Early, mail-in voting in 2021 'a completely different situation' compared to general election

With early and mail-in voting ramping up throughout the suburbs, local election authorities say their outreach efforts have reverted to pre-pandemic levels ahead of the April 6 consolidated election.

The 2020 presidential election was an anomaly, they say, a perfect storm of record voter turnout and the COVID-19 crisis that prompted a statewide shift in voting processes. That included an expanded vote-by-mail program, legislation for which was signed last summer by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in hopes of avoiding overcrowded polling places on Election Day, said Matt Dietrich, Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman.

But those special regulations expired Jan. 1, he said, changing the experience for those coordinating and voting in upcoming municipal, school board and other local races.

"This election year is a completely different situation compared to the general election," said Chuck Pelkie, chief of staff for Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry.

Voters who want to cast a ballot by mail this spring, for example, will have to request an application through their county clerk's office or the state election website. That's a far cry from the 2020 election cycle when vote-by-mail applications - and reminders issued by the Secretary of State's office - were automatically sent to registered voters who participated in recent elections, Dietrich said.

Emergency funding allocated last year through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act covered the extra postage costs, as well as equipment and other initiatives to help agencies manage the anticipated surge of preelection Day ballots. But those federal dollars are not available for this election cycle, officials said, limiting the scope of their outreach.

Sending applications to the roughly 1.6 million registered voters in suburban Cook County last fall cost "several hundred thousand dollars," Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski said. "We don't have that in the budget."

As they have in the past, election authorities in suburban Cook and the collar counties are instead relying on news releases, voter guides, social media and other online platforms to spread the word about mail-in and early voting. Select early voting sites are currently operating in DuPage and Will counties, while Kane, Lake and McHenry counties are set to open their first locations Friday.

Cook County election officials are sending reminders to roughly 600,000 voters whose email addresses were collected during last year's vote-by-mail application process, Michalowski said. Limited early voting began today at the clerk's downtown Chicago office and is expected to be rolled out at county courthouses Tuesday, he said.

Early voting is slated to expand on March 22 with additional sites opening across all six counties.

"Last year was an entirely different animal," McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio said. "I think, if anything, the November election and change in laws has certainly educated people in terms of the availability of voting options outside of Election Day."

Election authorities also have begun sending out mail-in ballots, which must be postmarked by April 6 to be included in final tallies. A state statute allowing the use of vote-by-mail drop boxes has also expired, meaning such collection sites will be reduced or eliminated this spring.

Voter turnout in local elections is historically much lower than in county, state and national contests, Dietrich said, mitigating concerns regarding polling place safety and sanitation amid the pandemic.

In DuPage County, between 15% and 19% of registered voters typically cast ballots in consolidated elections, compared to the nearly 77% turnout reported in 2020, County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said. The long lines of people waiting to vote early at the DuPage County Fairgrounds last fall are currently nonexistent, she said, with only a handful of voters showing up each day.

Lake County Clerk Robin O'Connor reported a similar drop in public and media interest, saying she participated in two to three educational Zoom calls per day ahead of last year's election, compared to the infrequent requests for information she's received this spring.

But county clerks are hopeful the 2020 election cycle and discussions surrounding mail-in voting will generate more activity this year.

The Cook County Clerk's office is anticipating sending out 60,000 mail-in ballots this year, compared to 20,000 in previous consolidated elections, Michalowski said.

"I think a lot of citizens are more educated now," O'Connor said. "They understand we're going to provide them safe ways to vote."