Coin tosses will decide two election contests

By Sebastian James at April 29, 2011 | 4:30 pm | Print

Cook County Clerk David Orr on Monday, May 2, will toss coins to determine the winners of two tied election contests from the April 5 Consolidated Election.

In Berwyn School District 98, candidates Fritz Paul-Emile and Joseph A. Festa are tied at 162 votes. They are seeking the third vacancy on the school board.

With 458 votes each, Woodie Morris and Gerald R. Davis are tied in the race Broadview Village Trustee.

Under Illinois law, when two or more candidates are tied the county clerk shall “determine by lot which of them is to be declared elected.”

Clerk Orr will put the candidates’ names in pill bottles, shuffle them around and pick and make a selection. The person whose name is chosen gets to call the coin toss of “heads” or “tails.” The coin will be tossed and the face-side up wins. The loser of the coin toss will have the opportunity to file for a discovery recount if they so desire.

The Cook County Clerk last decided an election by coin toss in 2007. Several coin tosses broke ties around the state after the April 5 election.

View all suburban Cook County election results.

 

Elected Officials News cook county clerk david orr, Elected Officials, election coin toss