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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2022
Contact: Kevin K. Cullather
847-377-2312
Waukegan, IL –
Lake County Clerk Robin M. O’Connor announced today that 11% of Lake County’s registered voters were mailed ballots for the November 8, General Election. Lake County has 463,222 registered voters, and 52,141 voters requested their ballots by mail. According to Clerk O’Connor, “voting-by-mail allows eligible voters to cast their ballot from their home or if they are serving our nation in the military, away at school, working out of the country, or at a seasonal home.”
Under Illinois law, November 3 was the last day to mail ballots, and registered voters had until 5 p.m. yesterday to request them. Due to an unexpected issue with the county's internet service provider experienced, Clerk O'Connor kept the application period open until 7 p.m.
Voted ballots must be delivered to the Clerk’s Office or deposited in a 24-hour drop box by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked by November 8 and arrive at the Clerk’s Office by 5:00 pm on November 22. O’Connor urged voters, “Don’t delay. If you deliver your ballot to the Post Office on Election Day, please ensure it is postmarked that day.” For the voters’ convenience, Lake County also has drop boxes inside its 18 Early Voting Sites. Ballots from each drop box are collected and returned to the Clerk’s Office daily.
To process this volume of vote-by-mail ballots, under Clerk O’Connor’s leadership, Lake County invested in automated equipment to process both outgoing and returning ballots. O’Connor stated that “this equipment has enabled our office to efficiently and securely process the large volume of vote-by-mail ballots within the statutory timeframe. Thereby ensuring the integrity of Lake County's voting system.” In addition, O’Connor added, “the equipment only serves to supplement the assembly and sorting of ballots, which all are reviewed by Election Judges representing both major parties.”
Lake County has released a short video on its new Vote-by-Mail Ballot Processing center, that can be viewed here (https://youtu.be/J8bX-PuXhNM)
For more information on Lake County Clerk services and up-to-the-minute election news, visit LakeCountyClerk.info, follow us at twitter.com/LakeCountyClerk, join our page at facebook.com/CountyClerk, or call 847-377-2400.
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