Dead Man Wins Mayoral Election, Beating Live Challenger

MONTAGUE, Mich. (AP/CBS Detroit) — Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat -- a mayoral candidate lost election in a small west Michigan community. But he'll take office anyway.

That's because his opponent, the incumbent, was dead.

The Muskegon Chronicle reported that the 129 votes cast in Montague for Henry Roesler Jr. don't officially count after his death. That means challenger Kevin Erb, 32,  — who got 115 votes in Tuesday's election — won the two-year term. The 84-year-old Roesler died Nov. 1 in the midst of 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.

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