Posted on 03/22/2006 4:06:02 AM PST by Chi-townChief
The race for Cook County Board president dragged on early Wednesday with strident accusations of voter fraud and missing black ballots -- but no declared winner.
As counting of the ballots stretched past 2 a.m. Wednesday, hospitalized incumbent John Stroger was edging out challenger Forrest Claypool, 53 percent to 47 percent with 80 percent of the precincts reporting.
Before Stroger pulled ahead, supporters of both candidates alleged improprieties in the tallies.
The Stroger camp even went so far as to charge that votes from predominantly black precincts were purposely being withheld.
"Our community has been disenfranchised. This process at this point has been a farce," said state Sen. Donne Trotter, complaining that the counting of votes from the 8th, 17th and 29th wards -- predominantly black -- were lagging.
But city election chairman Langdon Neal said there was no way to tell which precincts the uncounted ballots came from.
"It would be guesswork on their part because I can't tell you where those votes are coming from," Neal said.
Claypool adviser David Axelrod said with so many ballots unaccounted for, they were concerned about who was controlling the ballots.
"Any time you have loose ballots, you have to worry about shenanigans," Axelrod said. "It's a shame such a hard-fought election has to come down to something like this."
Claypool held a lead with half the votes counted but as the city count progressed, and Stroger pulled ahead of Claypool, the accusations from the Stroger camp subsided.
"They have assured us with their processes and what they have put in place that they will be able to confidently count all of the ballots. Right now we're going to take them at their word," state Rep. Marlow Colvin said after meeting with Neal.
The city's board of election workers planned to count ballots until 2 a.m. and then would reconvene at 1 p.m. today if needed.
Much of the problems center on the shift to new, electronic voting machines and meshing their results with votes cast on optical scan machines.
Those new machines cost the federal government $52 million, and city and county officials had expressed concerns because they had only four months to learn the software.
City election spokesman Tom Leach said they experienced similar glitches in 1982, when converting from machine voting to punch cards.
The drama surrounding the ballots compounded an already tight race, as Stroger recovers at Rush University Medical Center from a stroke he suffered last week.
Doctors said the best they can hope for is that Stroger regains limited movement -- though they acknowledged he may have suffered permanent brain damage.
In campaign stops over the weekend, Stroger's son, Chicago Ald. Todd Stroger (8th), told supporters to hear none of it -- that his father would be back and ready to lead. But in an interview late Tuesday, he said his father is "up and down" about the election, suggesting he may not understand all that is happening.
Stroger campaign spokeswoman Anne-Marie St. Germaine said, "the mood is very optimistic," and added that while a celebration might be muted because of Stroger's condition, "there will be feelings of congratulations for him. He'll be thrilled to hear some good news."
Stroger is trying to hang on to the seat he's held since 1994, while Claypool is trying to shake up the establishment and upset the Democratic Party machine.
Entering the Knickerbocker Hotel earlier, where supporters were gathering, Claypool said, "We feel good about what we're hearing out in the field, and we're confident."
Stroger campaign co-chairman Tom Hynes said earlier that it appeared it would be "a promising night," though "there's so many conflicting reports, you can't tell what's good and what's not good."
Some expected an outpouring of sympathy and rallying among Stroger's base, while he remains hospitalized, bedridden by the stroke.
Still others emphasized that if Stroger can't carry the Democratic nomination into November, the county's ward bosses -- not the voters -- will pick the nominee.
Claypool said voters were set "to make a statement about what kind of government they want in Cook County," and "against the old-style politics, the old-style machine and all the problems it creates."
Republican Peraica unopposed
But low voter turnout kept both sides hedging their bets late.
Hynes said a low turnout "is positive for us," largely because Stroger's field organization went door-to-door to get out the vote.
At stake is control of more than 25,000 jobs in the $3 billion government that is responsible for running the county hospitals, its jail and courts.
Stroger, 76, has held the president's seat for more than 10 years -- the first African American to win the office.
Claypool, 48, meanwhile, has pushed a reform platform, providing Stroger with the greatest challenge of his career.
The winner of the primary contest is set to face Republican Tony Peraica, who ran unopposed, while also running unopposed for his county board seat.
Black, White?
Not using RAINBOW color is now a hate crime in Chicago and a violation of the voting rights of the disenfanchised gay community. Proof. No openly gay politician was elected anywhere prior to the '70s. That's proof that they are more oppressed than the Blacks, who had many Republican Congressmen and Senators back in Reconstruction.
Illinois politics are becoming a laughingstock to the nation.
Chicago = New Orleans on The Great Lakes.
I should have said "better thief," not "beater thief." My apologies.
My understanding of Chicago and Cook County comes from having lived there for the first 27 and a half years of my life. Thank God that's long ago. I've lived the last 18 and a half years in Knoxville, TN and wouldn't move back to Chicago for anything. My sincerest condolences to all of you who live in Chicago and Cook County.
I live in Dupage county and it took me about 10 minutes from my car to voting and back to my car. I always have ID out whether they ask for it or not.
We use paper ballots and a marker--fill in the circle next to your choice. Voters put the finished ballot into a Scantron-type machine and you're done. I will never understand what's wrong with everyone using this method. Silly me, it's hard for demos to cheat when voters make a clear choice on their ballot.
Hubby and I can't wait for completion of our new house in Brentwood, TN--we're outta here.
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