From the News-Gazette:

Recount of 2005 race fails to resolve election
By Tracy Moss

Wednesday, December 6, 2006 7:15 AM CST

DANVILLE – Since last month's recount didn't provide evidence overwhelmingly discrediting the results of the 2005 Newell Township Road Commissioner's race, it's still uncertain whether the issue will go back to court.

"We are still in the process of trying to decide whether he wants to continue to try to get the court to take a closer look at those ballots that were questionable in the recount," said Bob Day, the Peoria-area attorney representing Bruce Andrews of Bismarck.

Over a four-day period in November, election officials reviewed and recounted all the ballots in the Newell Township road commissioner race, as ordered by the courts.

Andrews was defeated by eight votes in the April 2005 election for Newell Township Road Commissioner, a position he had held for 12 years before the current road commissioner, Richard "Pete" Powell, defeated him.

Shortly after the election, Andrews contested its validity, appealing to the Danville Board of Election Commissioners, who conducted a partial recount.

That revealed some ballots without judges' initials, so Andrews took his case to court. A Vermilion County Circuit Court decision denied Andrews' request for a new election and full recount of the ballots, but the Illinois Appellate Court partially reversed that decision, allowing a full recount.

During the four-day recount last month, officials discovered a number of ballots that had not been initialed by election judges, as required by state election code.

All of those ballots, Day said, were not included in the recount. But the outcome was still as close.

Other ballots at issue were included in the recount, Day said, including three ballots with extraneous marks – two for Powell and one for Andrews.

There is case law, Day said, that supports those ballots being thrown out.

And another ballot had an "x" marked on Andrews' oval, rather than the oval being completely darkened. The ballot machine did not count that ballot, Day said, so one could argue that gives Andrews another vote.

If Andrews decides to pursue the issue further, Day said they would argue in court that those ballots should not be counted.

"It would be very close," he said. "I couldn't tell right now how it would come out. It would be within one or two votes."

Day said it comes down to whether Andrews wants to make an issue of those other ballots.

"That's where he is on it," he said. "I can't tell you when he will make that decision, but probably by the end of this week or the first part of next week."

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