Will County Republicans are raising questions about how mail-in ballots are being counted, claiming some envelopes containing ballots were delivered open and that poll watchers aren’t being given proper notice of when such ballots are processed each day.
A spokesman for the Will County clerk’s office rebuffed the accusations Monday, saying the office and election judges are following state guidelines.
Ed Ronkowski, a Mokena attorney representing the Will County Republican Central Committee, said he sent emails to the clerk’s office and the state’s attorney’s office raising questions about what he said was a lack of proper notification regarding ballot processing. Ronkowski said under state law election authorities are to provide 24-hour notification of the “date, time and location of the analysis, processing and counting of all ballot forms.”
Each day, mail-in ballots are processed by teams of election judges at the clerk’s office. The teams open the return envelope which contains another envelope inside holding the ballot. The inner envelope holding the ballot should be closed, signed and dated by the voter. On official count days, Saturday and Sunday, the inner envelopes are opened and the ballots fed into the counters, though no count is tallied until Election Day.
Though the clerk’s office has given poll watchers notice that mail-in ballots are processed during normal business hours Monday through Friday, Ronkowski said that does not follow state guidelines requiring that a “time” and not a “range of time” be provided. Ronkowski also said some poll watchers have said ballots were accepted even though the envelope containing the ballot was not fully sealed.
Charles Pelkie, chief of staff to Clerk Lauren Staley-Ferry, said state law leaves it up to the majority of a panel of election judges to determine if a ballot can be rejected. He said state guidelines list a number of reasons why a ballot “may” be rejected by the majority of the three-person panel, including if the ballot envelope was not closed.
“There are panels of election judges who inspect those ballot envelopes to make a determination about if they were delivered opened,” Pelkie said. In many instances, he said, the rulings are unanimous among the panel of judges, which includes both Republicans and Democrats.
He also said the clerk’s office gives proper notification by letting poll watchers know that mail-in ballots are processed between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Pelkie said the time may vary based on when mail is delivered or workloads. However, he said an announcement is made each day to let poll workers at the office know.
“The process is open for them entirely,” Pelkie said. “It is completely disappointing that they would be raising this as a concern and (it is) disingenuous.”
Ronkowski said election judges should not be allowed to accept or decline a ballot if the envelope is open or unsealed.
“The legislature would not put down that you have to seal the ballots unless it was a precondition of getting it done,” he said. “Why have anyone seal it up if it’s only optional?”
Ronkowski is married to state Rep. Margo McDermed, a Frankfort Republican who is not seeking reelection.
Ronkowski said Republican poll watchers are keeping notes on the processing of mail-in ballots and any issues they may have spotted.
As of Monday, 76,771 of the 124,284 requested mail-in ballots had been returned to the clerk’s office. Another 54,125 ballots have been cast through in-person early voting. In the March primary, Will County had more than 450,000 registered voters.
The 2016 presidential election saw 306,410 of 411,240 voters cast ballots. Of those, 22,566 used mail-in ballots while 64,236 took advantage of early voting.
“Voter turnout has been huge,” Pelkie said.
Mail-in ballots can be returned using the U.S. Postal Service but must be postmarked by Nov. 3. Ballots also may be dropped at one of eight drop boxes in the county, each placed in a secure location with surveillance, Pelkie said.
Thursday is the last day for the county to accept applications for mail-in ballots.
“Time is short, we’re in the home stretch,” Pelkie said.
Early voting will continue throughout the week. For a list of locations and hours, or locations of drop boxes, go to www.thewillcountyclerk.com.
Alicia Fabbre is a freelance reporter.
