The Process Begins at the Local Level
The journey to certified results starts the moment polls close in each of Illinois’s 108 local election jurisdictions. These authorities, typically the County Clerk or a local Board of Election Commissioners,
are the first line of defense for accuracy. On election night, they release unofficial results, which are the initial totals from voting machines. This is the first picture we get, but it’s far from the final one. In the days that follow, these local officials have the crucial job of processing vote-by-mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and provisional ballots cast by voters whose eligibility needed to be confirmed. This initial phase ensures that all legitimate votes are gathered before the official counting begins.
The Official County Canvass
The first formal step toward certification is the canvass, a legal term for the official review and tally of votes. In Illinois, local election authorities must complete their canvass within 21 days of the election. During this period, officials reconcile the number of ballots cast with the number of voters who checked in at polling places. They review every ballot, adjudicate any voter intent questions on ballots with unclear marks, and add all valid mail-in and provisional ballots to the totals. Before the results are finalized, a public audit is also conducted. The State Board of Elections randomly selects 5% of precincts and 5% of early voting machines in each jurisdiction for a retabulation to verify the equipment's accuracy. Once this is all complete, the local authority formally proclaims the results for local races and transmits its certified totals for state and federal races to Springfield.
The State Board of Elections Takes Over
Once all 108 local election authorities have submitted their certified results, the process moves to the state level. The Illinois State Board of Elections, an independent agency responsible for supervising elections, performs the official state canvass. The board’s job is to aggregate the certified totals from every county to determine the final, official statewide results for federal offices (like President and U.S. Congress), state offices (like Governor and Attorney General), and multi-county legislative and judicial races. This step ensures that the vote tallies from across Illinois’s diverse counties—from Cook to Alexander—are combined into a single, authoritative record.
The Final Proclamation and Key Deadlines
The Illinois State Board of Elections must complete its work and formally proclaim the election results within 31 days of the election. This proclamation is the final, official certification of the vote for most offices. For presidential elections, the board's certified results are laid before the Governor, who then formally certifies the state's slate of presidential electors. At the conclusion of this month-long process, the certified winners are issued a certificate of election, the legal document that confirms their victory and allows them to assume office. While the timeline might seem long, its deliberate, layered structure is designed to guarantee that the final results are complete and accurate.
