Chicago: District 303 vote to be reviewed

By William Presecky
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 19, 2006

Several members of a citizens group that campaigned unsuccessfully to win approval for St. Charles School District 303 to sell $86 million in building bonds have asked to review the March 21 vote in several precincts.

A petition for a so-called "discovery recount" was filed with Kane County Clerk John "Jack" Cunningham on Monday by members of Citizens for Excellence in Education, which supported the bond sale.

A meeting is set for Thursday to establish a schedule for the recount, Cunningham said.

The District 303 referendum proposal failed by roughly 1 percent, or about 130 votes out of more than 13,460 cast in Kane and DuPage Counties. None of the district's three precincts in DuPage County is included in the recount. The group has asked to examine results in nine of the district's 43 precincts in Kane.

Concerns were raised during and immediately after the primary that numerous St. Charles-area voters were unable to cast ballots when they arrived at their polling places. The supply of paper used to record the state-mandated paper trail required of all new electronic voting machines had been exhausted temporarily and time was needed to restock.

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