Early Voting Now Available In Lake County After Temporary Delay

DEERFIELD, IL — Lake County voters are now eligible to cast their ballots for the upcoming general election as the early voting period has started as of late last week, county clerk Robin O’Connor announced.

The early voting was slightly delayed but began on Thursday after O’Connor said that her office wanted to make sure things were set up correctly to ensure accuracy in the vote-counting process. The Lake County courthouse is located at 18 N. County St. in Waukegan.

“I would rather get it right than rushed,” O’Connor said in a news release. “Accuracy is critical to maintaining the integrity of the election process.”

O’Connor said that it received the final certification for early voting on Sept. 23. Until then, the clerk’s office was unable to begin its ballot proofing and testing within its system.

As the election data was prepared for the ExpressVote equipment, which is used at the early voting sites, the software system did not accept the import as it usually does, O’Connor said.

“We needed to input the data manually and double and triple check it, which delayed our start time," the clerk said.

Election judges who were present offered voters who showed up a vote-by-mail application and let them know that their ballot will be mailed Thursday. In addition, those voters who provided a phone number were personally called when the voting site opened. Voters may also contact the clerk’s office at (847) 377-VOTE with any questions.