Township trustee candidate James Cervantes and Eighth Ward Alderman hopeful Joel Erickson have asked the Cook County Clerk’s Office to conduct recounts after losing their bids for election by razor-thin margins.

Only four votes separated the two men from their opponents, Edward Espinoza for trustee and Nora Laureto for alderman. Both candidates filed the requests May 4, the deadline to ask for a recount following the county’s certification of the April 7 consolidated election results, according to Courtney Greve, a spokeswoman for the Cook County Clerk’s Office.

Illinois law allows losing candidates who are within 5 percent of the winning candidate to request a discovery recount of up to 25 percent of the precincts in their races at a cost of $10 per precinct.

Cervantes, an Independent Voters of Berwyn candidate, requested a recount in 11 of the 44 precincts. He was down by a total of 351 votes in those six precincts.

Incumbent Independent Erickson requested one of the four precincts in his race be counted. Erickson lost that precinct by 12 votes, the largest margin out of the four precincts.

Erickson did not immediately return calls for comment. Laureto said Erickson’s request for a recount did not surprise her.

“I don’t know what he thinks he going to find, but he’s welcomed to do it and I will be there to watch him do it,” Laureto said.

County officials will recount Cervantes’ precincts at 9 a.m. Monday, May 18, and Erickson’s precinct at 9 a.m. Tuesday,  May 19, at a Chicago warehouse, Greve said.

The recount results will come a week after the new Berwyn City Council and Berwyn Township Board of Trustees are seated. Trustees were sworn in Monday, May 11, while Mayor Robert Lovero and the eight city aldermen were seated Tuesday, May 12. The county clerk’s office certified Espinoza and Laureto as the winners and both were seated in their respective offices this week. 

“Even if someone gained (enough) votes, it wouldn’t change the outcome,” Greve said.
Instead, if a mistally is discovered, the candidates could use the change in the vote total as evidence to petition a judge to order a full recount. Cervantes said he would be unlikely to pursue legal action, even if the vote did change after the recount.

“From my understanding, its a very long process,” Cervantes said. “I don’t think I want to put myself through that or the city, or any of the candidates.”

After being sworn in on Monday, Espinoza said he was eager to begin work as a new trustee.

“Nobody believes the vote count is going to change,” Espinoza said. “I’m ready to start working with everyone.”