Papantos won't appeal ouster from Wheeling board

Mary Papantos said Friday she will not appeal a Cook County circuit court decision that ousted her from her seat on the Wheeling village board and ruled Joe Vito the winner of the April 7 election.

"It was a very difficult decision to make," Papantos said. "And I didn't make my mind up until late yesterday."

Papantos, who had 30 days ending Friday to decide whether to appeal, said she had a strong case, but decided not to proceed for financial reasons.

Papantos ran against Vito, who was a write-in candidate endorsed by village President Dean Argiris, in the April 7 election for a spot on the Wheeling village board.

Papantos was initially declared the winner by a margin of 26 votes, and was sworn into office May 4.

But after finding that 34 of his write-in ballots were not counted by Cook County Clerk David Orr's office because they were ruled invalid, Vito contested the results.

It turned out that 33 of the uncounted ballots included Vito's name as a write-in candidate, but voters failed to connect the ends of the arrow corresponding with his name, making the ballots invalid.

In a decision that could help determine voter intent in the future, Cook County circuit court Judge Alfred Paul ruled that the intent of the 33 voters was clear. Writing Vito's name on the line showed enough intent to vote for him even though they didn't fill in the corresponding arrow.

"I had voter intent on my side, clearly and unequivocally," Vito said after the ruling.

While this marks the end of the 2015 run for Papantos, she says she'll stay involved.

"I will continue to be at every board meeting, just as I have for the past eight years," she said.

And when asked if she'll run again, Papantos said, "That's a decision that will need to be made in the next year."