Judge Orders County-Wide Vote Recount In DuPage County
Judge Orders County-Wide Vote Recount In DuPage County (DuPage County, IL) – 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
Judge Orders County-Wide Vote Recount In DuPage County
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