It's been two weeks since the Illinois statewide election, and until Wednesday, there was still no clear answer about who would be the state's next treasurer. With the count of absentee and provisional ballots the lead switched from Republican Tom Cross by a few hundred votes to Democrat Michael Frerichs by a few thousand votes in a day. Cross condeded to Frerichs Wednesday.
There was some speculation that if either candidate won the official vote Nov. 30 from the State Board of Elections the defeated candidate would call for a recount, but with Cross' concession that process will be avoided.
See what the Frerichs and Cross campaigns had to say about all of this at Reboot Illinois.
While the state waits to find out who will handle its money, another conversation about state finances rages on. Reboot Illinois' Madeleine Doubek chimed in with her own perspective on the Illinois Lottery after host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, John Oliver, made a sweeping criticism of state lotteries on his show.
Doubek agrees that it's kind of weird for state governments to be sponsoring gambling with the purpose of using the revenue to fund state operations. She contributes her own beef with the Illinois Lottery, too: why is the lottery using veteran aid to entice Illinoisans to gamble? Read her whole argument at Reboot Illinois.
