COOK COUNTY, Ill. () — Expanded early voting gets underway Monday at locations throughout suburban Cook County and in every Chicago ward, as election officials introduce new tools designed to make voting more transparent and efficient.
More than one in 10 registered suburban Cook County voters is expected to cast a ballot by mail this year. Although voters have been able to receive email updates about their ballots in the past, officials say the latest system will offer significantly more detail.
Beginning Monday, expanded early voting will be offered at 56 suburban Cook County sites. Smart ballot drop boxes and upgraded tracking technology will allow voters to follow a mail ballot through each stage of its journey, including information supplied by the U.S. Postal Service.
“More than 200,000 mail ballots have been sent, and we track six different categories of information for them,” said Dheeraj Patri, chief technology officer at KNOWiNK.
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Ed Michalowski, Cook County’s deputy clerk for elections, said the updated system will give voters a clearer picture of where their ballots are as they move through the process.
“The public can have confidence knowing where that mail ballot is headed — all the way to the carrier route and then back to our office,” Michalowski said.
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