Board of Elections is ready to count votes in Rockford School Board race
ROCKFORD (WREX) - Election season is over for some, however for the Rockford Public School 205 Board Member seat the race is far from over.
Ken Scrivano faces off against Kamrin Muhammad. Scrivano did have a five vote lead on Muhammad but not anymore.
The current vote total is 1,047 in favor of Muhammad and 1,041 for Scrivano.
Election authorities have two weeks to count all votes, and about 25 mail-in ballots are outstanding in this race.
Even in a race this close there s no law that requires a discovery or a partial recount, but candidates can request one if they choose.
Voter turnout in Rockford was the lowest for any mayoral election in the city in decades.
About 11% of the city’s 89,320 registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, which featured incumbent Mayor Tom McNamara running unopposed.
“Because we had contested aldermanic races, I think that brought people out into those wards,” Rockford Board of Elections Executive Director Stacey Bixby said. “But since the mayor’s race was uncontested, some people probably felt that there was just no reason to go vote.”
In 2017, 25.6% of the city’s registered voters cast ballots when McNamara defeated independent candidate Rudy Valdez and Republican Brian Leggero.
ROCKFORD Election results for Rockford School Board subdistrict C took a 180 Wednesday after 25 votes from mail-in ballots were added, putting challenger Kamrin Muhammad ahead by six votes.
After unofficial Election Day results were posted Tuesday night, School Board incumbent Ken Scrivano was ahead by five votes. Scrivano was first elected to the board in 2011 and currently serves as the board s president.
Rockford Board of Elections, one of two election authorities that contribute to the results in subdistrict C, added votes from 89 mail-in ballots Wednesday afternoon, 31 of which came from voters in the school district s subdistrict C.
More mail-in votes are expected to be added in the days and weeks to come.
ROCKFORD Early voting begins Friday in the April 6 consolidated election, which features five contested City Council races.
Once early voting opens, Rockford residents can vote 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Rockford Board of Election Commissioners, 301 S. Sixth St. Early voting will also be available Saturday, April 3, from 8 a.m. to noon.
Voters can cast their ballots at their designated polling place on Election Day.
In addition, voters can request a vote-by-mail ballot by logging on to voterockford.com. As of Wednesday, 103 people had requested a vote-by-mail ballot, said Stacey Bixby, executive director of the Rockford Board of Elections.
There is no primary in Winnebago County outside of Rockford.
Mayor Tom McNamara, who will sail unopposed to a second term, is urging everyone to vote so they, he hopes, support the road referendum.
McNamara said the infrastructure sales tax allowed the city to save money, do more work, reduce property tax rates, retire road debt and improve the condition of roads and bridges citywide while leveraging millions in state and federal transportation dollars for significant projects. The most important item on the ballot is the renewal of the road referendum, McNamara said. This is critical for our city.
There have been four municipal primaries since 2001. Turnout for those primaries ranged from 3,530 voters, or 4% of registered voters, in 2009 to 7,092 voters or 8% in 2005.