New voting totals released by Chicago and Cook County election officials showed retired Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke with a lead over former prosecutor Clayton Harris III in the state’s attorney’s race, but that lead has closed by more than 200 votes.
Cook County election officials added approximately 3,500 ballots to their counts on Monday. Of those, approximately 3,300 were mail-in ballots that have been received and verified in recent days, while another 200 were provisional and have now been accepted.
Mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day on March 19 and received before an April 2 deadline are eligible to be counted under Illinois election law.
The Chicago Board of Elections also added approximately 2,500 mail-in ballots to its tabulations on Monday, according to officials.
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With the new totals included, O’Neill Burke still holds a lead of 1,643 votes over Harris. O’Neill Burke’s vote total stands at 261,885, while Harris’ stands at 260,242.
According to Chicago election officials, Illinois law does not provide for automatic recounts, but does allow candidates to request recounts if they have received at least 95% of the vote of their opponents.
It is not known how many votes remain outstanding, and both campaigns have hired poll watchers to monitor vote counting at election offices in the city.
