The results flooded some people’s eyes with tears, some with burning disappointment and some with the excitement of the consequent four years. Democratic incumbent Steve Ferguson took the state’s attorney race with 42.2 percent of the vote over Republican Paul Komada’s 33.7 percent and Green Party candidate Todd Reardon’s 24.1 percent.

Overall in Coles County, Republicans generally swept the board, losing the presidential election by only 2.6 percent and the Senate seat to Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin’s 34.5 percent lead.

“We are very proud of him and his campaign quality,” said Democratic Board Chairman Robert Webb. “He is a fair and accurate prosecutor and the votes reflected the positive work he has done.”

But before the polls closed on Nov. 4, they gazed at the blue and red that popped onto the television screen projecting outcomes of the election.

They busied themselves with family, taking their grandmothers to dinner to keep their minds off the impending results. They began to list the numerous pros and cons that tomorrow would bring. The Coles County candidates anticipated the best and worst, after more than six hard months of campaigning.

The more than 40,000 Coles County registered voters held the fate of the candidates for state’s attorney, county coroner and county board members for the next four years in their hands.

“As of course every candidate will say, it’s all up to the voters,” said Green Party candidate for state’s attorney Todd Reardon. “They are the ones who will choose who is best for them. I just hope they saw me for what I am.”

Reardon spent time with his grandmother at dinner, while Komada celebrated the campaign’s end at the Panther Paw Bar Grill, 1412 Fourth St., with fellow Republicans, including coroner candidate Ed Schniers.

Ferguson was missing from the Democratic Headquarters on Sixth Street, across the street from the Coles County Courthouse. However Webb speculated he was watching the polls from home with his family.

All three parties said they could not predict the outcomes of the races. Scores of early voters should surely impact the polling places, Webb said.

“But based on that, which is about the only thing we have going right now, we expect extremely high turnout to the polls based on the numbers of new registrations in the county,” he said. “This makes it a very hard election to call.”

Regardless of where they were and whom they were with, the numbers began to blink onto the projection screen at the courthouse where residents, candidates and city officials gathered.

At 7:15 p.m., the first precinct blinked onto the static page, Komada in the lead.

“If there is anything I have learned in all my campaigning, it is don’t be too confident,” he said as the first numbers rang in. “There is a three-way race that can skew the results. And then you have to take into consideration the Obama effect in Illinois, which draws voters down the line.”

Democratic supporters stared at television screens, cheering at the blue state wins of the presidential election as Pat Black, vice chair of the east side of Coles County for the Democratic Board, sat refreshing the online unofficial polling of Coles County. She shouted out the numbers as the precincts filed in.

At 8:30 p.m., Black’s eyes flash as the screen changed.

“Steve just took the lead!” she screamed.

Cheers erupted on Sixth Street immediately, but were followed by the scroll of the screen and Black’s report on the other county candidates. The Republicans seemed to be on top, sweeping the numbers for the county board, Shane Rogers’ precincts closed with a 5 percent loss, and county coroner short with only four precincts remaining.

The precinct’s results were counted over the next 45 minutes, deciding the final races. Joy Russell, the Democratic incumbent for County Board District 10, was unseated by Stanley Metzger by a 2 percent margin.

Schniers’ race closed with 19 percent victory over Democratic incumbent Mike Nichols. Republican Jan Eads won another term on the county board with an 11.4 percent win over Democrat Jim Palmer.

But, as the precincts slowly faded and the votes were determined, there was an air of the unfinished.

It was now after 9:15 p.m.

“I can’t celebrate; I have to go home because I have to work at the funeral home tomorrow,” Schniers said. “We all have jobs tomorrow you know. I have two services alone.”

“I’ll see the students around campus tomorrow, because I am the department head of early childhood at EIU,” Russell said.

“I have court tomorrow,” Reardon said. “And I have to get back to being a father. You know I’m a single dad.”

“We are already excited to start campaigning for the next four years,” Webb said.

Krystal Moya can be reached at 581-7945 or at ksmoya@eiu.edu.

After Coles County polls closed, incumbent state’s attorney Steve Ferguson is congratulated on his win by a supporter in the headquarters of the Coles County Democrats in downtown Charleston on Tuesday night. (Karolina Strack / The Daily Eastern News)

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