On Tuesday, CBS 2’s informal survey found Dillard reducing Brady’s lead to about 250 votes. Brady’s own McLean County won’t tally its final absentees until later Wednesday so he’ll likely gain some. But there just aren’t many people downstate.
Take two Brady strongholds, for example. In Peoria, Brady added just three votes to his margin and, next door in Tazewell County, just two votes.
Dillard’s total is closer to what commenters came up with yesterday…
Dillard did downplay talk of a costly and legally difficult recount if he remains on the short end of the final vote tally. He said Tuesday his losing margin would have to be “something less” than the roughly 220 he believed he had Tuesday to consider a recount.
Late unofficial vote counts from election authorities in the more-populous six-county Chicago region showed Dillard cutting into Brady’s lead by nearly 200 votes [from the original 420 AP total]. Still, final tallying continues in downstate counties where, despite fewer votes being cast, Brady has held an advantage over Dillard.
* Dillard repeated yesterday that he likely won’t call for a recount unless the margin is within 100 votes. As the Trib rightly points out, this could become a long, involved process if Dillard goes through with any recount…
But a challenge based on provisional votes could become a messy one, and Dillard said he’s unsure he would press for more of them to be counted. Dillard’s low threshold for considering a recount reflects the advances in electronic vote-tabulation technology. Local election officials have until Feb. 23 to re-test their results and send them to the state.
“The local election authorities need to canvass and have time to double-check their math,” Dillard said. “And I’d like to see a preliminary tabulation by the actual election authority, the State Board of Elections…especially when you’re talking about 200 votes out of about three-quarters of a million cast. Mistakes do happen.”
“We’re talking about a five-ten-thousandths of 1 percent difference in a statewide race with three quarters of a million votes cast. I want to make sure every vote is counted,” Dillard said.
* Sen. Brady talked with my intern Barton Lorimor yesterday about the counting process and where it stands. Have a look…
* And Brady got his first gentle (considering its notoriously over the top ways) scolding from the Tribune editorial board over his proposed constitutional amendment to forbid gay marriage and civil unions…
Brady’s idea is faulty on several grounds, starting with the merits. Civil unions are a reasonable compromise between those who think gays should have access to marriage and those who think the state should not redefine an ancient institution that has strong religious connotations. But even if you don’t favor same-sex marriage, there is no reason to change the constitution if public opinion should come to view it more favorably than today.
Brady ought to focus on the precarious position Illinois is in. The answers lie in the realm of fiscal policy, ethics and economic growth. It’s not the prospect of same-sex marriage that is chasing away employers. The option of civil unions has not burdened future taxpayers with draconian financial burdens. […]
The gay marriage/civil union proposal, though, is a big favor to Gov. Pat Quinn. Citizens are divided on that issue — but very few are clamoring for a constitutional fix. Brady, if he is the GOP nominee, will need to convince Democrats and independents that they should give the Republicans another chance in the governor’s office. A campaign that focuses on the state’s financial chaos and the Legislature’s unwillingness to push genuine ethics reform could provide that chance. But Brady suggests he has other things on his mind.
