The margin separating votes for and against the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 facilities referendum tightened in the days after the Nov. 8 election, according to unofficial election results released by the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
After all 45 precincts had been reported, 118 more votes had been cast against the ballot measure than for it.
As of Nov. 22, that 118-vote margin had decreased to just 68 votes. A Cook County Clerk’s Office spokesperson told Wednesday Journal that roughly 5,000 votes remain uncounted but could not confirm what townships those votes came from.
On election night, the pro-referendum Vote Yes campaign team released a statement, noting that, although they were “deeply disappointed” in those preliminary results, they would wait until all absentee ballots are included in the vote totals.
District 200 officials, however, had released a statement conceding the referendum’s defeat.
According to an email statement released today, Monica Sheehan, head of the anti-referendum group OPRF Pragmatic Pool Solutions, said that her group “is closely watching the post-Election Day vote count” and that “vote no continues to lead by a narrow margin.”
The official results of the election won’t be certified until the end of November. At a Nov. 17 regular meeting, D200 Acting Supt. Joylynn Pruitt said that the administration will present “suggestions on a process for moving forward” at a Dec. 13 special meeting.
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com
