Niles Votes Recounted For Disputed Trustee Seat

The dispute over who won a Niles village board seat in a close election April 5 may be a little closer to getting resolved after

Niles Trustee Al Weel, who lost his bid for re-election  by 18 votes, according to the Cook County Clerk's certified tally, requested the procedure, called a discovery recount.  He must now decide whether to continue challenging the results or drop the effort.

Both he and Rosemary Palicki, the apparent winner, attended.

"Nothing formal came out of it," Weel said Friday. "I'm going to mull over the data and my decision will come shortly, probably in the first part of next week."

He and trustee Chris Hanusiak watched as clerk's office employees showed them the paper scrolls on which electronic ballots were recorded, as well as absentee ballots and early voting ballots. 

According to the clerk's office, the discovery recount alone does not change the winner of the election. Weel would have to bring a lawsuit if he felt he had evidence that he had received more votes than Palicki received, spokesperson Courtney Greve told Patch.