After final count, Papantos still ahead in Wheeling board race

With the final votes counted, Mary Papantos holds a 26-vote lead over write-in candidate Joe Vito in the drawn-out race for the last seat on Wheeling's village board.

But the hard-fought battle could continue in court with Vito disputing 33 votes for him that the Cook County Clerk's Office didn't count. In those cases, voters wrote his name but didn't fill in a corresponding arrow on the ballot.

Currently, Papantos has 884 votes, while Vito has 858 counted votes, a clerk's spokeswoman said. Those unofficial tallies will be certified with the state by the end of the month.

Vito has said he's prepared to file a lawsuit against the clerk's office demanding that it count the 33 votes after the totals are certified. Doing so would give him a 7-vote lead.

But the clerk's office argues it doesn't have the discretion to count those votes based on state law and legal precedent.