Parker takes slight lead in tight Will County clerk race

Annette Parker took a narrow lead in the race for Will County clerk when final ballots were counted late Tuesday night.

Parker, a Republican, held a lead of 3,661 votes over Democrat Michelle Stiff, a margin close enough that Parker did not claim victory and Stiff did not concede defeat. Late-arriving mail-in votes and provisional ballots still need to be counted.

The county as of Tuesday had about 5,900 mail-in ballots yet to be counted, and more are coming.

But Parker was the only Republican candidate for countywide office who emerged out of election night with a lead in her contest.

Parker trailed through the night until the last ballots were counted. The final tally posted late Tuesday showed her with 50.6% of the vote.

The unofficial count had Parker at 155,541 votes to Stiff’s 151,880.

“I’m almost dumbfounded,” Parker said when reached after midnight to comment on the sudden turnaround in the tally. “All of a sudden that last number came in, and I’m like, ‘What the heck happened?’”

Parker said she would wait to see the results of remaining mail-in votes and was not ready to claim victory.

“I’ve been through this before,” said Parker, a member of the Will County Board who represents a district that includes Crest Hill. “I’m not going to claim [victory]. I’m pleasantly surprised by the numbers. I’m encouraged by it.”

Through most of the night, Stiff held a lead with about 52% of the vote.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Stiff said Wednesday, saying she, too, would wait for the final count. “There is still a possibility. There are still write-in ballots to be counted.”

Historically, Democrats have gained more votes from mail-in ballots than Republicans. Still to be counted are ballots that are postmarked by Nov. 5 but arrived after the county clerk’s office did a count of mail-in ballots Sunday.

Those ballots will be counted Nov. 19, county Clerk Charles B. Pelkie Jr. said.

Stiff had 53% of the vote from early voting and mail-in ballots that arrived before the Sunday count. That lead slipped to 52% once the count from Tuesday voting started, but it stayed at that level until the last precincts were counted.

The final ballots counted Tuesday amounted to about 6% of the vote total. They came from precincts reporting through the night and not from any particular area of the county, Pelkie said. A processing slowdown led to the ballots being counted at the end of the night.

Stiff and Parker are in a special election that put the county clerk race on the ballot after former Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry, a Democrat, left the job in August to become city clerk for Joliet.

Either Stiff or Parker will serve the remaining two years of the term until the county clerk is up for election again in 2026.

Stiff is a Joliet Township High School District 204 Board member. She also works for the county as director of the Workforce Center of Will County.

Parker, in addition to being a member of the Will County Board, is chief executive officer of the Lockport Chamber of Commerce.