More votes cast for deceased mayor in Michigan

[November 10, 2011]  MONTAGUE, Mich. (AP) -- More voters cast ballots for the longtime mayor of a West Michigan city who died a week before the election than for his challenger.

The Muskegon Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/tj17px), however, that the 129 votes cast in Montague for Henry Roesler Jr. don't officially count. Thirty-two-year-old challenger Kevin Erb -- who got 115 votes in Tuesday's election -- will serve the two-year term.

The 84-year-old Roesler died Nov. 1, following a battle with cancer. He had been seeking his 11th consecutive term as mayor.

City officials last week checked state law following Roesler's death and determined that any votes cast for Roesler wouldn't count.

Erb previously ran unsuccessfully against Roesler in the 2009 mayoral race.

[Associated Press]

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