Thousands of mail ballots still to be counted in McHenry County, could decide conservation district request

Several thousand mail-in ballots are waiting to be counted and several thousand more still haven’t been returned, according to the McHenry County Clerk’s office.

The clerk’s office posted on its website Thursday afternoon that just over 11,000 ballots remain uncounted. Of those, about 750 are provisional ballots.

Slightly more than 6,200 of the outstanding ballots are vote-by-mail ballots that haven’t been returned, but many of those may be in transit. Ballots had to have been postmarked by Tuesday but still have about 10 days to get to the clerk’s office to be counted.

About 4,200 ballots have been received but not counted. McHenry County Clerk Joe Tirio said Thursday those ballots likely will be counted at the end of the 14-day waiting period for mail-in ballots to be received.

The outstanding ballots could decide the outcome of the McHenry County Conservation District property tax referendum, where the two sides are separated by less than 300 votes. The “no” side is leading, but district officials said earlier this week they remain cautiously optimistic about the measure’s chances of passing.