By Howard Packowitz and Maria Henneberry

NORMAL – The contentious race for Mayor of Normal is over more than six weeks after election day. Challenger Marc Tiritilli announced Thursday he will not seek a full recount of ballots from the April 4th election.

Incumbent Chris Koos was elected to a fourth term as mayor, coming out only 11 votes ahead based on the official vote count.

Tiritilli said a full recount was too costly, and that money could be spent other ways.  He plans on running for mayor again in 2021.

Earlier this month, the McLean County Clerk, at Tiritilli’s request, conducted a partial recount of seven of Normal’s 30 precincts. Tiritilli gained no votes in the discovery process, and may have lost one because it was determined that a ballot for Tiritilli had jammed in the machine and was counted twice.

Tiritilli, a fiscal conservative and Bloomington High School Physics Teacher, also examined signatures of all ballots, comparing voters’ handwriting on the day they registered versus how they signed their name on election day.

In a prepared statement today, Tiritilli said, “I want to emphasize that at no point did we ever suspect fraudulent behavior.”

“The integrity of the election has been and is still intact thanks to the careful and deliberate efforts of the county clerk’s office.”

In the statement, Tiritilli congratulated Mayor Koos on his victory. “I thank him for his patience as we took steps to evaluate many aspects surrounding the narrow vote margin.”

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]