(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Tuesday was the final day for mail-in ballots to be verified and counted, and there’s still one race hanging in the balance in DuPage County.
In the Illinois House’s 45th District, Democratic challenger Jenn Ladisch Douglass is ahead of GOP state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi by less than 300 votes.
With such a close race, each mail-in ballot has become crucial, but there’s an issue over how those votes are being verified and counted.
Mazocchi filed a lawsuit last week against DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek, in which she claimed mail-in ballot signatures were being verified by vote-by-mail applications — not the voter registration signature on file.
DuPage County Circuit Judge James Orel prohibited the clerk’s office from using signatures of vote-by-mail applications.
Kaczmarek reached out to the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. Kaczmarek argued Mazzochi could contest the election once all ballots were counted.
The clerk’s request was rejected, though, and the lower court’s decision remains intact.
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