Per updated results posted yesterday afternoon by the Office of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough, Republican Frank R. DiFranco is clinging to a 485 vote lead over appointed Judge Patricia M. Fallon, 80,653 to 80,168.
Are these the final figures? Probably not. The enormous backlog of vote by mail ballots has taken a great deal of time to work through -- but the end must by now be clearly in sight.
First of all, the deadline is looming for new ballots to come in. Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will still be counted if received by tomorrow -- but these numbers have dwindled drastically, and understandably so. Even fee checks grudgingly mailed by reluctant clients don't take two weeks to wend their way through the mail. (Those conversations---I'm sure a great many FWIW readers have had them---go something like this: "Are you sure you mailed your check on the 3rd?" "Oh, yes, absolutely. I suppose I shall have to stop payment on it now... and, by the way, can I send you a new check for half?")
I heard from one election observer over the weeked who was absolutely certain there must be thousands more, maybe tens of thousands more, votes to count because suburban Cook County is still reporting a lower percentage turnout than in 2016. The 2016 suburban turnout was 72%. The most recent figure for this election is just a hair under 69%. "And you know there can't be fewer voters this year than in 2016," my informant insisted.
Well, I don't know that. Not yet anyway. Meanwhile, I will continue to update results in this race as they become available.
Meanwhile, in the 13th Subcircuit, in the race that seemed so close on Election Night, Susanne Michele Groebner has emerged as the clear winner, with a margin now of over 13,000 votes. This marks the second election cycle in a row that a Democrat has won in the 13th Subcircuit, an area in which, until recently, Democratic candidates didn't even bother to file.
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