South Cook News

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Joe Biden is ahead in five keys states with only slim margins. 

The latest vote counts show Trump trailing in Georgia by 12,651 votes, Arizona by 14,468 votes, Wisconsin by 20,540 votes, Pennsylvania by 48,997 votes and Nevada by 36,274 votes.

This incident is a good reminder why allowing for a full canvass in a tight race is worth the wait.

The Trump campaign has already expressed its intention to request a recount in several states. 

Illinoisans may remember an incident from 2003 where then-candidate Michelle Markiewicz Qualkinbush filed suit against Gregory Skubisz alleging unfair tactics during the election. Qualkinbush alleged that there were voting irregularities, such as improper assistance given to disabled voters by Skubisz’s campaign members and absentee ballot issues. 

During a bench trial, Skubisz admitted that his campaign had made an effort to procure absentee ballots, but he denied any assistance provided to voters by his campaign workers. Michael Kaszak, who was with Skubisz’s campaign, also admitted to procuring absentee voters for Skubisz.

"In summary, the Court finds that the SKUBISZ absentee voter campaign followed deliberate, intentional and aggressive practices to assure the votes of handicapped voters,” the trial court concluded. “The ballots cast by these voters were poisoned by KASZAK to a degree that the fair and equitable remedy is to subtract each and every one of the votes from the SKUBISZ vote total. The Court finds that it would be inequitable, an injustice, to use Respondent's method of deducting votes.”

Qualkinbush was then declared the winner. 

Absentee ballots have been noted as a point of vulnerability by researchers.