Lake Forest and Lake Bluff voters who applied to vote by mail will receive their ballots on schedule after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked new postal voting rules.
The court's 7-2 unsigned order, released Monday, Sept. 14, means Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega's office can begin mailing ballots Thursday, Sept. 24, as planned for the Nov. 3 general election. That election includes Lake Forest City Council alderpersons in Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4, along with countywide races.
The ruling ended weeks of uncertainty for Illinois' 108 local election authorities. The blocked rules, stemming from a March executive order by President Donald Trump, would have required states to submit lists of eligible mail-in voters to the Postal Service and use standardized, trackable ballot envelopes. If enforced, the USPS could have refused to deliver ballots in states that did not comply.
Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, told the Chicago Tribune the rules had left county clerk offices confused about whether they could meet ballot standards before the Sept. 24 early voting start. The state elections board does not keep a list of eligible mail-in voters, so each of Illinois' 108 election authorities would have had to compile and submit one without error.
The court said government lawyers were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their challenge and cited the approaching midterms. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch said he believed the rules were legal but joined the majority, saying states lacked time to implement them, the Associated Press reported.
Illinois was one of 25 states that challenged the executive order as unconstitutional interference in elections. Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement that the blocked rules would have created chaos and undermined confidence in the general election.
Nearly 1 million of the 5.7 million votes cast in Illinois' 2024 general election were by mail, according to state election officials.
Trump criticized the ruling on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Sept. 15, writing that the court had been "bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left into making decisions that have set America back at least a hundred years." The campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey called the issue nonpartisan, saying in a statement that citizens deserve safe, free and fair elections.
What voters need to know
Early voting and ballot mailing both begin Sept. 24. Early in-person voting starts at the Lake County Clerk's office in Waukegan and expands to additional locations Monday, Oct. 19.
The voter registration deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 6. The last day to request a mail ballot by mail is Thursday, Oct. 29. Mail ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3, and received within 14 days to be counted.
On Election Day, polls open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Registered voters may vote at any site in Lake County. No ID is required for voters registered with their current name and address.
The Lake County Clerk's vote-by-mail line is 847-377-2306.
