Moynihan says he'll never concede 56th District race to Mussman

Democratic state Rep. Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg slightly extended her marginal lead over crosstown Republican challenger Jim Moynihan as the counting of provisional and mail-in ballots continued Wednesday.

But Moynihan said he wouldn't concede the 56th District state House race until that process is done - or even after, due to his suspicion of problems with touch-screen voting machines of the sort he said he encountered during early voting.

As of late Wednesday afternoon, Mussman still led Moynihan with 13,850 to 13,146 votes, for 51.3 percent of the total and a difference of 704 ballots.

At 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Cook County Clerk's office resumed counting the approximately 35,000 mail ballots and 9,000 provisional ballots received so far countywide, spokeswoman Courtney Greve said.

Those number will grow from additional mailed ballots, and counting will likely continue for a couple more days, she added. The ballots had not yet been identified by legislative district or other races, Greve said.

Mussman, wearied by waiting past 1 a.m. Wednesday for the final precincts to report, said she is just glad the election is over and that everyone could begin to move on.

Moynihan said he was told there are 1,092 mail-in ballots from the district still in play and would wait until they were counted before deciding what to do next.

"Numerically, we could still do this, but I would feel more confident if we were only 100 or 200 votes behind," he said Wednesday. "I'm not conceding anything. Let's see what comes of it. It's not what I hoped to be talking about this morning."

Moynihan said he's still troubled by problems he encountered during early voting at the Schaumburg Township District Library, when he tried to vote for a few Republican candidates and the touch-screen machine registered votes for Democrats instead.

He said he was told by an election judge that the machine he was using had a calibration error and he ultimately was able to cast the votes he wanted. But he later learned of a few isolated incidents similar to his own.

"I don't think I'll ever concede because I'm very upset about those voting machines and upset by the indifference of those who could do something about them," Moynihan said. "I will never believe those calibration issues with these machines had nothing to do with this."

Moynihan did not cast blame on the Cook County Clerk's office or any particular individual, but on the manufacturer of the machines and anyone indifferent to providing a level playing field.

Greve said there were no problems - widespread or otherwise - reported about the machines apart from Moynihan's own complaint.

Moynihan said he plans to have an attorney present at the opening of the mail ballots and has not ruled out challenging the outcome of this week's counting.

Mussman had little to say about the lack of a concession from Moynihan.

"I'm sorry that he's disappointed," she said.

The 56th District includes Schaumburg and portions of Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Bartlett, Hanover Park, Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Roselle.