New numbers released by the Chicago Board of Elections and Cook County election officials show retired Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke still leading former prosecutor Clayton Harris III, but that lead narrowed ever so slightly on Tuesday.
According to the latest figures, O’Neill Burke has a lead of 1,598 votes over Harris out of more than half a million cast, a reduction of 45 votes over previous counts released on Monday.
According to the Chicago Board of Elections, 474 additional votes were added to the city’s unofficial count on Tuesday. Of those, 204 were cast for Harris, while 202 were cast for O’Neill Burke.
In suburban Cook County, approximately 800 mail-in ballots were received from the U.S. Postal Service on Monday and before noon on Tuesday. Those ballots, postmarked by Election Day, were verified and were added to the unofficial count.
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There, Harris picked up 335 new votes, while O’Neill Burke picked up 292, making up the lion’s share of the gains experienced by Harris on Tuesday.
The new ballots received come from all four primaries in the Chicago area, meaning that not all the ballots were cast in the Democratic primary.
According to Chicago election officials, more ballots are expected to be counted on Wednesday. Vote-by-mail ballots cast in nursing homes and congregate living facilities will be opened, but it is unclear how many of the ballots will be added to the unofficial counts.
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Vote-by-mail ballots received prior to Tuesday afternoon will also be reviewed by election judges, as will vote-by-mail ballots that have been received but have not yet been verified by judges.
As things stand, there are 53,712 outstanding vote-by-mail ballots in Chicago. It is not expected that all of those ballots will be verified and added to official counts.
According to Illinois election law, a candidate can request a recount of ballots in any race where they receive at least 95% of their opponent’s vote total, a threshold that Harris has met in this race. The campaign that requests the recount would have to pay for it, according to Illinois election law.
It is not known at this time if Harris will request a recount.
