McHenry County officials failed to include tens of thousands of ballots in Election Day results that were posted Tuesday, officials have disclosed.
The discovery has affected the outcome in one County Board race, where a Democratic challenger has now pulled ahead of a Republican incumbent.
The revised totals also mean that Democratic U.S. Rep.-elect Lauren Underwoodwon McHenry County after all, by a tiny margin of 169 votes, in still-unofficial results. On election night it appeared that McHenry was the only county in the 14th Congressional District that went to Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren.
The updated totals extend the margin of Underwood’s stunning defeat of Hultgren, a four-term incumbent, in an area that has traditionally gone Republican.
And a state representative from the area is asking the Illinois State Board of Elections to look into what happened.
A news release from McHenry County officials Thursday said it took until Wednesday evening for officials to notice what the release called an “anomaly” in the posted results in which a number of races had a “significant undervote.”
On Thursday afternoon, County Clerk Mary McClellan discovered that the website where the vote totals were displayed “had not updated with early voting numbers,” the release said.
County Board Chairman Jack Franks aid it appeared that about 24,000 votes were affected by the undercount.
…State Rep. David McSweeney, a Republican from Barrington Hills, said he called the Illinois State Board of Elections on Thursday to request an investigation into how the error occurred.
McSweeney referenced widespread problems that occurred in McHenry County in the 2016 primary election, when a court ordered polling places to remain open an extra 90 minutes because of issues with a new computerized registration system and other problems. Those led McClellan to issue an apology at the time.
“The state of play right now, at least it (the updated count) looks statistically reasonable, but I have no idea whether these are correct based on the history here,” McSweeney said.
The lawmaker noted that with McClellan not seeking re-election this year, “she’s no longer going to be the clerk after this election, which I think is good news.”
The full Chicago Tribune article can be found here.
South Barrington would become home to an extension of Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery for military veterans under a federal agency’s proposal that’s drawn concern from the village’s mayor about periodic rifle volleys expected at the site.
In October and November 2018, the D220 Board of Education is seeking community feedback on the master-facility plan, to narrow down which parts a potential referendum question should focus on in the April 2019 general election. The Board is gathering this feedback through a phone survey, online survey and Referendum Advisory Committee. To take the online survey or view the Master Plan at 
