A Vote for President Uncounted in Aurora, Illinois

The Illinois State Board of Elections did not count one 2012 General Election Presidential Ballot vote for Barack Obama in the City of Aurora.  In the state of Illinois, the administration of elections is performed by a combination of county governments and a number of city election commissions.  The final set of results, however, published by the Illinois State Board of Elections, is summarized only by County.  An oversight within this process is evident in the 2012 General Election Results for the City of Aurora.  Aurora is split between four counties – Kane, Kendall, Will, and DuPage.  The Aurora Election Commission administers the precincts residing in three of these counties (the DuPage County Election Commission administers those precincts entirely within its boundaries because a county commission supersedes a city commission, whereas a city commission supersedes a county clerk).  The precinct-level results from Aurora City are tallied by county and the totals are included with the results of Kane, Kendall, and Will, as appropriate.  However, the 2012 Statement of Votes Cast from the Aurora Election Commission, includes an entry labeled “Presidential Ballot”, with one vote cast for Barack Obama.  This ballot was not allocated to its home precinct.  When the tallies of the votes for President were made, the data suggest that only the physical precinct votes were tallied by county and included in the Official Vote.  This “Presidential Ballot” appears not to have a defined county, leaving it left uncounted.  The table below shows a detailed breakdown of the official results for Barack Obama for the counties of Kane, Kendall, and Will, showing the one vote discrepancy: