Rock Falls mayor’s race will be decided Tuesday, perhaps by ping pong ball

ROCK FALLS – It all may come down to a ping pong ball.

Of six ballots outstanding after the April 6 Rock Falls mayoral race, only one remains to be counted. The other five ballots that included the city race either were not returned or were not postmarked in time to be counted.

Assuming the person who filed that ballot voted for mayor, that means either Alderman Rod Kleckler will win the race Tuesday with 405 votes, or it will be a short-lived tie with incumbent Mayor Bill Wescott, 404 votes each.

Whiteside County Clerk Dana Nelson will do the official canvass of all races Tuesday, 2 weeks after the April 6 municipal elections.

If the mayor’s race is a tie, Nelson immediately will determine the winner by writing the the names of each candidate on a ping pong ball, and drawing the ball with the name of the winner out of a bag.

If Kleckler loses the race, he still has 2 years left on his term as one of two Ward 3 aldermen.

If he wins, it will be up to him to appoint his replacement, who will serve the 2 years, then must run for the office.

His first day as mayor would be May 4, when he would be sworn in at the Rock Falls City Council meeting that night.

If he loses, Wescott, who is seeking his third term, has said he will seek a recount.

When a candidate loses a race by 5% of the vote or less, he or she can petition the county clerk for a discovery recount, and 25% of the precincts involved – in Rock Falls’ case, 3 out of the 10 – will be examined for any irregularities, such as problems with the voting machines, and the votes in those precincts recounted.

The recount must be requested within 5 days of the canvass, and completed within 3 days of the winner being notified in writing of the recount.

It won’t change the election outcome, but the findings can be used to challenge the results in court, if the loser decides to take that course, which comes at his or her expense.