Cook County Announces Plans to Improve Military, Absentee Voting

Improvements are on the way for military , vote-by-mail operations and polling place accessibility, Cook County Clerk David Orr announced Wednesday.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved on Wednesday a $251,970 contract with San Diego-based Everyone Counts, Inc. for an electronic ballot delivery system to military and overseas voters, according to a press release.

Beginning with the March 20 Presidential Primary, military and overseas voters can use a secure website to log in, vote, print their ballot and mail it to the Clerk's office.

The project will be funded through a $3 million grant from the United States Department of Health and Family Services, and is aimed at implementing the Help America Vote Act (2002).

“This system will result in a drastic reduction in delivery time, greatly increasing the chances we will get ballots back on time from our men and women serving overseas,” Orr said. “As an added perk, processing these ballots will be automated rather than needing staff to hand-mark mirror ballots.”

Election authorities have been required to provide electronic ballots to military and overseas voters since 2009. The Clerk's office accepts ballot requests by mail and distributes ballots via email—a time-consuming process that could result in error, according to the release.

A $259,466 contract with Runbeck Election Services to improve the absentee voting system was also approved by the county board Wednesday. 

According to the release, the mail ballot system uses a high-speed scanner to capture voter signatures, sort by precinct and open envelopes.

“Now that any Illinois voter can request a mail ballot, we anticipate doubling or even tripling the 25,000 absentee ballots cast in 2010,” Orr said. “Runbeck’s system will modernize our manual, labor-intensive process at a savings to taxpayers.”

The remainder of the federal grant will be used for a number of projects, including forensic auditing and electronic pollbooks, according to the release.

Cook County also received $175,189 through a Voting Access for Individuals with Disabilities grant, which will improve the accessibility of polling places.