EFFINGHAM, Ill- The Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Illinois says she’s still looking for an explanation for why her name wasn’t on hundreds of general election ballots in one Western Illinois county, hoping to get answers in the coming week, with the Nov. 8 election less than three weeks away.

Kathy Salvi, a Mundelein, Ill. attorney who won the June primary to face Democratic incumbent Tammy Duckworth and Libertarian Bill Redpath, held a news conference Thursday one week after what appears to have been a printing error was discovered in Schuyler County.

Roughly 300 absentee mail voters received a ballot that listed Peggy Hubbard as the GOP nominee. Hubbard, of St. Clair County, lost in the primary. Forty-five voters used the incorrect ballot. Salvi claimed Thursday that three of those voters, who went to the County Clerk’s office to vote for Salvi, were turned away.

Schuyler County Clerk Mindy Garrett was out of the office Friday, but has already told other news outlets that she claimed responsibility for the mistake, calling it “human error with no ill intent.” 

Salvi submitted an open records request Thursday asking Garrett for information about employees and their communication surrounding how ballots were printed. In addition, she’s looking for information about ballot requests coming from the Rushville Treatment and Detention facility, which she said made seven absentee ballot requests for the June primary but had already returned more than 100 for the general election.

Salvi attended a “Get Out The Vote” rally with other statewide Republican candidates in Effingham Thursday and didn’t answer directly when asked by Spectrum News if she plans to file a legal challenge. 

“We believe it should be left in the hands of the court and we’ve asked the clerk to seek counsel from a judge on how to fix this mess.”

A spokesman for the State Board of Elections said none of the completed ballots have been tabulated yet and were sequestered but that it’s unclear what will ultimately happen to them.  Those who received the first incorrect ballot but haven’t filled them out will get another one in the mail, along with an explanation of what happened.

Salvi says she’s still waiting for an apology and explanation.

Vote-by mail voters have until Nov. 8 to have their ballot envelope postmarked. Local election authorities can wait up until two weeks after election day to get mail-in ballots counted so the election can be certified.

Anyone who receives a vote-by-mail ballot could also decide to vote in person instead. They would need to sign an affadavit surrendering their vote-by-mail ballot.

"The election judge at the polling place/early voting location will see that you were sent a mail ballot but that it has not yet been voted and you’ll sign an affidavit to vote in person. This voids the mail ballot and the voter is instructed to destroy it if it arrives," Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, told Spectrum News.