Morfin: "Todavia No Es Lo Ultimo!"

Medill School of Journalism Graduate Student and AlderTrack's 25th Ward Special Correspondent Jim Foley filed this report earlier this morning:

Election day in the 25^th Ward.  Outside the Rudy Lozano Branch Library on 1805 S. Loomis, volunteers bundled in coats and hats patrolled the plaza and handed sample ballots to voters as they walked toward the doors.  The number of volunteers was divided equally between Alderman Daniel Solis and challenger Cuahutemoc Morfin, who was helped by volunteers for former candidate, Ambrosio Medrano.  Medrano was removed from the race by a State Supreme Court decision last Friday, which ruled that as a convicted felon, he may not run for city office. 

Sample ballots imprinted with Check Daley or Punch 52 for Morfin, littered the slushy sidewalks around the plaza and entrance to the library.  Even after Alderman Solis declared a victory last night, the votes are still being counted.

Cuahutemoc Morfin is not giving up.  As of 10:55 p.m., Solis declared himself a winner with 52 percent of the votes compared to Morfin with 20 percent.  Telemundo (channel 44) flashed to Solis’s party at Lalo’s on Maxwell Street.  Solis said in Spanish that he ran a campaign that expressed his vision for the community, but it was immediately followed by Morfin’s statement- a refusal to concede via phone from Cananas Restaurant, on 2310 S. Blue Island, where Morfin’s supporters gathered.

“Of course I’m not conceding,” Morfin said in Spanish, “we’re going to the second round.  There hasn’t been a victory.  The community is going to win.  There will be a run-off.”

As of this morning, 50 percent of votes in the 25^th have gone to Solis, and 23 percent to Morfin, with 97 percent of precincts in the ward already having reported, according to NBC news Web site. 

If Solis falls under 50 of the votes when all the votes are tallied, a run-off could be declared.  Morfin’s followers have already vowed to legally contest any Solis victory when the election board makes the official announcement.

They will challenge based on two factors: voting irregularities in 29th and 31^st precincts, and the element of Ambrosio Medrano- whose name was still on the ballot yesterday, and who was also counted in early voting. 

“His votes have to count, just as a write-in votes candidate counts.  If we put that all together, Danny Solis doesn’t get 50 percent,” said a Morfin volunteer, Jorge Murjica.

In other words, Morfin’s people believe there are grounds to challenge the election claiming there should be a re-count or re-vote on votes that went for Medrano since votes for Medrano didn’t count after Medrano was removed from the race.

“The machine is still the machine.  It’s not possible to defeat Danny in one election,” Murjica added, “that’s why the run-off is necessary.”

Expect Cuahutemoc Morfin and lawyers to challenge Solis’s victory.  April 17^th is the date for the city’s run-off elections.