COOK COUNTY — The razor-thin Democratic primary for Cook County State’s Attorney remains undecided as mail-in ballots won’t start being tallied until the end of the week, officials said.
Retired judge Eileen O’Neill Burke held 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Clayton Harris III, with 84 percent of the vote counted as of Wednesday evening, according to the AP.
O’Neill Burke jumped out to an early lead after polls closed Tuesday night that slowly narrowed as more votes coming in from Chicago were tallied for Harris.
Neither candidate has declared victory or conceded defeat. About 8,800 votes separate them as of Wednesday night.
Just over 100,000 mail-in ballots remain outstanding as of Wednesday night, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Typically, about 85 percent of those ballots are expected to be returned and still need to be counted.
But elections board spokesperson Max Bever said Tuesday with the primary’s low turnout, the board is expecting “more like 70,000” of those ballots to be returned and counted. That also includes ballots from Republican voters, who were not eligible to vote in the Democratic state’s attorney primary.
That process now is going to take longer than initially expected.
Elections officials said the board was contacted by poll watchers from the candidates’ campaigns “who requested to review the processing and counting of Vote By Mail ballots received on Election Day and through the counting period through April 2,” Bever said in a statement Wednesday.
Processing of the mail-in ballots will continue Thursday and elections officials will start counting those votes Friday. The updated unofficial election results incorporating the mail-in ballots will start coming in Friday night, Bever said.
“The Board is happy to accommodate these requests and appreciates the public’s patience as Vote By Mail ballot results are updated starting on the evening of Friday, March 22 and moving forward on a rolling basis,” Bever said in the statement.
Additionally, 11 Chicago precincts have not been able to report their results as of Wednesday night. Nine others whose results were delayed have now reported their numbers, adding 1,920 votes to the total, Bever said.
As of Wednesday night, Harris led O’Neill Burke by about 6,700 votes within city limits, while O’Neill Burke held a 15,000-vote lead in the Cook County suburbs.
In a speech to supporters Tuesday night, O’Neill Burke said she was “cautiously optimistic” her campaign would eke out a win.
“We will be patient and we will let the democratic process play out. And we will build a safer, more just Cook County together,” O’Neill Burke said.
Speaking about 30 minutes later, Harris told backers his campaign also wanted to see the remaining votes tallied before commenting on the election’s outcome.
“All our communities matter,” Harris said. “So, we’re going to wait and we’re going to count the votes.”
The winner of the Democratic primary between Harris and O’Neill Burke will face Republican Bob Fioretti and Libertarian Andrew Charles Kopinski in the November general election.
You can read more about each Democratic candidate here.
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