Voters Concerned Mail-In Ballots Won't Be Processed: 'What's Going On?'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than a million people in Chicago and suburban Cook County plan to vote by mail.
But with just over two weeks until Election Day, CBS 2 heard from a growing number of people concerned that their ballot won't be counted.
CBS 2's Jim Williams on why some ballots appear to be sitting at the post office.
For the first time, Mary and Dave Millis, who live in the northwest suburbs, voted by mail. They said they're determined to stay out of the polling place.
"With the pandemic, I just didn't feel safe. I'm in the age bracket where they say to be really careful," Mary said.
They tracked their ballots online and it showed they were still at Chicago's downtown post office, more than a week after they were mailed. Mary called the clerk's office, concerned her vote wasn't being counted.
"I called at the end of last week. I called the number they tell you to call for questions about your mail in ballots," Mary said. "And she said yeah, she's hearing this from a lot of people."
CBS 2 heard from several voters. who saw the same thing.
From Gilbert in the suburbs:
"I received my mailed ballot on October 5. I dropped in the mail slot in the Flossmoor Post Office on October 7 and it has been sitting in the Bedford Park facility for the past 10 days. When I mail anything else it never takes more than five days to reach its destination. What is going on?"
From Dom in the city of Chicago:
"It was mailed on October 6 and as of October 15, my ballot tracking number indicates it still has not been picked up."
Cook County Elections officials have a simple explanation: Ballots are picked up from the post office every day they said. But the online tracking will show them still there until election judges triple check signatures to verify the ballots.
"We want to give people accurate information," said Ed Michalowski of the Cook County Deputy Elections Clerk's Office. "We want to make sure they're given the right information, that it's gone through the scanner, that we've reviewed the signature, that's going to count."
When your ballot is finally verified, you should get an email confirmation. And officials said that can take days after you mail in your ballot.
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