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   The City of Alton will soon have a new mayor after an improbable election result was certified Tuesday.  

   Businessman Brant Walker had been removed from the ballot two months before the election because of a technicality.  He ran as a write-in candidate against incumbent Mayor Tom Hoechst, and won.  

   Election results certified yesterday by Madison County Clerk Debra Ming-Mendoza show that Walker beat Hoechst by just over two-percent, or 74 votes.  

   Hoechst released a statement saying that he planned to challenge the results, but won't wait for the process to be complete before he begins working with Walker to ensure a smooth transition should the results hold.

   Votes are still being counted in some metro-east elections.  

   Some of the race results are in:  Edwardsville has chosen a new mayor.  Hal Patton defeated Barb Stamer in that race.  Patton will replace Mayor Gary Niebur, who's led the city since 1992.  Mark Eckert will remain Mayor of Belleville, having beaten Jospeph Hayden and Phillip Elmore.  

   Other contests are still up in the air:  In Alton, Mayor Tom Hoechst could possibly lose his seat to write-in candidate Brant Walker but county Clerk Debra Ming-Mendoza said final numbers probably won't be available until Wednesday.  

   A property tax increase aimed at preventing the sort of cuts made in other districts has failed in O'Fallon.  Supporters had asked residents to approve a temporary tax to cover the gap until the state of Illinois paid its share of funding. The tax would have generated about $3 million dollars a year, but it was soundly defeated with 65-percent of voters saying no.

   Voter turn out was low, as expected, in most polling places in Tuesday's Consolidated Elections.  The Belleville News-Democrat reports that turnout ranged from 13 percent in East St. Louis, to 21 percent in Belleville.

   More results from Tuesday's Consolidated Elections in Illinois. 

 

Both of the front-runners in St. Louis' mayoral race are stepping up their efforts in the final days before Tuesday's Democratic primary. Both candidates, Mayor Francis Slay and Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, spent Saturday talking to voters at coffee shops and churches. Crime and jobs continue to be central to both campaigns.

Reed says not enough progress has been made on the tough issues faced by city residents. "I'm knocking on doors because our crime rate is too high," Reed hammered, "and the job creation is too low."

Slay, who's running for a record fourth term in office, spent much of his time talking about his accomplishments as mayor. "In a tough economy, we've seen over six-billion dollars of new investment and development," Slay said. "We've seen crime drop...it's the lowest crime rate we've seen in the city since 1972."

There was also talk of how campaign funds on both sides were handled.

The Democratic Primary is expected to decide the race for Mayor of St. Louis.

CHICAGO (AP) - Former state Rep. Robin Kelly says she's still a little shocked to have won the Democratic nomination to replace former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.

She won over Democratic front runners former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson and Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, who both called her to concede.

Kelly emerged early on as an anti-guns voice and her campaign got a boost when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC poured $2 million in ads supporting her and blasting Halvorson, who doesn't favor an assault weapons ban.

Halvorson says big money won the race.

But Kelly says no one complains when the National Rifle Association pours money into races. She says she had a good team that worked hard on the ground.

Meanwhile, the race among Republicans to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is too close to call.

Chicago resident Paul McKinley was leading fellow Republican Eric Wallace by about two dozen votes as of late Tuesday night. But with a handful of precincts outstanding, no winner was declared.

But regardless of the outcome, the winner will enter the April 9 general election with a huge disadvantage.

The 2nd Congressional District is heavily Democratic, and no Republican has won the Chicago-area seat in more than 50 years.

McKinley is a political newcomer. Wallace founded a Christian publishing company and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Illinois Senate in 2006.

Jackson resigned in November. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to spending about $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri House committee has adopted a measure requiring voters to show photo identification before casting ballots.

The House Elections Committee approved a state constitutional amendment that would ask voters whether to allow the photo ID requirement. The committee also approved a separate bill that would implement the photo identification requirement.

The vote was along party lines, with Republicans saying the photo ID requirement would increases transparency and reduce voter fraud. Democrats said there are no reports of voter impersonation and that the plan could disenfranchise voters.

Currently when Missourians vote, they can show a photo ID or other means of identification such as utility bills or bank statements.

Both measures head to the House Rules Committee for further consideration.