 Quinn leads the Bloomington state senator by fewer than 9,000 votes
out of nearly 3.4 million cast on Election Day, according to
Associated Press reports. Illinois residents will have to wait until
Dec. 3, when the State Board of Elections meets, to see how the
election pans out, according to Rupert Borgsmiller, assistant
executive director at the state board."Until Dec. 3, it's just a
process of the ballots coming in, clerks doing canvassing and
reporting to the board of elections," he said. "We won't have an
accurate picture until then."
Thousands of absentee, military and provisional ballots have yet
to be counted, meaning the state could see Tuesday's results tossed
out, a fact that has resonated with Quinn and Brady. Each candidate
is waiting for all votes to be counted before examining the
possibility of a recount.
Borgsmiller does not know how many absentee and military ballots
have yet to be counted, but in 2006, the state tallied 124,600
ballots -- more than enough to sway Tuesday's results.
The Republican and Democratic parties each have election lawyers
on retainer to contest votes. Quinn and Brady have been mum about
the prospect of a recount.
"This is all unchartered waters," said Ron Michaelson, who served
as executive director of the State Board of Elections for 27 years.
"If Brady can close the gap significantly, I would not be surprised
to see a recount."
The state has never encountered a recount, which adds even more
uncertainty to the situation.
The losing candidate on Dec. 3 will have 15 days to petition the
Illinois Supreme Court for a recount. Although Illinois' recount
laws are on the books, Borgsmiller is uncertain how it would pan
out.
"The matter could be decided by the court, or they could delegate
that responsibility to the Board of Elections," Borgsmiller said.
But the board currently does not have specific procedures in
place to handle the state's first recount.
"There's no specific timeline ... (but) we will be drafting
procedures (for a recount) before Dec. 3," Borgsmiller said. "Until
we actually go through that process, it's hard to project what it's
going to look like or how it's going to turn out."
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Tuesday's election was the closest since 1982, when Republican
Gov. Jim Thompson edged out Democrat Adlai Stevenson III by 5,074
votes of the 3.6 million cast -- the highest off-year election
turnout in Illinois history. Stevenson's calls for a recount were
declared unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court, leading the
General Assembly to draft the current recount laws, which could be
employed in the coming weeks.
Brady will hope to emerge from the close contest in the mold of
Thompson, who also trailed after election night.
Michaelson says Brady has handled his initial vote deficit well,
but he thinks the Bloomington senator owes it to his voters and
campaign volunteers to pursue a recount.
"Sen. Brady owes it to not only himself, but to his supporters
and others who voted for him, to make sure all avenues are
exhausted," he said. "So much time, money and energy was exerted on
this thing, you should make sure you really lost."
For now, the election rests in the hands of local election
authorities, who are charged with keeping track of ballots. Those
authorities have until Nov. 23 to report back to the state.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BILL McMORRIS]
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