By Howard Packowitz

Normal mayoral candidate Marc Tiritilli indicates he’s close to calling off his challenge to incumbent Chris Koos unless he finds more evidence to justify a full recount.

Updating supporters on his website, Tiritilli also said he is not challenging the integrity of the election process, as alleged by Koos and his backers.

Koos led by only 11 votes after the April 4th election, and last week’s partial discovery recount of seven polling places apparently gave the mayor an extra vote when it was determined that a Tiritilli vote had been counted twice.

Tiritilli’s campaign also examined voters’ signatures from the seven precincts, comparing them between the time they registered to vote and election day. Now, Tiritilli is comparing signatures from all precincts, which drew criticism from the mayor’s team.

On his website, Tiritilli commended McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael and her election staff, and said his signature review is aimed only at taking “as complete a look as possible” at the election process.

Tiritilli said his prospects look “very unlikely at this point,” and he won’t ask for a full recount unless he finds more compelling reasons than he’s found so far.

The Bloomington High School physics teacher has until May 25th to petition the court for a full recount.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]