Richard Blass Concedes After 13,000 Absentee Ballot Votes Turn Results Upside Down

ELMHURST, IL — Richard Blass, who was named by several media outlets as the 2016 winner of the DuPage County Board District 2 seat, announced his concession after a strange post-election turn of events.

Blass said in a statement his opponent, Liz Chaplin, called him the day after the election to concede.

Since then, though, the addition of new votes have led the results to turn around: it appears Chaplin defeated Blass in the end, by a mere 50 votes.

“An unusual turn of events since Election Day, led by the sudden influx of 13,000 absentee ballot requests and provisional ballots, have overturned the results,” Blass wrote in his statement. “The Board of Elections has informed me my campaign has fallen short by only 50 votes, a fraction of 1 percent of more than 73,000 votes cast.”

Blass said there was an odd instance in which thousands of ballot requests were delivered at once to the Board of Elections by an unknown person, but that he has decided to accept the election results regardless, “and believe that our country’s election system is based on citizens trusting their votes are counted in a fair and honest process.”

He concluded his statement by thanking the local mayors, county, state leaders and citizens who supported his campaign.

“My campaign promise was dedicated to serving and protecting the citizens of DuPage County,” he wrote. “As a DuPage County small business owner, and as a retired Deputy Chief of Police, I will continue to keep my eyes and ears open and use my experience to help others in any way possible.”

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