Hinsdale residents counting on early voting at Village Hall for the Nov. 3 election got no new assurances that the money will be there to make it happen.

The DuPage County Board approved $665,000 in emergency election funding at a special meeting Tuesday, Sept. 1, but the county clerk's office told trustees it cannot guarantee the money will go toward printing and postage, the Chicago Tribune reported. The exchange escalated a months-long budget fight between Clerk Jean Kaczmarek and the board that has put November election operations in doubt.

Chief Deputy Clerk Adam Johnson, pressed by board member Saba Haider on whether the $665,000 would be spent strictly on printing and postage, said it would not be guaranteed.

"That all $665,000 will solely be used for postage and printing?" Johnson repeated. "Correct, that is not guaranteed."

Kaczmarek declined to answer the same question in a later interview, referring reporters to Johnson's comments.

The clerk's office has already burned through 99.8% of its postage budget and 74% of its printing budget for 2026, with November ballot printing still ahead. Johnson told the board the office needs at least $1.2 million in additional funding total to run the general election. The $665,000 approved Tuesday, Sept. 1, covers roughly half that figure.

Board Chair Deb Conroy cut Johnson off multiple times during questioning. She later said in a statement that the board had "appropriately funded" the clerk's election division in the original 2026 budget, but the clerk's spending pace was higher than expected.

Board member Mary FitzGerald Ozog called the clerk's actions "retribution" and pointed to the March 2026 primary, in which Kaczmarek lost the Democratic nomination for clerk to board member Paula Deacon Garcia. The November election will be the last Kaczmarek administers.

Board member Sam Tornatore warned the fight is not over, calling the Sept. 1 discussion an "exercise in futility" and predicting the clerk's office will return seeking more money.

As we reported Aug. 24, Hinsdale Village Hall at 19 E. Chicago Ave. is listed as a permanent early voting site for the Nov. 3 election, with in-person early voting tentatively set to begin Oct. 19. The county's finalized list of early voting locations is expected by Sept. 17. The DuPage County early voting page still listed locations as "available soon" as of Thursday, Sept. 3.

The $535,000 gap between what the board approved and what the clerk's office says it needs has not been addressed. No second funding request has been formally announced.

Vote-by-mail ballots are scheduled to go out statewide Sept. 24, according to the Chicago Tribune.