Due to a conflict of interest, one of the 2017 Mrs. Illinois America Pageant judge’s scores had to be eliminated from the final scoring and results. The conflict was investigated by the Mrs. America pageant staff and the following was found and decided:

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To Julie Aceto - Mrs. Illinois America director, 

This email is to notify you that the the Ethics Committee has completed an independent investigation and audit of the scoring of the 2017 Mrs. Illinois America Pageant.  The ballots of one of the judges, who may have had a conflict, were eliminated. The final ballots were then re-tabulated. The scores of the winner, Edyta Smolka and first runner-up, Joey Pearlman, unanimously remained unchanged. Edyta Smolka was the clear winner. Additionally, our investigation revealed that there appeared to be no coercion among the judges. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. 

Regards 

Carl Schway

Chairman for the Ethics, Standards, and Procedures Committee for Mrs.America

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This was obviously a very unfortunate occurrence that calls into question the ethics and impartiality of the judging of the Mrs. Illinois America pageant. The directors and staff want to apologize on the behalf of everyone involved and insist that appropriate measures are being taken to ensure this never happens again; It is NOT a reflection of how the pageant is run as this has not happened in the 35+ years the Aceto family has been directors of this pageant.

The Mrs. Illinois America pageant does not condone or allow personal contact of contestants with judges in any way, and once it was known that this possibility existed at this year’s pageant, we immediately took what we felt was the appropriate action by investigating through the Ethics, Standards, and Procedures Committee for Mrs. America. The results may or may not reflect our wishes based on what happened, but we must uphold the results of the investigation and final determination by nationals of this year’s winner.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult matter.

We are heartbroken that something like this happened and again apologize for any ill feelings this may have caused. We look forward to a successful year of service, national pageant, and state pageant next year.