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BY JOE CARLSON
jcarlson@nwitimes.com
219.933.4174 | Saturday, May 06, 2006 | (No comments posted.)
HAMMOND | After a week of ups and downs in a rollercoaster primary election, Peter Katic emerged as the probable third winning Democrat running for the North Township Advisory Board.
After Lake County election officials finished counting all the votes cast by machine and absentee ballots Friday, Katic appeared to edge out fourth-place runner-up Pete Auksel.
Katic edged out Auksel 5,573 to 5,522, scoring a 51-vote margin among the 11,095 votes cast for the two men.
Although Lake County officials still have yet to tally the provisional ballots cast by people who did not bring proper identification to the polls Tuesday, Katic and Auksel both acknowledged it seemed unlikely that they would change the outcome.
Katic pledged to work with Township Trustee Frank J. Mrvan and his fellow board members, while being a watchdog of public funds in carrying out the township's mission.
On election night, Auksel appeared to have won by a margin of about 20 votes, but that changed after county officials the next day began counting the votes cast on the new handicapped-accessible Infinity voting machines.
"I'm disappointed in watching election returns in our county and neighboring Illinois, where it takes days on end ... to get election results finalized," Katic said, "especially when we are using supposedly the most modern computerized election machinery."
"The results were faster when we were using the old iron horse machines," he said.
Auksel did not officially concede defeat in the race, but he said it seemed "highly unlikely" that the provisional ballots would overcome his 51-vote deficit.
"You go to bed and you're leading by 19, and you wake up and you're down by 52. It's a little frustrating, but it's a new process," Auksel said. "If it does take a little longer, as long as the results are accurate, I don't have a problem with it."
Two other Democrats were tapped to run in November, Richard Novak and Ralph Flores Jr. Republican Blanche Vercel will also be on the ballot for the three open seats on the township board.
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