Elections: The Wonderful World of Democracy

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All politics is local, and some of it is downright familial. Although the turnout for last week's local elections was tiny in places--11% of eligible voters in New York City cast a ballot--each electorate made itself heard in its own special way:

Fulton County, N.Y.: Eugene and Carol Reppenhagen ran against each other for a council seat, while divorcing. He won. She still celebrated: she got married.

Grand Junction, Iowa: Theodore Herrick, 19, and his dad Gerold were elected to the five-member city council.

Pennsylvania: Two dead candidates were re-elected.

King County, Wash.: David Irons Jr. defeated his sister Di in a council race. She launched a write-in campaign after he beat her boss in the primaries. They live next door to each other.

Fountain Hill Borough, Pa.: Sherwood Kerschner ran for and won two jobs: a four-year and a two-year stint on the same council. He has to choose one.

Fairfax, Va.: Levi Levy, 67, who has run for elective office every year since 1995, lost all five races in which he was a candidate--a local record.

Brooklyn, Ohio: John Coyne, 82, lost his job as America's longest-serving mayor after 52 years. He said bad weather kept senior citizens, his base constituency, home.