Voting By Mail

Exercising your right to vote could not be easier. Gone is the old requirement of needing a reason to vote by mail since Illinois now has "no excuse" voting by mail for everyone. For your convenience, the Lake County Clerk's office offers a Permanent Voting by Mail program. Enrollment is easy, environmental (no extra driving), and there's peace of mind with new ballot tracking online offered by County Clerk Willard Helander.

Enrollment forms are available online at www.VotingByMail.info with forms for typing in your information and then print, sign, and mail to Lake County Clerk, 18 N. County Street, Rm. 101, Waukegan, IL 60085 or call 847.377.2406 to request a form. You may select all elections for voting by mail, or just those when there is a high probability for snow and inclement weather.

As always, the Temporarily Absent Student program is recommended for students away at school. Voters who travel seasonally can enroll in the Snowbird program and specify the elections and alternate address to which a ballot should be mailed. Those enrolled in any programs to vote by mail will automatically receive their ballot by mail for the elections specified on the enrollment form. Voters can cancel program enrollment at any time. As required by state law, voting by mail requests cannot be processed until 40 days prior to Election Day or later, subject to final certification of candidates by the State Board of Elections.

Permanent Voting by Mail, Temporarily Absent Student, and Snowbird program enrollment is convenient, but it also helps the County Clerk gauge the number of voters making a "reservation" to vote by mail. With three voting options (by mail, in-person early voting, and Election Day) available to all voters, staffing and printing costs have increased to meet the mandates. Knowing a voter's preference for voting by mail will permit reduced printing for the other two options.

A new ballot tracking feature at www.LakeCountyClerk.info under the Voter Power tab provides security and peace of mind that your ballot was received. Voter logs on to Voter Power under ballot tracker to see when the ballot was mailed and the voted ballot was received by return mail.

Saving money and helping voters - what a great combination!