While it's deadline day for local election officials looking to submit their Feb. 2 vote totals, Sen. Kirk Dillard is still trailing his GOP rival Bill Brady--but not conceding yet.
Dillard has been within a few hundred votes of Brady since the primary, but was hoping a late flow of provisional and absentee ballots would give him the boost he needed. Dillard did pick up a few more votes from the late ballots, but not enough to surpass Brady's lead.
Dillard told the Chicago Tribune if state election officials issue a final number that separates the rivals by more than 100 votes, he would avoid proceeding with an expensive recount. The Tribune reports:
The numbers being forwarded to Springfield by local election officials are supposed to have been double checked through a canvassing of local precinct results. Dillard said he still is hoping there was a small error somewhere that could change the outcome of a statewide election involving more than three-quarters of a million ballots. "One little error changes everything," he said.
But local election officials have assured Dillard: "I have no hint of fraud, no hint of improprieties" in the results, he told the Tribune.
Though Dillard won't concede today, he told the newspaper he would "prefer" to make a move by March 5.