Oak Lawn Election Results, When Will Write In Votes Be Counted

OAK LAWN, IL — After a lackluster election season of unopposed races and shortages of candidates in the April 1 consolidated election, the burning question in Oak Lawn is when will the write-in votes be counted?

Oak Lawn residents went to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots for municipal, school, library and park board races. Voter turnout was 9.49 percent. Of the village’s 40,169 registered voters, 3,811 ballots were cast, according to the Cook County Clerk.

The village clerk and trustees from even-numbered districts (2, 4, 6) on the Oak Lawn Village Board ran unopposed. Incumbent Terry Vorderer faced write-in challenger Catherine O’Shea, and is headed for his second term, garnering 3,267 votes, according to unofficial tallies.

In the library trustee race, three candidates vied for two seats on the Oak Lawn Public Library Board of Trustees. The top vote-getters were the library-union backed Raymond Schwarzkopf with 2,215 votes (35.56%) and Karrie Mallo with 2,258 (36.27%). Dave Weinert, the other library union-backed candidate, finished with 1,753.

Oak Lawn-Hometown Dist. 123 also came up a candidate short for four open seats in its school board race. Bryant P. Evans ran as a write-in.

Nobody petitioned to get their name on the ballot for an open seat on the Oak Lawn Park District Board of Commissioners. Steve Loulousis, Celena Russ and Andrea Zumhagen ran as write-ins.

But the race everyone seems to have their eyes on is the write-in contest between Ben Bush, Anas Khraiwish and Kenneth Yerkes for an open seat on the Oak Lawn Community High School Dist. 229 Board of Education.

As one voter put it on a neighborhood social media group: “The only reason I voted in this election was to keep a nut job off the school board. When will write in votes be counted?”

It’s not clear which “nut job” the voter is referring to. Two years ago, the D229 board also came up short a candidate. Seventy-six votes were cast for those candidates, which included Jerry Hurkes, Alexandra Phillips and Vernon Zumhagen. The election went to Zumhagen.

In answer to the voter’s question, write in votes will start being counted Friday, April 4, and will continue in the next week for as long as it takes, an official from the Cook County Clerk’s office told Patch.