Three Knox Municipal Races Tied – What Now?

The Edina Third Ward Alderman race was a tie between incumbent Tom Morgret and Delmar Strange with both receiving 36 votes. Both men signed up to fill the seat.

The Village of Novelty Trustee race was also a tie. Two seats need to be filled. The first seat will be  filled by Kent A. Franke who received 15 votes. Laverne Ragar and Gayla Jessen tied for the second seat with one vote each. Both were “write in” candidates.

The Hurdland Alderman race was a five-way tie. Two seats need to be filled. The first seat will be filled by Barry Schrage who received 5 votes. The second will go to either Luther Green, Hayden Hunziker, Kris McCarty, Sandra Hoskins or John Boatman, all of which received one vote each. All of them are “write ins”.

According to Knox County Clerk Marlene Spory, who oversees all elections in Knox County, each township/village/city has a couple of options once the election is certified and certification notices are sent out. The Knox County Municipal Election will not be certified until Friday afternoon or Monday morning, April 10 or 13, 2015.

First it is the responsibility of each township/village/city to notify the candidates and see if they are interested in filling the position since most of them are “write in” candidates.

Once that is done, if there is still more than one person vying for the seat they can agree to settle it in a game of chance like, for example, flipping a coin or picking a straw to see who takes the seat.

If the candidates cannot agree to settle the tie by chancing it a special election will have to be held at the expense of the township/village/city.

All that is required for a special election is for it to be advertised for at least two weeks beforehand. So any special election could be held pretty quickly if it comes to that.

Also, according to Spory, special elections are not nearly as expensive as regular elections though the exact dollar amounts are not known at this time.

Click the link below to view the full election results.

April 7, 2015 Municipal Election Results Unofficial – Knox County