Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

A look at a handful of discovery recounts

Posted in:

Illinois

* Brenda Schory at the Kane County Chronicle…

The discovery recount for Nov. 3’s losing candidates Jim Oberweis, David Rickert and Jeanette Ward is expected to go until late Wednesday or Thursday, as Kane County Clerk employees are required to hold up every mail-in paper ballot from 119 precincts to show their fronts and backs to campaign representatives.

The first part of the recount on Tuesday morning was the easy part, Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said, as the computer counted the digital ballots.

“It was like watching paint dry,” Cunningham said.

Representatives of the Republican candidates who lost, as well as the Democrats who won – U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pieorg and State Sen. Karina Villa, D-Warrenville – and those of Kane County Democrats all participated in observing the recount. […]

Though Oberweis campaign attorney John Wise would not state what he had requested of Cunningham’s employees, others at the recount said he asked that campaign workers be allowed to see both sides of each paper ballot.

* WTVO…

The fight for the 68th District’s Representative seat continues. Democratic Representative-elect Dave Vella was declared the winner last month, but Rep. John Cabello announced plans for a recount Monday morning.

The Republican says the recount is well within the required margin of under .05% or less. Vella won by just 239 votes.

This means that 25% of precincts within the district will be reviewed. That will determine if a full recount is needed.

* Here are the results in all four races…

Pierog 114,285 … 50.45%
Rickert 112,260 … 49.55%
Difference 2,025 … 0.9%

Villa 60,238 … 50.96%
Ward 57,976 … 49.04%
Difference 2,262 … 1.92%

Vella 26,770 … 50.22%
Cabello 26,531… 49.78%
Difference 239 … 0.44%

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 9:19 am

Comments

I’m also trying to track down what happened with the GOP lawsuit in LaSalle county where the local republican party was trying to get all mail-in ballots tossed out for county level races where democratic candidates had won.

Last I heard it was going to a final ruling by the judge after being moved to grundy county for a change of venue, but that was over 2 weeks ago now and all coverage of it seems to have stopped since.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 9:36 am
Reading the article, if you wanted people from Kane county running this, having the Johns do it is not a bad choice.

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 9:49 am
==where the local republican party was trying to get all mail-in ballots tossed out==

Republicans have been trying to do that nation wide and it’s sickening how cavalier they are in trying to disinfranchise hundreds of thousands if not millions of people because their candidate or candidates lost.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 9:50 am
“While the recount cost is $10 per precinct to the losing candidates requesting the recount, Cunningham estimated the department’s cost at $250 an hour for all the employees’ time.”

Very costly to satisfy the egos of those who lost. So much for that myth about Republicans looking out for us taxpayers.

Comment by Dance Band on the Titanic Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 10:54 am
Although I think Oberweis is an awful politician, he’s well within his rights to request a recount and have his team fully observe each ballot. But I hope he’s not holding his breath on this one, there’s almost no chance he actually won given the vote totals.

Comment by Techie Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 10:59 am
It is well worth the cost to the taxpayers. If Oberweise can show all the cheating that deprived him of his victory he can go on and vote against all the Democratic budgets and raise speed limit on interstate highways all saving money. Plus he already had his orientation. /s

Comment by DuPage Saint Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 11:02 am
Maybe it’s me, but if I lost an election, the last thing I would want is a reminder, a month later, that I lost.

Then again, I possess humility.

Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 11:05 am
“The first part of the recount on Tuesday morning was the easy part, Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said, as the computer counted the digital ballots.”

The digital nature of modern elections is one of the things that makes it highly unlikely that a losing candidate will get any relief from a discovery recount.

The ones and zeros that are electronically recorded as the result of the balloting on election day are the exact same and ones and zeroes that will be read on any subsequent electronic rereading and will, necessarily, deliver the same outcome each and every time that those ones and zeros are read.

For that reason, the larger the percentage of digital ballots cast in an election, the less unlikely the outcome of the election could possibly be changed by a discovery recount.

– MrJM

Fun fact 1: The fact that Republicans more often than not cast their ballots in person (digitally), coupled with the fact that a growing percentage of Democratic ballots are cast using mail-in (paper) ballots, the relative utility of discovery recounts for Republican candidates vis-à-vis Democratic candidates will increase going forward, i.e. it will be nearly impossible to bump Republican digital ballots, but still possible (but vanishingly unlikely) to bump Democrat’s paper ballots.

That said, Democrats should continue to cast their ballots early because discovery recounts very-nearly-never result in a change in the outcome of an election.

Fun fact 2: Like all computer records, digital ballots are still subject to the preposterously improbable effects of cosmic rays.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 11:10 am
“It was like watching paint dry,”
Isn’t that how politics should be? I dream of the day when we can get back to that.

Comment by Bruce( no not him) Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 11:11 am
Looking for election fraud is like trying to balance the state budget solely on finding waste, fraud and abuse.

Comment by illinifan Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 12:03 pm
Oberweiss cracks me up. Can’t lose a primary, can’t win a general.

Comment by Touré's Latte Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 12:03 pm
These recounts can be worth it if you’re within a few dozen votes. Beyond that it’s delaying the inevitable.

We can be proud in Illinois for actually running good elections — due to many hundreds of election workers and volunteers.

Comment by walker Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 1:12 pm
Dance Band, it’s IL law that allows discovery recount under the 95% of leading candidate’s total votes. Maybe changing IL law to “1% or less” threshold for discovery recount is long term solution?

Comment by John Lopez Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 2:43 pm
Thousands of votes need to turn.

“Good luck”

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Dec 16, 20 @ 3:01 pm