As the close primary race for Democratic Cook County State's Attorney continues, the Chicago Board of Elections is set to officially start counting mail-in ballots, officials said.
As of Thursday night, judge Eileen O'Neill Burke and Clayton Harris III held a narrow lead of 8,152 votes.
According to the CBOE, poll watchers from both candidate's campaign requested to review the counting and processing of Vote By Mail ballots, which will continue through the counting period of April 2.
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The CBOE added that the public can expected to see the first updated, unofficial election results from those ballots Friday evening.
Ballots that are postmarked by March 19 and received by April 2 are eligible to be counted in the election under Illinois law.
The race for which Democrat will appear on the November ticket for Cook County State's Attorney has been a closely watched one, with both O'Neill Burke and Harris looking to replace incumbent Kim Foxx, who is not running for a third term.
Illinois Election 2024
Clayton Harris is a law school lecturer at the University of Chicago and a former Cook County state’s attorney. Eileen O’Neill Burke is also a former prosecutor, as well as a criminal defense attorney then an appellate court judge.
Both approached the Cook County Democratic Party and Board President Toni Preckwinkle for the party backing and her endorsement, which ultimately went to Harris.
Former Ald. Bob Fioretti, who had launched a run for State’s Attorney in 2020, was the lone Republican on the ballot in this year’s election. He will also be joined on the ballot by Andrew Charles Kopinski, who will represent the Libertarian party in November.
