By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON — The challenger in the race for Normal’s mayor might have a slightly steeper hill to climb as he tries to unseat incumbent Mayor Chris Koos.
The discovery recount almost completed at the McLean County Clerk’s office in downtown Bloomington showed a single vote in one of the precincts had been counted twice for conservative challenger Marc Tiritilli, so he apparently lost a vote.
The county’s election vendor has counted all seven precincts, chosen by Tiritilli’s campaign. The discovery recount does not change the official results showing Koos up by 11 votes after the April 4th election.
The discovery recount does allow Tiritilli to find enough potential errors to convince a judge there should be a full recount. Tiritilli has until May 25th to make that choice.
The county clerk said Tiritilli’s campaign photographed each of the ballots, but the process moved at a quicker-than-expected pace.
On Wednesday, County Clerk Kathy Michael said ballots from early voting will be counted again, along with about 200 absentee and provisional ballots from each of the seven precincts.
Last week, Tiritilli’s team studied voters’ signatures when they registered and compared them with signatures on election day.
Tiritilli told WJBC his supporters found “dozens and dozens” of mismatches that might be brought before the court.
Mayor Koos said he and his supporters have been gathering affidavits from voters whose signatures might be challenged to show they did indeed cast their votes.
Koos argued signatures can change over time, especially for older citizens who may have registered to vote many years ago.
On his Facebook page, the mayor posted a photo of one of the affidavits. On the document, a voter wrote, “I am 99-years old. That is the way I sign my name.”
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
