Despite a mistake on the ballot in the race for a pair of two-year terms on the Brookfield-LaGrange Park School District 95 Board of Education, the Cook County Clerk will certify two winners after the votes are all counted.
James Scalzitti, deputy communications director for Cook County Clerk David Orr, acknowledged that the ballots mistakenly direct voters to choose just one candidate in the race. There are two two-year spots up for election.
It’s too late to change the ballots, Scalzitti said, and voters still should choose only one candidate when they cast their ballots.
“As long as the ballot says ‘vote for one,’ still just vote for one,” Scalzitti wrote in an email. “If you vote for two candidates on your ballot, it could register as an ‘overvote’ and neither vote on the ballot for that office would be counted.”
But once the votes are all tallied after the April 4 election, said Scalzitti, both candidates for the two-year terms – Brian Conroy and Joseph Ivan – will be declared winners.
“Since these two candidates are the only candidates for the two-year terms, and there are no write-in candidates either, the clerk’s office will, after Election Day, certify both as winners,” Scalzitti said.
The error resulted when school district officials failed to catch the mistake on a proof of the ballot sent to them by the Cook County Clerk. The mistake came to the attention of officials last week when a couple of people voting early questioned the directions on the ballot to vote for just one of the candidates for the two-year terms in District 95.
“The clerk’s office and the school district are both working to make sure this works out fairly for the candidates and voters,” Scalzitti said.
