Gap narrows in race for Cook County State's Attorney
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Eileen O'Neill Burke led Clayton Harris III by just over 2,000 votes in the race for Cook County State's Attorney, and about 2,500 additional vote-by-mail ballots are expected to be counted Monday.
On Saturday, the Chicago Board of Elections added more than 10,000 votes to the total ballot count as the result of what its director of public information said was a human error.
Those 10,000 ballots inject new energy into the Burke and Harris campaigns. Poll watchers were on-site Sunday as votes were counted.
Max Bever, the Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson, said the additional ballots came into the mix after he realized he mistakenly left out some vote-by-mail ballots. He apologized for the flub this weekend, explaining that the ballots were under lock and key and were postmarked and received by Election Day.
After a meeting with both campaigns and explaining the situation, all parties agreed that ballot counting and signature verification would continue on Sunday.
By Sunday's end, roughly 13,000 vote-by-mail ballots were expected to be tabulated by election judges.
"Not all of those are going to be Democratic ballots. Not all of those will vote in the Cook County State's Attorney race, but you're going to see those ballots updated in tonight's results. What you are going to see is continued updated results through this week as we get through this counting period," said Bever.
The last day to count any outstanding vote-by-mail or provisional ballots will be April 2, so it's anyone's race.