Kendall County election officials already receiving thousands of vote by mail applications

YORKVILLE – Kendall County election officials said they have already received a couple thousand completed vote by mail applications from voters as of early this week.

County Clerk Debbie Gillette said during the Tuesday, Aug. 4 County Board meeting that most, if not all, residents within the county should have gotten their vote by mail applications this week from her office following the new election law changes. She said she first wanted to clarify that the applications are not mandatory for registered voters to fill out and they still have the option to vote in person during Election Day on Nov. 3 or during early voting, which is set to begin Sept. 24.

“There seems to be some confusion, so I just wanted to set the record straight that it’s just optional,” Gillette said.

So far, Gillette said, the county has received 2,400 completed vote by mail applications – and that was as of Tuesday, she said.

“So we are anticipating a lot of vote by mails,” Gillette said.

Gillette said she is currently working with county facilities and technology officials to set up a secure room to put everything in. She said elections judges will be selected soon and training for them will begin shortly.

“So we’re just kind of moving along pretty fast here,” Gillette said.

Gillette said her office also is going to use the county office building’s drop box for people to submit their vote by mail ballots. She said early voting specifically is set to begin in October for the Oswego, Plano and Montgomery locations.

Gillette said her office can only issue one ballot per voter. If someone applied to vote by mail but then changes their mind and wants to vote in person after all, she said, that person is going to have to give the vote by mail ballot back up to her office before voting in person and fill out a form with the clerk’s office to verify the situation.

If someone loses their vote by mail ballot and they want to vote in person after all, Gillette said, they could do so at polling place during Election Day – however, that’s going to take time. She said election judges are going to have to call the clerk's office to make sure the office did not, in fact, receive that vote by mail ballot and have no record of receiving that ballot, the voter will have to fill out that form and get the clerk's office to unlock the voter from that vote by mail ballot to receive the in-person ballot.

“So if you request a vote by mail, please fill it out and return it, because that’s what you’ve chosen to do, or plan on having your stay at the polling place be a little longer, because there are additional steps and forms that need to be filled out,” Gillette said.

Hendrix said she wanted to ask the question to Gillette directly on Tuesday because someone asked her the question recently.

“And I agree, don’t lose your ballot,” Hendrix said.

Gillette previously said that, per the state law, there is a grant that local governments could apply for to help offset those additional related expenses and the office will need to keep track of expenses that will go into adhering to the new legislation. She had said it's her understanding the county will get that funding as long as they follow the new legislation, but it was unclear what amount the county will receive and the office will be tracking everything that would apply to the grant regardless.