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County Assessor's Race Now Includes Raila

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The roller coaster race for Cook County Assessor continues.

Andrea Raila who was on the ballot and then off the ballot is back on.

CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports the candidate is still not satisfied.

Candidate Andrea Raila walked out of court shaking her head.

"No one should go through what I had to go through," says Raila.

It's been a crazy campaign for Raila.

She was accused of having fraudulent names on her election petition.

So her candidacy was challenged by her opponents Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios and Fritz Kaegi.

While the process played out in court, Raila's name ended up on the early voting ballots.

But voters were given notices saying she was no longer a candidate.

The Cook County Board placed ads in newspapers saying a vote for Raila would not be counted.

"It's horrible," says Frank Avila, Raila's attorney. "They've taken out full page ads in multiple papers."

Two days ago, an appellate court ruled Raila's name can stay on the ballot.

Today she wanted the judge to force the election board to take out new ads.

"A one page ad saying that my name has been restored on the ballot," says Raila. "And that would be the fair thing to do."

Unnecessary is what an attorney for the election board argued.

And a judge agreed.

"We've already removed all the notices from polling places," says Adam Lasker. "And we have instructed all of our election staff that if anybody asks about it the answer is 'yes' the votes will now be counted for all the candidates."

Candidate Kaegi didn't have a direct comment about Raila's name on the ballot.

"Let's just not distract from the issues of the assessment system," says Kaegi.

CBS 2 reached out to Berrios' office.

He declined to comment on the ruling.

 

 

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