Weekend pause in 8th Congressional ballot count

If the suspense is killing you as to who will be declared the winner of the 8th Congressional District race, there will be no reprieve anytime soon.

The Cook County Clerk's Office has suspended counting absentee and provisional ballots for the weekend, spokesmen with incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean's and her Republican rival Joe Walsh's camps said Saturday.

Cook County had been counting its incoming absentee ballots each day, while Lake and McHenry counties' clerks have decided not to tally any more absentee and provisional ballots that arrived after Election Day until Nov. 16.

As of Friday, Walsh was 350 votes ahead of the three-term incumbent. Bean pulled in 15 more votes Friday when Cook County election officials wrapped up a second day of tallying absentee and provisional ballots from Schaumburg, Palatine and Barrington townships.

Walsh, of McHenry, has 97,576 votes combined from Cook, Lake and McHenry counties, to Barrington resident Bean's 97,226.

Bean spokesman Jonathan Lipman on Saturday reiterated the campaign's statement that they want to see every vote counted.

“The last two days of counting have seen the margin close by more than 200 votes to just 350 votes between the congresswoman and Mr. Walsh,” he said. “With potentially more than 4,000 provisional and absentee ballots still waiting to be counted, the congresswoman's campaign is waiting to see every vote counted.”

Walsh's campaign manager Nick Provenzano said Walsh is taking the opportunity to get some much-needed rest over the weekend.

Ultimately, a recount may be inevitable if the vote totals remain close. To seek a recount, a losing candidate must be within 5 percent of the winner's votes. Walsh and Bean's vote totals have been well within half a percentage point of each other.