July 05, 2025
Shaw Local
Election NewsSubscribeeNewspaperLocal Events CalendarGames and Puzzles
Election

Will County certifies Nov. 8 election results

Candidate have until Tuesday to file for recounts

By Bob Okon
Election 2024
Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre swears in Will County Clerk Lauren Staley-Ferry at the Will County Building in Joliet on Thursday.

Will County Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre swears in Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry for a second term of office Thursday at the Will County Building in Joliet. Colon-Sayre won her election for circuit court judge by a 0.68% margin, according to the official results following an election canvass on Tuesday. (Gary Middendorf - gmiddendorf@shawmedia/Gary Middendorf)

The Will County vote totals are now official for the Nov. 8 General Election, which featured thin margins of victory for three countywide offices.

Anyone who wants a recount has until Tuesday to notify the Will County Clerk’s Office.

“We have not heard from anybody yet,” Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry said Thursday.

The canvass of votes certifying the election results as official took place on Tuesday. The official count did not change results in the three tight races, two of which which had less than a 1% margin of difference and one of which was just over 1%.

Democrats in all three races reversed Election Night results when thousands of mail-in ballots that arrived after the Sunday before Nov. 8 were counted on Nov. 15.

Two of those Democrats, Sheriff Mike Kelley and Treasurer Tim Brophy, were sworn into office for new terms on Thursday.

Will County elected officials Tim Brophy, Mike Kelley and Lauren Staley-Ferry stand for their swearing-in ceremony at the Will County Building in Joliet on Thursday.

Will County officials (from left) Treasurer Tim Brophy, Sheriff Mike Kelley and Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry stand for their swearing-in ceremony at the Will County Office Building in Joliet on Thursday. (Gary Middendorf - gmiddendorf@shawmedia/Gary Middendorf)

Kelley had 114,873 votes, and Republican Jim Reilly had 112,529 votes, a 1.04% margin of difference, in the official tally on the sheriff’s race.

The margin of difference in Brophy’s race against Raj Pillai was thinner at 0.94% as Brophy got 115,988 votes and Republican Pillai got 113,843 in the official results.

Pillai last week issued a statement saying he would not seek a recount. Pillai said while the results were tight it was improbable that he could make up the difference in a recount.

Even tighter was the 0.68% margin of victory held by Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre, 114,563 votes, over Joliet attorney Bob Bodach, 113,038 votes, in a race for Will County circuit judge.

Colon-Sayre joined the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday to swear in Staley Ferry, who also was reelected in the Nov. 8 election.