Update: Pillai has 478-vote lead in Will County treasurer race

Challenger Raj Pillai held a 478-vote lead over incumbent Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy as of the vote count at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

Both candidates said the contest was too close to call with mail-in ballots still to be counted.

“I think the results are looking really good right now,” Pillai said. “We know there are still some mail-in ballots out there. We’ll just have to see where that goes.”

Potentially, there are thousands of mail-in ballots, Brophy said.

“Those might total 4,000 to 5,000 votes, and those are trending two-to-one Democrat,” Brophy said. “So, I don’t know.”

Nearly 10,700 of mail-in ballots that were requested in Will County have not yet been returned. Many of those may never be turned in. But any ballots still in the mail or put in the mail on Tuesday will be counted.

Brophy had 62% of the early-voting and mail-in ballots that were counted on Tuesday.

Pillai now 111,707 votes at 50.1%. Brophy has 111,230 votes at 49.9%.

The numbers are unofficial but marked a dramatic turnaround from early in the night when vote counts showed Brophy with 60% of the vote when the first precincts were counted.

’Brophy is seeking a second term.

Brophy established name recognition in Will County holding the treasurer’s office for four years and is known in Joliet, where he previously served on the City Council.

Pillai is a private CPA from Plainfield who has become a public figure in recent months while challenging activities at the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County, particularly a no-bid $495,000 marketing contract given to a friend of the commission’s former top administrator.

The campaign was controversial for a treasurer’s race, which typically does not draw much attention.

A previously unknown 2012 bankruptcy filing by Brophy in 2012 came to light last week. Brophy attributed the bankruptcy to the 2008 recession, which left him and business partners with a building they no longer could afford to keep. Republicans brought attention to bankruptcy and said Brophy should have brought it out himself.

Pillai early in the campaign blamed Brophy for not having intervened in a $495,000 no-bid marketing contract given through the Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County. But Brophy said the treasurer has no authority to intervene in county contracts.

Brophy raised questions about Pillai’s campaign finances, pointing to late filings of financial reports with the Illinois State Board of Elections. Pillai defended the filings, saying they were not late but amended as allowed. In turn, Pillai pointed to a $300 fine imposed by the state election board on Brophy’s finance committee in 2019.