Thursday, February 4, 2010

Election recount could be costly and delayed

If Illinois decides on doing its first ever statewide election recount, the process won't begin for at least a month. No recount can be started until the election results — including early and absentee ballots — are finalized March 5.

The monetary cost of a recount shouldn't mean much to candidates who have raised and spent far more during their primary campaigns. But the political price of a fierce intraparty battle could be enough to give candidates pause, said Ron Michaelson, former director of the state board of election and a political science professor at the University of Illinois-Springfield.

Michaelson's comments were featured in a Feburary 4, 2010, article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Download a PDF of the article: 20100204-STLpostdispatch-recount.pdf