Glendale Heights candidate lost by two votes, seeks partial recount in village president race
After losing the Glendale Heights village president race by just two votes, Mike Ontiveroz says he is pursuing a partial recount of the election results.
Days after the April 6 election, unofficial results showed Ontiveroz with a 57-vote lead over Chodri Ma Khokhar. But Khokhar gained ground as vote-by-mail ballots came in.
Now unofficial results show Khokhar with 475 votes and Ontiveroz with 473. The DuPage County clerk is scheduled to certify the results on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Ontiveroz said he has enlisted the help of attorney Andrew Finko to pursue a discovery recount.
"I have decided to pursue the recount and have retained Mr. Finko's services in this matter," Ontiveroz said in an email. "I will have no further comment until the discovery recount process has been completed."
In a discovery recount, the county clerk would review the votes in no more than 25% of the precincts in a race. A discovery recount is conducted to help candidates determine if there are enough discrepancies to seek a court order for a complete recount.
On Wednesday, Khokhar was confident he will prevail.
"I will survive any challenge," Khokhar said. "This is a victory, a tremendous victory."
Finko has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DuPage County clerk's office seeking records concerning the processing of mail-in ballots. Finko contends that the number of mail-in ballots reported as being processed on certain dates changed on several reports put out by the county clerk's office.
During the campaign, Finko represented Glendale Heights resident Matthew Corbin, who challenged the candidate petitions of longtime incumbent Linda Jackson, Khokhar and another village president candidate, Ed Pope.
Ultimately, Khokhar's name appeared on the ballot. But the Illinois Supreme Court removed Jackson and Pope from the ballot.
Jackson has since asked the court to rehear her case. It has not indicated if it will do so.
Jackson has been village president since 1999.