Parker keeps lead in Will County Clerk election after final vote count

Annette Parker kept her lead in the election for Will County Clerk after final mail-in votes were counted Tuesday.

The race for county clerk was close enough on Election Night that Parker, a Republican County Board member, did not claim victory and Democrat Michelle Stiff did not concede defeat with thousands of late-arriving mail-in votes still to be counted.

But the count on Tuesday left Parker ahead by 1,030 votes.

“I sincerely appreciate the trust that was bestowed on me by the voters of Will County,” Parker said. “I’m fully committed to serving the residents to the best of my ability.”

Parker is the only Republican to have won a countywide office in county government in the November election.

The two candidates were separated by 3,661 votes on Election Night with Parker having 50.6% of the total.

That margin narrowed to 50.2% with Parker getting 158,207 votes and Stiff getting 156,977. Another 7,763 votes, most of which were late-arriving mail-in ballots, were counted Tuesday.

The county clerk’s office on Tuesday counted mail-in votes that were posted by Nov. 5 but arrived the week of the election or later. Provisional ballots also were counted.

Results will become official after a canvass on Nov. 26.

Parker is a 10-year Will County Board member from Crest Hill who also is executive director of the Lockport Chamber of Commerce.

Her election means the clerk’s office will change party hands after Democrat Lauren Staley Ferry resigned in August to take a job in Joliet as city clerk. Staley Ferry has since changed her name to Lauren O’Hara.

O’Hara left in mid-term, and the clerk’s position was put on the ballot for a special election to fill out the remainder of the term. Parker was elected for a two-year term, and the clerk’s position is scheduled to be up for election again in 2026.