After taking a day to think it over, David Levin decided Tuesday he will seek a full recount in the Rock Island mayoral race.

Levin and his opponent, Dennis Pauley, who won April 7 with a vote of 3,066 to 3,053, spent most of Monday at the Rock Island County Clerk’s Office watching their attorneys count almost half the ballots cast.

Later Monday, Pauley was sworn in as mayor, replacing Mark Schwiebert after his 20 years in office.

Levin thinks there is still a chance the results of the election could change.

“By looking at the number of problems that we saw there in the precincts (Monday), we know that in a larger number of precincts, there is probably more errors,” he said.

By law, Levin was allowed to review up to 25 percent of the city’s precincts. He picked nine with the most ballots cast, which gave his attorney, Tom Benson, and Pauley’s attorney, Robert Parks, the chance to look at 3,123 votes, some on paper and others cast by touch screen.

In order to seek a full recount from a trial court judge, Levin must present evidence that the election was flawed and the results could still change.

During the partial recount, Levin found one absentee ballot on which the voter filled in the boxes for both Levin and Pauley. The voter then put an "X" through the vote for Pauley. That ballot was deemed an “over vote” and was not counted.

They also found nine ballots that election judges forgot to initial, with six going to Pauley, two to Levin and one to David Kimbell, who also was on the ballot, Benson said. Those ballots were included in the official results.

A trial court judge could rule that the ballots without initials do not count and that the “over vote” should count, which would make the difference in the election eight votes. Benson said there are 3,308 ballots they have not looked at yet.

Pauley was at the mayor’s office Tuesday when he learned of Levin’s decision.

“He’s within his right to do whatever he wants, and I just have to wait and see what happens,” he said.

In the meantime, Pauley is moving ahead with city business.

“I can’t slow down for something I can’t control,” he said.

Benson would like to file a petition in Rock Island County Circuit Court in the coming days. If a judge approves the recount, Levin will ask for a hand count. It will be up to the judge to decide when and how the recount would be conducted.

Levin said he would like a recount to happen as soon as possible.

“We are going to do this as quickly as we can,” he said. “We’re hoping (the judge) will look at it very quickly.”

Related

• No RI recount lawsuit, yet