Cook County State's Attorney race remains too close to call as mail-in ballots are counted
CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Cook County Clerk's Office said mail-in ballots are still being counted Thursday for the Illinois primary election.
The Cook County state's attorney's race remained too close to call, with Clayton Harris III and Eileen O'Neill Burke fighting for the Democratic nomination.
As of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, 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.
The Cook County Clerk's Office provided an update on the mail-in ballot counting process at a Thursday afternoon press conference.
"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.
The Board of Elections on Thursday began counting the thousands of Chicago mail-in ballots received on Election Day or postmarked on March 19.
"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," Max Bever with the Board of Elections 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.
