Summers keeps lead over Enright in Will County coroner race

Unofficial vote totals Tuesday night showed incumbent Laurie Summers maintained a lead over Robert Enright in the race for the Will County Coroner’s Office.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Summers has 158,391 votes and Enright has 146,308 votes, according to election data from the Will County Clerk’s Office.

“I’m excited,” Summers said Tuesday night.

Enright said there’s still 12,000 mail-in ballots that remain outstanding. He said there’s a “glimmer of hope.”

“We’ll see what happens in the next two weeks,” Enright said. “It almost seems insurmountable at this point, but never say never.”

Democrats have controlled the coroner’s office for 36 years.

Enright, a funeral director, is seeking to make the coroner’s office more transparent and more accessible for funeral homes. Summers is seeking to continue growing the capabilities of the coroner’s office and addressing the underlying conditions of drug-related deaths.

Summers has counted last year’s opening of the new Will County coroner building in Joliet as one of her biggest accomplishments.

Enright said he wants to make sure “all employees are treated the way they should be treated, especially if they are contracted union members.”