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* The Southern…
After the votes were counted for Tuesday’s election, the race for village president in Colp was still undecided. Candidates Tammy O’Daniell-Howell and Bryan Riekena each received 11 votes.
“We are not waiting for any absentee ballots, so the vote total should not change,” said Williamson County Clerk Amanda Barnes.
The race will be decided April 20 by the flip of a coin. A coin toss is the way to handle tie votes, according to Illinois statutes. […]
Riekena, the other candidate for Colp village president, said 29 out of the 250 registered voters in the village showed up at the polls.
“I would have liked to see a little more than 11 or 12 percent show up,” Riekena said.
So, if 29 people voted, then 7 people under-voted in the mayor’s race, which seems kinda weird.
* Either way, whenever you hear people talk about all the local governments we have in Illinois, always keep in mind that we have an absolute ton of these tiny incorporated towns all over the state. You can’t really talk about consolidation without considering that unavoidable fact.
Growing up in Iroquois County, I had some friends who lived in Kempton, population 231. For a time, my paternal grandmother lived in Martinton, population 375. There are only two towns with more than 1,400 people in all of Iroquois County, even though it’s the third largest county in the state at 1,119 square miles. It’s mostly farmland.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:49 am
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===So, if 29 people voted, then 7 people under-voted in the mayor’s race, which seems kinda weird.===
It’s a small town. Those 7 voters probably didn’t like either choice. Nothing weird about that.
Illinois needs to reform its ballot access laws. Write-ins should be just that … the voters choice of someone not on the ballot. Having to file as a write-in candidate is onerous.
Also, we should add a “none of the above” option to all ballots for all positions (especially for cases on uncontested races).
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:55 am
Another case for term limits. Voters and job creators get turned on by term limits
Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 11:59 am
A few years ago there was a town council race in Wisconsin where a husband and wife wrote her (I think it was the wife) name in as a joke and she won the race.
Comment by CLJ Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:05 pm
And also there were election judges being paid to sit for 13 hours waiting for those 29 people to vote.
I think Anonymous @ 11:55 might be on to something though, in uncontested races, maybe it should be worded like a judicial ballot: “Shall [State Your Name] be retained for next term of [x] years?” And if No wins, hold an election for that seat with new candidates. Come to think of it, that would be way expensive. Nevermind, it’ll never happen. Sounds good though.
Comment by Skeptic Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:07 pm
=== Having to file as a write-in candidate is onerous. ===
Filing a piece of paper is onerous???
It also helps ensure election officials know who the write-in vote is intended for. Are election officials supposed to launch an investigation after the election to figure out who the intended write-in votes were for?
Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:10 pm
I grew up in a small farm town in IL, less than 2,000 folks. Of the 400 people that I went to church with every Sunday, I’m guessing only a couple could name the Mayor of the town, or any previous Mayors. For farm folk, local Mayors don’t mean much for your day-by-day.
Comment by Hamilton Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:11 pm
A problem, perhaps, with consolidating very small towns, is that the next town over may be relatively far away — so in order to consolidate towns, the two towns would have to incorporate large swaths of rural land. Maybe it’s not a bad thing though.
Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:12 pm
1. Re: under vote…perhaps there were school or township elections and the 7 went to out for those seats
2. History will tell you many of the local governments were created by those who did not want to be part of bigger towns or school districts. It be fun for all the local controllers to tell us their ideal size for town or schools or parks etc. Perhaps they could whisper some #s to SLip&Sue (our local govt expert)
Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:14 pm
===Nothing weird about that===
You think there’s nothing weird that a quarter of voters skipped the mayor’s race?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:19 pm
===Are election officials supposed to launch an investigation after the election to figure out who the intended write-in votes were for?===
Since the most basic requirement of any office is that a candidate be a registered voter residing within the boundaries of the governing unit … ?
Yes … checking a voter registration list is easy enough.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:22 pm
===You think there’s nothing weird that a quarter of voters skipped the mayor’s race?===
Nope. Like I said, small towns … if people don’t like any of the candidates it’s not unreasonable to think they’ll simply not vote for any of them.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:23 pm
For the large rural counties … consolidation actually makes tons of sense. Living in a consolidated county (where all municipal and township functions would be handled by the county) doesn’t decrease how “local” your elected officials are.
Hardin County has 4,200 people in it and only 3 municipalities. Rosiclare, Elizabethtown, and Cave-in-Rock aren’t even big enough to fill 2 precincts of registered voters.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:34 pm
Madigan in control of Colp.
Comment by Give Me A Break Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:37 pm
=== Having to file as a write-in candidate is onerous. ===
Space limitations are making ballots very full, even requiring two page ballots in some jurisdictions (and the larger sheets don’t feed into the tabulators as well as small sheets). Space on the ballot is saved by not including any write-in line unless there are declared write-in candidates.
And where townships and schools (and possibly one or more special units like library or park district) are also on the ballot, s7 people skipping that race is not all that strange.
Comment by titan Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:53 pm
At least they had a choice. I almost didn’t vote as there were only two contested races. In both cases it was four candidates for three slots. My favorite race, though was for township assessor: No Candidate Filed vs No Candidate Filed.
In the little town of Troy Grove in LaSalle County there was also a tie for an office. Troy Grove’s claim to fame is that it is the birth place of Wild Bill Hickok, so it was suggested that a hand of poker determine the winner of the election.
Comment by G'Kar Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:54 pm
The post and comments discuss Consolidation. IN this instance it appears that Dissolution should be included in the debate.
Article references another small community which is unable to deliver services yet dissolution vote failed by two votes 19-17.
http://www.sj-r.com/article/20150407/NEWS/150409542
Comment by LarryM Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:56 pm
“There were no candidates for clerk, treasurer or an unexpired two-year term for village trustee.”
Not a lot of interest in governing there. Low turnout to be on the ballot, too.
Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 12:59 pm
I think a bigger opportunity for consolidation is county consolidation. Take Alexander County and Pulaski County. These are small counties by both area and population adjacent to each other whose county seats (Cairo and Mound City) are ten minutes away from each other. Hardin and Gallatin counties are another good example of opportunities for consolidation.
Comment by Chicagonk Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:14 pm
Proof that every vote counts. We are waiting until the 18th to determine who will be the mayor of Normal. 7 vote margin between the incumbent and challenger. 37 outstanding absentee ballots are due by the 18th.
Comment by Nearly Normal Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 1:16 pm
I think you are completely right about the number of small communities. I grew up in a rural county in Missouri with a similar population and it only has 8 incorporated municipalities (as compared to 21 for Iroquois County). The larger issue is what types of services these communities can really provide. Most all likely utilize the County Sheriff for policing, townships for roads (although they may have some of their own as well). Historically a lot of these communities were formed so groupings of people could apply for federal dollars for sewer/water.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:37 pm
A lot of towns have multiple people sharing a first and last name, including Jrs and Srs. We just had a write in candidate who shared my full name. Having to pre-register as a write-in candidate avoids any confusion for the vote counters.
Making it hard to do so, with petitions etc, is wrong, however.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 3:47 pm
Coin toss sounds like a fair deal to decide the result. The “loser” could be made deputy mayor or given some other title - if one exists. Then everyone is happy.
Comment by election Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 4:20 pm
Wait, what?!? A coin toss is *in* the ILCS???
Comment by Illinoisian Tuesday, Apr 11, 17 @ 5:01 pm