Skokie voters appeared to decide on Election Day, Tuesday, April 1, that the village’s current appointed clerk, a former Skokie Park District commissioner and polyglot, will continue to serve the village for the next four years.

Minal Desai, who was appointed clerk by Mayor George Van Dusen last April, declared victory in the three-way race for Skokie clerk. Desai won a little over 48% of the vote, James Johnson won 31% of the vote and Naema Abraham won 20% of the vote, in unofficial results reported by the Cook County Clerk’s office.

“I’m very excited. I’ve already implemented mobile events, and I’m working with our IT Department on the automation of the transfer stamps and getting that moving,” Desai told Pioneer Press. “Now that campaigning is over, I can focus on our office and other matters.”

Desai’s campaign centered on the clerk being a public servant. At a League of Women Voters candidate forum, she said “the clerk’s role is not a voting position, it’s not a policymaking position.”

As the village’s election chief, Desai will take on a new challenge in her first elected full term as clerk. Unofficial Cook County results indicate that Skokie voters approved a referendum that would permit a system called ranked choice voting in the village. 

However, a spokesperson for Monica Gordon, who was elected last November to head the Cook County Clerk’s office, the chief election authority for all elections in suburban Cook County,  said Illinois lawmakers would have to pass a law permitting the ranked choice voting system before she could put it into practice.

“The voters have decided they want it. I can work with the county… I’ll just wait and see what happens,” Desai said.

The previous Cook County Clerk, Cedric Giles, refused to implement ranked choice voting in Evanston after voters there  approved it for their municipal elections. A grassroots good government organization sued Giles’ office over the matter, but a Cook County judge decided to drop the suit.  

“I don’t have any influence over what their decisions are. So however that moves, I’m happy to work with them,” Desai said.