Cook County State's Attorney's election too close to call; Will mail-in ballots swing race?
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The Cook County state's attorney's race remains too close to call Wednesday, with Clayton Harris III and Eileen O'Neill Burke fighting for the Democratic nomination.
As of 1 p.m., O'Neill Burke had 51% and Harris had 49%.
With thousands of outstanding mail-in ballots still to be counted, it's not yet clear who the Democratic nominee for Cook County State's Attorney will be. There is a margin of fewer than 9,000 votes between O'Neill Burke and Harris.
"This is a moment when criminal justice reform is really on the ballot," ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington.
About 146,000 outstanding mail-in ballots remained across Cook County as of Wednesday night.
The Chicago Board of Elections reported about 100,000 outstanding ballots. Suburban Cook County has received 50,000 of 96,000 mail-in ballots requested.
O'Neill Burke said her campaign is cautiously optimistic about the outcome. She spoke to supporters Tuesday night.
"I believe that we could make our justice system work for everyone in every neighborhood in every town across Cook County," Burke said.
Harris III spoke to an enthusiastic crowd after polls closed and is encouraging his supporters to be patient as all the votes are counted.
"That's what this campaign has been about," Harris said. "Safety and justice. The fact that this is not an either or proposition. This is and proposition."
Former judge Eileen O'Neill Burke has a small lead over former prosecutor and University of Chicago public policy lecturer Clayton Harris III.
While 100% of suburban Cook County precincts reported Election Day results, the City of Chicago had 20 precincts outstanding as of Wednesday morning.
"Looks like the results weren't properly transmitted last night and election judges unfortunately left before they were properly transmitted," said Max Bevers with the Chicago Board of Elections.
The Board of Elections spent Wednesday processing the results of those 20 precincts. Counting the thousands of Chicago mail-in ballots received on Election Day or postmarked on March 19 will begin Thursday.
"It is put into the hands of election judges who have to open them, adjudicate them, initial them, put them through the ballot scanner, and then ultimately those results are added to the unofficial election results," Bever explained.
Washington said the close race highlights just how split Cook County is on the issue of criminal justice.
"There's a big difference in terms of how people think crime should be addressed," Washington said. "Harris is more about criminal justice and fighting crime. Other people are saying criminal justice reform has gotten out of hand and we really need to crack down on crime."
Could Cook County SA race go to recount?
City elections officials said we'll have a better idea of who may come out on top this weekend.
"We will see a drop off by this weekend of what has been appropriately post marked, we anticipate an upload early next week with final results," said Edmund Michalowski, Cook County Deputy Clerk of Elections
State law gives election officials until April 2 to count late-arriving ballots, but Chicago and Cook County expect to have a winner before then. And regardless of how tight the race ends up, Illinois law does not mandate an automatic recount. The losing candidate, if they are within 5% of the winning candidate, has to request a recount. That process could take several days.
The Democratic nominee will go on to face Republican Bob Fioretti and Libertarian Andrew Charles Kopinski in the November general election.
Swing votes: Are there enough mail-in ballots to change outcome of state's attorney race?
Nearly 160,000 mail-in ballots are outstanding in the Democratic primary election for Cook County state's attorney, the I-Team has learned.
There are two major questions after Tuesday's election. How many of those ballots will be properly returned in the U.S. Mail? And will enough of the votes be cast for Clayton Harris III to make up about an 11,000 vote deficit in his race against the leader Eileen O'Neill Burke?
Chicago election officials tell the I-Team that they sent out 176,000 mail ballots and Cook County election officials mailed out 96,000 ballots of their own. Between the two jurisdictions, 116,000 voted-ballots were returned by Monday and counted in the results on Tuesday night.
Despite that seemingly slim margin, the math-and the poor Tuesday turnout-do not favor a huge swing in the election results. Election officials expect to receive back no more than 100,000 additional mail-in votes. And that may be optimistic.
Further, not all of those will be Democratic Party ballots and some won't be properly filled out-and therefore not counted. In addition, authorities say it's likely the mail-in ballots will not all include votes in the state's attorney's race. Not everyone votes in each race.
And finally, all of the votes will not go to just one candidate. Typically mail-in votes will fall along similar percentage lines as the results that have produced the tight election night results.
Experts interviewed by the I-Team believe the race needs to be within one percentage point-or maybe two-for the outstanding mail ballots to have any possibility of changing the outcome. It will likely be the end of this week or into the weekend before the actual final totals become evident. The outstanding ballots could even separate the candidates by a wider margin.
The tight race has also raised questions about a possible recount. Illinois does not have any provision in the law for a mandatory recount.
There is a lengthy and detailed process by which a trailing candidate may request a recount if he or she is within 5% of the leader's vote total. Such a recount request may be made only after the votes are collected, counted, canvassed and audited.
That recount, if authorized, would not happen in a day or two. The process could extend for weeks.
