The Chicago Board of Elections revealed on Saturday that more than 10,000 ballots hadn’t been included in previous vote totals by mistake, making unofficial counts lower than expected.
In a news release, a spokesperson for the CBOE explained that while adding up vote-by-mail ballots, he accidentally left out additional ballots that had been delivered by the U.S. Postal Service on Monday.
“I traded speed for accuracy in reporting out numbers this week as quickly as I could,” spokesperson Max Bever said in a statement, in part. “I truly regret this error on my part and for the confusion that it has caused the voters of Chicago.”
The 10,659 ballots in question were added to the unofficial vote count on Saturday, increasing the total of ballots cast in Chicago to 368,990. Voter turnout citywide was reported to be 24.44% out of 1,509,554 registered voters.
As of Saturday evening, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s race still had yet to be called, but judge Eileen O’Neill Burke’s lead over Clayton Harris III was narrowing slightly.
As of 9:10 p.m., O’Neill Burke was up 4,771 votes, with 50.47% – 255,010 votes – compared to Harris’ 49.5% – 250,239.
Poll watchers from campaigns for both O’Neill Burke and Harris were informed of the mistake and were expected to be present on Sunday as additional ballot counting continued, Bever said.