Early voting has overtaken the number of ballots being cast by mail for the first time in the last two election cycles, the city’s top election official said Monday.
As of Sunday night, 103,205 mail ballots had been returned, Marisel A. Hernandez, chair of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners, said at a news conference.
A total of 134,014 people had cast ballots in person, she said, noting a surge of early voters in the past week.
Hernandez also offered a warning Monday to the approximately 105,000 voters who have mail-in ballots that might be lying in a desk drawer at home and have yet to be returned and counted: Snail mail is a gamble for anyone seeking to have their ballot counted so close to Election Day.
“If you are still planning to put your ballots in the mail, we caution our voters there is no guarantee that at this point it will be postmarked by Nov. 8, and to be counted it must be postmarked by or before Nov. 8,” she said.
To ensure they get counted, Hernandez said vote-by-mail ballots should be taken directly to a post office and voters should ask a clerk at the counter to postmark it.
An easier option would be to drop off vote-by-mail ballots at secure drop boxes at early voting locations in each ward or downtown at the voting supersite at Clark and Lake streets.
On Election Day, drop boxes will also be available at Wrigley Field, the United Center and Wintrust Arena.
She also urged voters who will be casting ballots at the 946 precinct polling places that will be open on Election Day to double-check where their precinct polling place is because many locations have changed since the last election.
Voters can go to chicagoelections.gov or call 312-269-7900 to check.
Hernandez pointed out that the voter tally from Sunday, with two days to go before the election, lagged behind the last election cycle in 2018 by 37,000 votes, but she predicted a strong finish would more than make up the difference.
“I think this is the big push, and people realize how important this election is on various levels ... and every vote counts,” she said.
