While most of Illinois’ primary elections have already been called by NBC News and the Associated Press, there are a handful going right down to the wire.
An unprecedented primary election unfolded in Illinois, with ballots cast in a rare contest for U.S. senator. Natalie Martinez reports. While most of Illinois’ primary elections have already been called by NBC News and the Associated Press, there are a handful going right down to the wire.
Officially, Illinois election results won’t be certified for several weeks, but a couple of races remain razor-tight as vote counting continues across the state.Once those ballots are fully counted and 100% of precincts have reported, is there any avenue for a candidate to seek a recount, or to have one automatically initiated?Under Illinois state law, there is no automatic recount trigger, so even if an election is decided by just one vote, a recount isn’t a guarantee.Who is running for Illinois governor and who are their running mates? Meet the candidates According to the law, a candidate can request a recount if their vote total is at least 95% of the vote tally of the frontrunner in a race. In the case of the Illinois Democratic Party’s comptroller primary, State Sen. Karina Villa is not within that margin in her race, trailing State Rep. Margaret Croke by just under 26,000 votes with 99.44% of precincts reporting as of Wednesday afternoon. If Villa were to close the gap, through the remaining precincts or by mail-in or provisional ballots, she could request a recount, but under state law her campaign would have to pay for it, and the results wouldn’t be binding without an order from a judge. In a case where a recount reveals a different outcome, a judge can rule a candidate the winner, and can choose to reimburse the candidate for the cost of the recount, though that is not a guarantee.There are select states where runoffs are held if no candidate receives 50% of the vote in a primary, but Illinois law does not have a runoff provision. In municipal elections however there is a runoff procedure in some races, most notably in the Chicago mayoral election and City Council elections. The last three mayoral elections have gone to runoffs, with Rahm Emanuel, Lori Lightfoot and Brandon Johnson winning those votes. In a run-off election, the top two vote-getters in the first round square off in a winner-take-all final round, typically held shortly after the votes are certified.Under state law, election results have to be certified no later than three weeks after the conclusion of the election.
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