A full recount of the votes cast in the November 2020 election for DuPage County auditor is underway, the results of which will determine if Bill White retains his position or Bob Grogan is returned to the office.
Just 75 votes separated the men following the election, with Republican incumbent Grogran being unseated by challenger White, a Democrat. Grogan challenged the results, and the full recount of all 466,167 ballots cast was ordered by a judge after discrepancies were found in partial recount results.
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said election judges started the review Monday, per the court order, and should be finished by week’s end.
The vote result, however, won’t be reported publicly until the next court hearing on the matter, scheduled for Nov. 8, Deputy Adam Johnson said. The completed report will be sent to the judge next week.
“We are acting on behalf of the court on this matter,” Johnson said. “We are acting on the judge’s order and later presenting to the judge the report.”
As of midweek, election judges had completed a review of the more than 115,000 in-precinct ballots, separating out any that were not initialed as required or had other discrepancies, Kacmarek said in a statement. The second phase involves the review of more than 180,000 mail ballot certification envelopes, she said.
Grogan is paying $112,614 to have the full recount done. He also paid for the previous partial recount, paying $10 for each of about 230 precincts that were reviewed.
Grogan thanked supporters this week for volunteering to observe the recount process on his behalf. He acknowledged there was no certainty that that enough discrepancies will be found to alter the results.
Once they know how many ballots were pulled for because of problems, Grogan said, both sides will seek a judicial ruling on any “gray areas,” such as missing signatures, postmarks and uncounted ballots.
White said he’s been at this week’s recount, as have observers who have been representing him.
With almost one year passed since the election, White admitted the uncertainty of the recount has taken a toll on him at times. But he’s convinced there’s been no fraud in this race, he said.
“Throughout this entire process, the election was clean, the election was well run,” he said. “Some voters may not have necessarily met all the (election) technicalities, and that is something that we will look into.
“It’s going to be very close no matter what. The election was very close,” White said.
Grogan, too, said it has been frustrating that the process has taken as long as it has.
“Unfortunately the American legal system is terribly inefficient. It’s only made worse by the electoral system in Illinois,” Grogan said.
The recount is being done by trained, bipartisan election judges, the clerk’s office said, and being observed by staff from clerk’s election division, members of the Democrat and Republican parties, candidate representatives and other groups, including the League of Women Voters.
raguerrero@tribpub.com
