The DuPage County Board rejected a request this week to foot half the cost of former county Auditor Bob Grogan’s ballot recount of the November 2020 election in which he lost by 75 votes.
Seven board Republicans put forth a resolution asking that the county pay $56,307 toward the $112,615 bill for doing a full recount of the ballots cast, an action that DuPage County Judge Craig Belford ruled can be justified based on the results of a partial recount in December.
Initially County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek said the recount would cost Grogan $289,561 but Monday Belford reduced the price to $112,615. Grogan must come up with that amount by Aug. 27 in order for the recount to proceed.
The resolution was presented by board members Don Puchalski, Sam Tornatore, Pete DiCianni, Brian Krajewski, Grant Eckhoff, Greg Hart and James Zay although Hart later requested his name be removed.
Zay, R-Carol Stream, said he believed the expense could be justified as a county cost because the court order was based on what the judge found to be an election error in which 436 ballots case at a Downers Grove Township polling place were not initialed as required by state law.
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That could be enough to reverse the election results in which Democrat Bill White won with 233,121 votes to Grogan’s 233,046. Grogan was seeking a fourth term.
“What I’m saying is when it comes to elections, we must go above and beyond to make sure people’s votes are collected properly, that the right person won the election,” Zay said. “This resolution is saying the county board wants to ensure the clerk has enough money to do the recount ordered by the judge.”
Tornatore, R-Roselle, said the expenditure was not a political issue.
“I like Bill White, I like Bob Grogan,” Tornatore said. “Quite frankly, I don’t care who the auditor is. This isn’t about who the auditor is, it’s about getting a fair and honest election.”
The debate was heated at times, with spoken and written comments on both sides of the issue.
“I agree Mr. Grogan is entitled to exercise his right to have a recount,” DuPage NAACP President Michael Childress said. “He is not entitled to throw the bill over the wall to taxpayers.”
Board member Mary FitzGerald Ozog, D-Glen Ellyn, said she voted against the proposal because the request didn’t come from Kaczmarek.
“This request needed to come from the clerk and go through the (county board) finance committee,” she said.
“For us to even have this conversation is improper,” added board member Julie Renehan, D-Hinsdale. “It’s a question of timing. And we did have a fair and open election (in DuPage). To say otherwise, that is what’s incendiary.”
Grogan said after the Tuesday meeting that he wasn’t involved in the proposed resolution and learned of it only after it was filed.
“It is what it is and I move on to the next steps,” Grogan said.
As to Monday’s court ruling, Grogan said he appreciated the judge’s decision to lower the recount cost but in general the whole process has been “highly frustrating,” especially since the partial recount took place more than six months ago.
“But now we have a number and it’s my mission to go finish raising the funds,” he said.