15 votes separate District 1 Porter County Council candidates
Chicago Tribune
November 09 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-county-election-st-1110-story.html
While Porter County preliminary election totals came in Friday, the wait isn’t over for the candidates for District 1 on the Porter County Council, who are separated by a 15-vote margin in a race.
Democrat Bob Poparad, who formerly served on the county council, had 50.04 percent of the vote. Incumbent Andy Bozak, a Republican who is council president and was selected by caucus for the seat in January, has 49.96 percent of the vote.
“I’m not thinking anything,” Poparad said, adding he would likely attend the meeting when the election board goes through the250 provisional ballots Nov.16 and certifies the results.
He called the delay for results “embarrassing” as he prepared for another long wait.
“We’ll see. I mean, 15 votes ain’t much,” he said.
Bozak said he was buoyed that more than 9,000 people voted for him.
“It really gives you some hope. I’m positive that things go well,” he said, adding he planned on spending the weekend with his family and starting to put up his massive Christmas decoration display so he didn’t focus on the wait. “Internally, it kills you.”
The counting of 18,000 absentee ballots, including tallies from early voters and mail-ins, held up the release of the preliminary results after they were not distributed to polling places to be counted as they should have been on Election Day.
A growing crowd gathered outside the county’s voter registration office, where the counting took place, to await word from the election board about when the results would go public on the county’s website.
That announcement, in an informal news conference before candidates, residents, county employees, elected officials and Chicago television stations, came at noon, around the time the crowd realized the results were up and began scrolling through their phones.
“We strove for accuracy over expediency. I apologize for the time it took,” said Republican David Bengs, president of the election board.
There are three sets of provisional ballots for the election board to comb through: one for voters who cast ballots the morning of Oct. 27 in Portage but whose ballots were not properly initialed by poll workers and could not come back in to vote anew; a second for any ballots set aside during normal polling place hours on Election Day; and the third for ballots cast at 12 precincts that remained open after regular voting hours ended at 6 p.m.
In all, Bengs said the midterm generated 65,130 votes, almost 53 percent of the county’s registered voters.
“It’s probably the highest in county history. It’s got to be right up there at the top for midterm elections,” he said.
Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel, a Republican seeking his fourth term in office, trailed Democrat Gary Germann, with Germann securing 54.06 percent of the vote according to preliminary results.
Germann, who previously served as prosecutor from 1978 to 1982, thanked Gensel for his 30 years of public service in the prosecutor’s office in a statement on his campaign Facebook page.
“On a historic note, as the second Democratic prosecutor in Porter County history, I intend to responsibly serve this county with honor, integrity and a strong work ethic,” he said.
In a statement released shortly after the election results went live, Gensel said it had been a privilege serving the county’s citizens.
“I trust that Mr. Germann will continue to build upon the foundation I have laid to keep Porter County a great, safe place to live,” he said.
Board of Commissioners President Jeff Good, a Republican, garnered 51.84 percent of the vote total over Democrat Donna Perdue in a bid for a second term representing Center District, according to preliminary figures.
In a prepared statement, Good said he appreciated his fellow commissioners and the county attorney for handling the turmoil of the election. Good stepped away from the process because he was on the ballot.
“As time plays out the true story will emerge as to what happened. All of us on the ballot deserve a full scale review by the authorities who have oversight, whether state or federal,” he said.
Regardless of the outcome of the race between Bozak and Poparad, Democrats will again have a majority on the county council.
Democrat Greg Simms had 52.07 of the preliminary tally over Republican Mark Hoffman for the District 3 seat, which is now held by Republican Karen Conover, who did not run for another term.
Incumbent Mike Jessen, a Republican, had 61.56 percent of the preliminary vote total over challenger Susie Talevski, a Democrat. Democrat Jeremy Rivas was unopposed for another term representing District 2.
At-large council members Dan Whitten and Sylvia Graham are Democrats, and Jeff Larson is a Republican.
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