Ward 3 Election Tie Comes Down to a Draw Today

By Jeremy Coumbes on April 20, 2021 at 1:06pm

The declaration of a winner in the race for Ward 3 Alderman in Jacksonville is in the cards this afternoon.

Morgan County Clerk Jill Waggener reports the lone absentee ballot from the April 6th consolidated election has not arrived in today’s mail. The ballot was from Jacksonville’s Ward 3 and could have broken the tie between incumbent Brandon Adams and challenger W. Kent Hannant who each polled 169 votes in the election.

Today is the day results from the consolidated election must be certified, so a winner in the contest will have to be decided this afternoon. Illinois election code says a tiebreaker is determined “by lot” or random methods of selection such as a coin flip.

Waggener said after the verification of absentee and write-in votes on April 8th, that if the tie still stands today, she will go with a process used in other county elections in the state.

What I’m looking to do now is, follow suit of several other county clerks and how they have broken ties. The way that we will do it is I will have the two candidates come in I will pick the suit of hearts from a deck of cards. Two through ten will be shuffled and laid on the counter and both candidates will draw a card. Whoever picks the highest number will be declared the winner.”

Waggener says both candidates are scheduled to be in her office at 4:00 this afternoon for the draw and declaration of a winner. LDS News will bring you the outcome of the Ward 3 race as soon as it is announced.