Coin Toss To Decide Illinois Mayor Race

COLP, IL — Every vote counts — especially with low voter turnout, which caused some Illinois races to be decided by a handful of votes. And in one Southern Illinois town, the race for village president was a dead heat, with each candidate receiving just 11 votes.

The next Colp, Illinois village president will be decided by a coin toss on April 20.

“We are not waiting for any absentee ballots, so the vote total should not change,” Williamson County Clerk Amanda Barnes told the Southern Illinoisan of the race between Tammy O’Daniell-Howell, currently the village clerk, and Bryan Riekena.

Just 22 voters casting their ballots for mayor may seem unusually low, but tiny Colp had just 250 registered voters.

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But turnout was low in many parts of the state. In Will County, less than 18 percent of registered voters came out for the April 4 election — but that's higher than the 15 percent turnout for the April 2015 election, and some areas had turnout of less than 10 percent.

Despite having some hotly contested races, Cook County also had a turnout of around 17 percent. The county's "poorest" community, Ford Heights, had the highest turnout at 42.9 percent. The community has a median income of just more than $21,000, well below the suburban Cook County average.

Colp's isn't the only "too close to call" mayoral race. In Bolingbrook, longtime Mayor Roger Claar holds a 103-vote lead over opponent Jackie Traynere, who has yet to concede and says she's waiting for the official results after mail-in ballots are counted.

And in Mundelein, just 13 votes separate incumbent Mayor Steve Lentz and challenger Holly Kim, a village trustee, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Other Illinois contests were decided by a slim margin. In Aurora, Rick Guzman conceded loss to Richard Irwin three days after an election that was decided by 170 votes, according to the Beacon News. In Alsip, John D. Ryan captured a 58-vote lead over Steven A. Daddona.

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