outstanding ballots, according to officials.
Questions have arisen during the counting process amid changing numbers of outstanding and included ballots. In a news release Saturday, a spokesperson for the CBOE explained that while adding up vote-by-mail ballots, he accidentally left out additional ballots that had been delivered by the U.S. Postal Service on Monday.
"I traded speed for accuracy in reporting out numbers this week as quickly as I could," spokesperson Max Bever said in a statement, in part. "I truly regret this error on my part and for the confusion that it has caused the voters of Chicago."
Bever provided updated numbers on Sunday, saying that a total of 7,009 ballots had been received back via the U.S. Postal Service on Monday ahead of Election Day. Another 9,143 ballots should have been included in that number, officials said.
As of Sunday morning, the Cook County State's Attorney's race still had yet to be called, but judge Eileen O'Neill Burke's lead over Clayton Harris III was narrowing slightly.
Illinois Election 2024
As of 9:10 p.m., O'Neill Burke was up 4,771 votes, with 50.47% - 255,010 votes - compared to Harris' 49.5% - 250,239.
Poll watchers from campaigns for both O'Neill Burke and Harris were informed of the mistake and have been in contact with the Board of Elections throughout the process.
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