He said Friday that the ballots were discovered a few days after the Nov. 6 election among the “spoiled ballots,” or those ballots deemed invalid, with a note that said they should be counted. On election night, Root initially had a 99-vote lead. On Nov. 20, provisional and mail-in ballots were added, and Brown received a 1-vote margin of victory.

Bean said Friday he could not get an answer from the election judges about the note or why the ballots were not counted on election night.

A combination of factors, from handling attorney questions to handling provisional and mail-in ballots and health issues from Bean, caused the ballots to not be tabulated with the rest of the provisional and mail-in ballots on Nov. 20. Bean notified the Republicans before Friday of the existence of the two ballots.

Local and state officials have previously said it would be up to the court to change the results of the election. But the Republican request cites a part of the Illinois Election Code that covers how ballots are retabulated as evidence for why the results should be reversed without the need for a court order.