Who Won Flossmoor's Trustee Race? Write-ins' Clout Delays Results

FLOSSMOOR, IL — Talk about a nail-biter: Flossmoor residents will be waiting three weeks to find out who their trustees are because two write-in candidates garnered so many votes that county elections officials delayed declaring a winner so all ballots could be counted thoroughly.

In fact, so many write-in candidates threaten to upset local races, Cook County officials said it would take the full time allotted by law to canvass and post results, Flossmoor officials and write-in candidate Michelle Nelson confirmed.

Nelson, who ran with a partner, Dave Bruni, said the campaign's own calculations Tuesday night showed that they were within "striking range" of knocking at least one candidate out of the race. Nelson and Bruni competed against Perry W. Hoag, Gyata Kimmons and James C. Mitros, whose names appeared on the official ballot for the three open seats.

Nelson said she called county officials today to ask them for the count. A representative informed her that the numbers in her race and in others indicated a full count in each could affect the results of the elections, and that the county needed more time to fully count all ballots cast.

"This says to me that people want a choice of who they’re going to vote for and they’re not ok with having uncontested races," she said. "It says they liked our energy and our excitement and they're looking for something different and not the status quo."

The village confirmed her account on its Facebook page.

"Knowing that the community is eager to learn the results of the April 2 Consolidated Election, Village staff reached out this morning (April 3, 2019) to the Cook County Clerk’s office to request information on the official results from yesterday’s election. Cook County is responsible for canvassing all election results including early voting, mail-in ballots and ballots cast on election day. Cook County representatives informed the Village that the elections office has until April 23 to canvass and post the election results to their website." The message encouraged residents to check the county's website on or after April 23.

The newly elected trustees — whoever they might be — will be sworn in at a special board meeting on May 13.