Rhodes Certified Winner of Coroner's Race; Kingery Plans to Seek Discovery Recount

Two weeks after Election Day, Kim Rhodes has been certified as the winner of the race for Effingham County Coroner.

Effingham County Clerk Kerry Hirtzel released the results of the tabulation conducted Tuesday that included the vote-by-mail ballots that were properly postmarked by the November 6 Election Day.

Rhodes was ahead by more than 90 votes on Election Night. There were 108 vote-by-mail ballots, but Hirtzel said just 39 of those were postmarked by the Election Day deadline.

The final vote total shows Rhodes with 7,145 votes to 7,040 votes for Gerry Kingery, meaning Rhodes' margin of victory grew slightly when the vote-by-mail ballots were included in the final tally.

Kingery said by phone Tuesday that he plans to seek a discovery recount. He said he is doing that for his "own peace of mind". A discovery recount involves an inspection of the election equipment and a canvass of 25% of the precincts in the county. Since there are 37 precincts in Effingham County, that means 10 precincts will be checked. Kingery will pay a $10/precinct fee for the discovery to be conducted.

Kingery is required to notify Hirtzel by mail of the request for the discovery recount. That must occur within five days of November 27, which is the final date for a county clerk's office to officially certify the results of the election.

Rhodes was appointed Interim Coroner following the death of Duane Guffey earlier this year and ran as the Republican candidate in this month's election. Kingery, who had worked as a deputy coroner under Guffey, had resigned when Rhodes was named interim coroner and decided to run as an independent against her.

Rhodes will now serve out the final two years of Guffey's unexpired term. An election will be held for a full four-year term in 2020.

Reached by phone at a coroner's conference in Chicago, Rhodes said she was "happy. I feel we've accomplished a lot in seven months and have a lot more to accomplish in the next two years. God willing, I plan to run again then."

As a side note, the final voter turnout in Effingham County was 61.24%; 14,621 votes cast of 23,873 of those registered.