Cook County clerk trying out a ‘smart' ballot drop box for next election, expanding language access

Chicago Tribune

08-07-2025

Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon unveiled a new 'smart' ballot drop box on Tuesday, stating she intends to use it for the March 2026 primary election and see if it can be implemented on a larger scale for future elections.
The $15,000 tamper-proof drop box features a surveillance camera to record who drops off ballots, an electronic screen to confirm successful deposits and a scanner to record the outside envelopes of the ballots. Clerk officials described it as the first of its kind nationally. During the primary election, the new ballot box is expected to be located at the county's primary election site at 69 W. Washington St., according to a report from the clerk.
The box's scanning feature is expected to save clerk employees from having to manually scan envelopes when they are received, while automatically updating the online status of ballots for voters. The envelopes are still transported and processed — taken out of the envelope where votes are scanned and counted — by clerk employees. The machine, according to the clerk's office, strengthens 'election security in response to rising concerns surrounding drop box tampering as reported in other American jurisdictions.'
'Some people … may think, 'Oh, it's my vote. I'm dropping this off. Is my vote really being counted? Is it being tallied? So this provides them some assurance in a secure way,' Gordon said at a Tuesday news conference.
The prototype was built by Runbeck Election Services, which also manufactured the large-scale Agilis mail ballot sorting machine the clerk's office currently uses.
At the clerk's request, Runbeck utilized the same technology that's used for the Agilis machine on the smart ballot drop boxes to help 'improve coordination and tracking using the integrated system,' said Sally Daly, a spokesperson for the clerk's office.
The U.S. Postal Service tracks ballots sent to the clerk via traditional mail, according to Deputy Clerk of Elections Edmund Michalowski. However, drop-box deposits typically take a few days to be scanned and have their status updated online. Ballots dropped in a smart box can be tracked immediately, Michalowski said.
'The fact that we can reconcile an actual received ballot in one of our early voting sites sooner — it just will increase voter confidence,' Michalowski said.
A 2025-26 Election and Voter Registration grant from the Illinois State Board of Elections is helping the clerk cover the cost of the machine. Gordon said the office hopes to install smart drop boxes across all 60 early voting locations in suburban Cook County, which would cost $900,000.
The clerk's office advertised its new ballot box as being fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, although Michalowski acknowledged it needed to be adjusted to fit that description. Michalowski said the office was working on lowering the design of the ballot boxes for the final products.
As part of a news conference marking the first six months of her full term, Gordon also announced the introduction of 11 'Pocketalk' boxes — small devices the size of a smartphone — at clerk offices that offer instant translation services in up to 89 languages. The devices, which cost $250 each, are available in the vital records, recording, real estate and tax division and elections divisions.
Gordon, a former member of the Cook County Board, was appointed to fill the seat of the late Karen Yarbrough in April 2024 and was subsequently elected to a full term in November. The office manages birth, death and marriage certificates, suburban elections, legislation and proceedings of the county board and property transfer paperwork.
Among the recommendations included in Gordon's final transition report are hiring other multilingual election judges to serve in areas with a substantial population that speaks the same language, 'removing bureaucratic red tape' for high school students who want to work as election judges and working with the National Association of Counties to advocate for reducing or eliminating federal income taxes for election workers who only work for one day.
Also recommended are: Giving office walk-ins a virtual place in line to reduce wait times at clerk offices, exploring self-service kiosks at major offices and reviewing fees for purchasing vital records.