Keokuk, IA – The Lee County Board of Supervisors spent about seven minutes, Thursday afternoon, canvassing the elections in Keokuk and Fort Madison.
The final results gave Mayor Tom Marion a 467-vote win in the four-person race.
He missed the threshold, though, to avoid a run-off election by just a couple of votes.
That is a big change from where the race was after the polls closed and people went to bed Tuesday night.
At that time, Lee County's official website showed that Marion had a majority of the vote (50.4%).
Things changed Wednesday morning.
A few provisional ballots were then counted and some late-arriving absentee ballots arrived at the Auditor's office.
It was also determined that about 20 votes for Carol Mardis did not make it onto the website, which displays unofficial results until the canvass takes place.
Marion says instead of asking for a recount, he will prepare for a busy few weeks.
"We have done it before and we know what the process is," says Marion, "with four people running, there was always the possibility of a run-off."
Marion had to win a run-off election when elected to his first term as mayor two years ago.
He will square off with At-Large Alderman Dan Winn, who finished in second place.
Winn says he expected to be in a run-off with the mayor.
He says he will tweak his election strategy a bit.
"(I am) certainly going to try to get a lot more absentee ballots," says Winn, "because that is one area where I got pretty beat up."
The run-off election is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6.
The canvassing of the vote also secured a run-off in the race for Keokuk's At-Large Alderman between John Helenthal and Theresia Harmon.