Write-in candidate seeking recount in DuPage County

DuPage recorder candidate Moon Khan is suing county election officials to find out once and for all if his write-in campaign generated enough votes to secure the Democratic Party's nomination.

In a lawsuit filed this week against the DuPage County Board of Election Commissioners, Khan is asking a judge to order a recount of the write-in votes cast in the March 15 Democratic primary. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

"We have an indication that the certified election results don't match the votes that were cast in certain precincts," said Keri-Lyn J. Krafthefer, Khan's attorney.

Khan pursued a write-in campaign seeking to become the Democratic nominee to face Republican Recorder Fred Bucholz in the November general election.

While no other Democrat sought the nomination, official results from the election commission indicate Khan failed to get the 844 write-in votes needed to become the nominee.

The Lombard resident ended up with just 699 votes, according to the results, even though more than 4,000 Democrats voted for the recorder's position.

Since the election, Khan and his attorney say they've found numerous precincts where people insist they voted for Khan even though the results don't reflect it.

In fact, Khan got credit for only one vote in his own precinct, even though his wife, son and neighbor voted for him. Khan also voted for himself.

Krafthefer said the situation is similar to what happened last week in Wayne Township, where three Republican precinct committeeman candidates picked up dozens of additional write-in votes during a court-ordered recount. As a result, two of those candidates were elected.

"We just think there's kind of an odd situation that happens with election judges not counting the write-in ballots on Election Night," Krafthefer said.

Commission attorney Pat Bond said the agency has a "high level of confidence" in its process that has bipartisan election judges count write-in votes.

Still, Bond said the commission is willing to cooperate with Khan and his attorney to see if a partial or full recount is necessary.

"Our whole objective is to make sure the votes cast are counted so that no voter is disenfranchised and no candidate is affected," Bond said.

Khan is trying to get the 145 additional votes needed to secure the nomination. So officials might need to recount only paper ballots and not review votes made on the county's electronic voting machines.

"We're trying to make it as easy and inexpensive as possible for everyone involved," Krafthefer said. "If we can get the same results without a full-scale recount, then we're happy to do that."