Election Dead Heat to End in a Toss-up
A dead heat in the race for Bond County sheriff will come down to a flip of the coin next week under a seldom-used Illinois statute.
When all the ballots were tallied from Tuesday’s election in the Southern Illinois county of 16,000 residents, incumbent Democrat W.F. Willeford had 2,912 votes, the same number as challenger William Gribble.
The results sent County Clerk Eldon Roe scrambling to the state statutes, which say that a county election ending in a tie shall be settled by lot.
“It’s never happened in the state as far as I know,” Roe said Thursday. “The law is very short and very self explanatory. A lot of people said it’s ridiculous, but that’s what the law says.”
Roe chose the coin flip as the lot method and set Monday as the date.
The loser of the coin toss may demand a recount under the law, but, if that fails to produce a winner, the coin toss will stand, Roe said.
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