DuPage County, IL. (ECWd) –
In a May 12, 2021 Memorandum and Order, DuPage County Judge Craig R. Belford ordered a county-wide recount of the November 3, 2020, election results for the office of DuPage County Auditor.
Petitioner Bob Grogan (R), Candidate for DuPage County Auditor, and Respondent Bill White (D), Candidate for DuPage County Auditor, are named in the complaint. The election was certified as White winning the the election with a 75 vote margin of victory, with 491,067 votes cast. Grogan then exercised his right to examine for irregularities in a specified sampling of precincts.
As a result of the examination at a particular polling place (containing three precincts) in Downers Grove Township, none of the ballots that were cast were initialed by an election judge, which is required by the Illinois Election Code. Grogan argued that the result of this, if the uninitialed ballots are declared invalid and not counted, Grogan would net 82 votes, which would exceed the 75 vote margin of victory of White.
Based on this examination, Grogan asked for a county-wide recount.
From the Order:
- In construing the above provisions, the Illinois Supreme Court has been both explicit and resolute for more than a century: ” ‘statutes requiring election judges to initial ballots are mandatory, and *** uninitialed ballots may not be counted.’ “
- “petitioner’s motion for a full recount us GRANTED, and this court hereby orders that a county-wide recount of the November 3, 2020, election for the office of DuPage County Auditor be conducted in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Agree Recount Order. . . During such recount . . . any in-precinct ballot that is not initialed shall be deemed defective and not counted.”
Order below:
DuPage Vote Recount Full Order
5 Comments
lynn dennis
Posted at 18:18h, 17 MayAll great points, will someone be responding to them?
PM
Posted at 21:15h, 15 MayFive months later…the elected position of Dupage County Auditor is still being contested…in an Illinois circuit court, where billable hours and expediting are kept diametrically opposed.
jannie
Posted at 18:35h, 15 MayIf there is suppose to be initials on each ballot – then aren’t all those ballots wrong for all the positions that were on the ballot?
jannie
Posted at 18:32h, 15 MayDo these ballots not go through a voting machine? In our county the ballots go through a machine. I give the intake person my name, show my drivers license, sign something ( I think can’t remember) take the paper to the table he/she gives me a paper ballot, I fill it out then put it in the machine & watch the number go up. When does the judge sign each individual ballot… that county must not use a machine to tabulate the votes??
Scott
Posted at 10:31h, 19 MayJust prior to the judge handing the ballot to the voter they initial the ballot, that is how it is done in my county and we mark the ballot then run it through the machine.