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Lincolnwood clerk warns voters to use drop boxes or request counter postmarks after USPS rule change before March 17 primary
Summary
Clerk Lehi DeLisi told the Village Board that the U.S. Postal Service changed how it defines a postmark effective Jan. 1, 2026, and urged vote-by-mail residents to hand-deliver ballots to a USPS counter or use Cook County drop boxes to avoid disqualification in the March 17 primary.
Clerk Lehi DeLisi warned the Lincolnwood Village Board on Feb. 18 that a U.S. Postal Service policy change effective Jan. 1, 2026, could affect whether mailed ballots are postmarked in a way that meets Illinois requirements for the March 17 primary.
"Effective 01/01/2026, the US Postal Service changed how it defines a postmark," DeLisi said, explaining that the postmark may now reflect the date mail is processed rather than the date it was dropped in a collection box. "This processing delay could affect whether a ballot meets Illinois' legal requirements to be counted even when voters follow all existing rules."
To reduce the risk that ballots are disqualified, DeLisi recommended two options: bring the ballot directly to a USPS retail location and request a counter postmark at the counter, or use one of the 55 secure Cook County mail ballot drop boxes that will be available beginning March 2. DeLisi said the clerk's office will share the information on village social media and invited residents with questions to email estellisi@lwd.org.
Early in-person voting for the March 17 primary was listed as March 2–16, and in-person early voting locations named by DeLisi included Oakton College and the Skokie Courthouse. Online voter registration remains open through March 1 via the county or state election websites.
DeLisi’s guidance is administrative in nature and addresses how local voters can reduce the chance that a mailed ballot will fail to meet receipting or postmark requirements under the new USPS processing practices.
