URBANA— As early voting for Illinois’ March 17 primary election approaches, the Champaign County Clerk’s office is warning some parts of the process may look a little different this year.
At a press conference Tuesday morning, Ammons said his office has been in touch with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) regarding changes to the agency’s mail transportation process affecting postmarked ballots.
USPS said its changes to how mail is routed to processing facilities will result in some items, such as mail-in ballots, not arriving and being postmarked on the same day they are sent.
Mail-in ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day in order to be counted.
“If you must mail the ballot back to us, then I strongly encourage you to mail your ballot at least one week before Election Day,” Ammons said. “Seven days is plenty of time for the mail to travel to the closest processing center and guarantee your vote is counted.”
Ammons is also encouraging voters to use one of the County’s 11 drop boxes or bring their ballots to their local post office or the clerk’s office in the Bennett Center in downtown Urbana.
Early voting will start on February 5 next week at the Bennett Center. Unlike past elections, in-person early voting will not be offered at the Brookens Center.
Ammons said he does not expect the changes will affect voter turnout.
The March 17 primary falls during spring break for the University of Illinois and other schools in the area. Early voting will be offered at the Illini Union and other locations starting on March 9.
Several statewide races will be on the primary ballot, from the Illinois governor’s race to U.S. Senate and House elections. In Champaign County, there are also two candidates running for the county executive position.
Champaign County seeking election judges
The county is also looking for election judges ahead of the primary election.
Clerk Aaron Ammons says the county needs 200 judges for the election — and so far, only about 77 people have been trained and signed up to work that day.
Election judges support voters at the county’s polling places, help process mail-in ballots, and pick up ballots from drop boxes among other tasks.
Ammons said the county needs both Democrats and Republicans to serve as judges — and any U.S. citizen who is at least 17 years old can sign up.
“As a matter of fact, if you are a junior or senior in high school and you have the correct GPA and the permission of your parents, you can also serve as an election judge.
“Election judges play a critical role in this process,” he added. “And frankly, I don’t think that we would be able to sustain elections without election judges.”