Voters cast more than 24,000 ballots in a crowded race for three seats on the Thornton Township High School District 205 board.
When all ballots were counted, the April 4 election was decided by a margin of 24 votes. That’s one tenth of 1% of all votes cast in the race.
Let that serve as a reminder that every vote matters and more people should participate in the odd-numbered year consolidated elections that determine important contests for local municipal, school, park and library boards and other taxing districts.
Only 228,962 of the 1.6 million registered voters in suburban Cook County cast ballots in this election, for a paltry turnout of 13.81%. Turnout was 16.64% in Will County, 20.33% in DuPage and 17.42% in Kane, the DuPage clerk’s office reported.
Certified results that Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s office announced Tuesday showed a change in which candidates were leading in the District 205 contest on April 4.
The final tally showed Stafford C. Owens as the top vote-getter, followed by incumbent board President Nina Graham and Kara Ellen Davis.
Owens led the pack with 18.52% of the vote. He received 534 votes more than Graham, who finished second with 16.3%. Davis finished third with 16.16% of the vote, just 24 votes ahead of Sherry Jackson, who received 16.06%.
Owens played quarterback for Thornton High School in the 1990s and has taught at Sandburg Elementary and Gwendolyn Brooks Junior High schools in Harvey and Thornridge High School in Dolton. He served on the Thornton Township Board from 2014 to 2021, when the late Frank Zuccarelli was township supervisor.
Graham has served on the District 205 board for eight years and previously served on the South Holland School District 150 board. She is retired after teaching in West Harvey/Dixmoor District 147 for 33 years.
Davis is an author and physician with UChicago Medicine. Her husband, Bishop Lance Davis, is past senior pastor of New Zion Covenant Church in Dolton.
At the end of the night April 4, Jackson led Davis by nine votes out of 23,298 ballots counted at the time. Since April 4, another 706 ballots were counted, slightly less than 3% of the 24,004 total votes cast in the District 205 contest.
“Mail ballots received by April 4 were included in the election night totals,” Yarbrough’s press team said in response to an inquiry. “Thereafter the unofficial results for additional mail ballots were updated periodically as they came in until the final proclamation on April 25.”
The District 205 outcome may indicate the growing political clout of state Sen. Napoleon Harris, D-Harvey. Harris endorsed the three candidates who received the most votes from the field of seven hopefuls.
Owens, Graham and Davis ran together as the Putting Children First slate. They announced the Harris endorsement April 2, two days before Election Day. Incumbent board vice president Annette Whittington finished fifth in the field of seven with 13.86% of the vote. Board member Albert Butler did not seek another term.
Two others in the contest were Samir Vohra, who finished with 10.94%, and Donkor W. Parker Sr., who received 8.18% of the total.
Jackson, an English teacher and athletic director at Thornridge High School in Dolton, is a sister of former MLB and NFL star Bo Jackson. Harris also played in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders, Minnesota Vikings and Kansas City Chiefs.
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During last June’s unusual summer primary, voters picked Harris from a field of five heavyweights to succeed the late Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli as the township’s Democratic committeeperson.
In last year’s close race for committeeperson Harris bested four others, including Calumet City Mayor and state Rep. Thaddeus Jones and Phoenix Mayor Terry Wells, who succeeded Zuccarelli as chair of the board that governs South Suburban College in South Holland.
Another notable number from this month’s election is 63,674. That’s the total number of mail ballots cast by suburban Cook voters, according to the clerk’s office. Whether people vote by mail, vote early in person or cast ballots on Election Day is a topic of considerable current debate in political circles.
During the pandemic, lawmakers and voting authorities accommodated greater numbers of people who wanted to vote by mail instead of in person. This had the potential to change how people thought about elections, and when vote totals were announced. Some might have thought that in future elections final vote tallies could change dramatically from where things stood when available ballots were counted on election night.
Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed election fraud was the reason he lost the 2020 presidential election. In some jurisdictions he had more votes on Election Day but was outnumbered when mailed ballots were counted during following days.
One key takeaway from this election is that results reported on election night accounted for the vast majority of total ballots cast. Mailed ballots that trickled in after Election Day had the potential to change the outcome of a close race. But outstanding ballots counted after Election Day are unlikely to change the outcome of contests in which one candidate has a significant lead over another.
Another takeaway is that voting by mail and early voting are safe, secure and convenient options designed to encourage overall voter participation. Schools account for the vast majority of property taxes paid by homeowners, typically about 70% of tax bills.
One would think something that has such a major impact on household budgets would draw more than 13.81% of the eligible electorate to select representatives who will decide how schools spend local tax dollars.
District 205’s three high schools serve 4,584 students, according to Illinois Report Card data. The district’s student population is 74% low-income and 69% chronically truant.
Ted Slowik is a columnist for the Daily Southtown.