By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — The Winnebago County Clerk’s Office said it is investigating a “discrepancy” that may affect the results of certain referendum questions.
Election judges discovered the issue while reviewing unofficial results of referendums in Tuesday’s primary election, Winnebago County Clerk Lori Gummow said in a news release.
“Due to the nature of the election and the fact that referendum questions vary from ballot to ballot, potentially all of the questions are under review,” Danielle Grindle, communications director for Winnebago County, said in response to our questions.
Election results are certified two weeks after the vote and are considered unofficial until then.
“This type of instance is exactly why we have up to two weeks to certify election results,” Gummow said in a news release. “We are looking into the potential error, and will work diligently to recount any necessary ballots to ensure the integrity of this election.”
Referendum questions on Tuesday got an unprecedented level of support across the board. For example, the city of Loves Park’s road tax extension passed with 97% support and just 28 votes against. Likewise, North Park Fire Protection District’s referendum got 97% support and Northwest Fire Protection District also got nearly that amount.
The River Bluff Nursing Home referendum got 76% support when city and county results are combined. But the county’s results alone showed about 97% support for the tax increase.
Gummow didn’t elaborate on the discrepancy in the news release, but Grindle offered a response to our questions.
“As for the error itself, our understanding is that the tabulator machines are working fine, but it has to do with the font and format in which the referendum questions were laid out in the ballots, which could have had an impact on the outcome,” she wrote in an email. “The Election Office is in the process of reviewing ballots and we expect to learn more in the coming days.”
The clerk’s office is working to confirm that the candidate races were not affected, Gummow said. Staff and bipartisan representatives will be working over the course of the next two weeks to review all necessary ballots.
Once results are certified, they will be posted at winnebagocountyclerk.com, Gummow said in the release.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.