Lee County voters now can opt out of vote-by-mail application postcards

DIXON – All registered Lee County voters either have received, or soon will, a vote-by-mail application postcard from the clerk’s office that has an extra checkbox allowing them to opt out of future application mail.

In 2020, Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law a bill that requires local election authorities to mail all registered voters a vote-by-mail application. It was meant to ensure active and safe participation in elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a June 2020 news release from the governor’s office.

Locally, those vote-by-mail applications have led to some calls to Lee County election officials over the past four years.

“Sometimes people get annoyed. They say ‘I didn’t want to be sent this. Why are you sending me this?’ But we can’t do anything about it; it’s required by the state statute,” Lee County Elections Officer Deb Phillips said.

The new postcard includes an opt-out box – allowed after Illinois’ election code was amended in 2023 – for those who do not want to receive the postcards for future elections, according to Illinois election law documents.

Simply check the opt-out box on the back of the postcard and return it to the clerk’s office at the Old Lee County Courthouse, located on South Ottawa Avenue in Dixon.

Voters also have the option to be permanently placed on vote-by-mail status by filling out the form and returning it to the clerk’s office. In subsequent elections, those who have selected that option will automatically receive their ballots in the mail and will no longer receive application postcards.

Cutting down on the amount of applications sent out by Lee County would actually save the county money, Lee County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Petersen said in an interview with Shaw Local.

Last year, it cost the county about $16,000 of its election budget to mail out the postcards and it’s been getting more costly as printing costs go up. On Monday, the county sent out about 22,000 postcards, Petersen said.

To opt out, receive a ballot in the mail or be placed on permanent vote-by-mail status, return the postcard before the application deadline of Oct. 31.