How we got the story: The changes required to cover voting in a unique election year

This election season has been like no other, not only for voters but also for reporters covering them.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and a particularly heated political climate, voting patterns have shifted. Advance ballot counts are at a record high. And with mail-in ballots expected to continue rolling in after Election Day, local election authorities have warned that it could be days or weeks before winners can be definitively declared.

Those unprecedented circumstances not only change the experience for voters and candidates, but they have also forced the Daily Herald and news organizations across the country to reevaluate their coverage of the Nov. 3 General Election.

The last few months, we have written several stories that provide a glimpse into the state's expanded vote-by-mail program, evolving voter trends, advance and absentee voting and what to expect on and after election night. We have kept in close contact with election authorities in suburban Cook and the collar counties, gathering information as broad as how to apply for and return a mail-in ballot, down to the granular details of how ballots are processed and tabulated.

We've also developed relationships with voters, who have sent us tips about long voting lines and mail-in ballot delays. We've answered their questions about the "affidavit of delivery" on the mail-in ballot envelope and what to do if they change their mind and want to vote in person. And we've shared those nitty-gritty details with Daily Herald readers, recognizing the integrity of the voting process is under a microscope nationwide.

But our newsroom benefits from that knowledge, too. The more we understand the plans implemented at each county clerk's office, the more realistic our expectations and the better prepared we are for election night.

As is always the case, each local election authority reports results a little differently. In suburban Cook County, for example, the mail-in, early and Election Day ballots are combined and reported by precinct. DuPage County first posts the early and mail-in ballots received so far, followed by the votes cast at the polls that day.

But this time around, election officials are bracing for a substantial number of outstanding ballots not yet received by Election Day. Though it must be postmarked no later than Nov. 3, any valid vote-by-mail ballot that arrives within the next 14 days must be included in final tallies.

The late-arriving mail-in ballots have been enough to flip tight races in previous elections, when voting by mail was significantly less common. Now, we're facing the reality that we may not be able to definitively call some - or most - contested races on election night.

Roughly 370,000 total voters in Illinois cast their ballots by mail in 2016, according to state election authorities. Days before the 2020 election, more than 1.5 million vote-by-mail ballots have already been cast, with another 830,000 requested ballots that have yet to be returned.

Now more than ever, reporters will have to pay close attention to the margin by which a candidate appears to be ahead on election night. We'll have to take into account the number of outstanding mail-in ballots that could trickle in days later and change the outcome. And we'll have to carefully watch for updated results that roll in after Election Day.

Our election night coverage may not be as specific or as complete as it has been in the past. But like each voter, candidate and election authority, we are doing our best to navigate the uncertainties of an unusual election cycle amid a global pandemic.