Recount rescheduled for Cedar Lake Town Council race decided by 3 votes

A Democratic candidate for Cedar Lake Town Council filed a petition for a vote recount after losing to the Republican incumbent by three votes.

The recount was scheduled for Wednesday, but it was rescheduled for Thursday because the Democratic member of the recount commission did not show up.

Mary Joan Dickson, the Democratic candidate, filed the petition for recount of the nine precincts that voted for Cedar Lake Town

Council Ward 7, according to court records.

Dickson received 710 votes and incumbent Councilman Richard Sharpe received 713 votes, according to election data from the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration.

As part of a court order, all ballots, tally sheets, poll lists and voting machines and electronic systems “used in or relating to the votes cast” for Cedar Lake Town Council Ward 7 have been set aside in a secure area of the Lake County Government Center, according to court records.

Voting recounts are conducted by a three-member recount commission: a Democratic member, a Republican member and an election mechanic, said LeAnn Angerman, assistant director of the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration.

In the current Cedar Lake recount petition, Lake County Councilman Christian Jorgensen, R-7th, is the Republican member, George Galanos is the Democratic member and Andre Manzo is the election mechanic.

In the Cedar Lake recount petition, a hearing date has been set for Friday.