Waterloo mayor's race still too close to call

After an election and a runoff, it's still unclear who will be the next mayor of Waterloo. Right now, businessman Buck Clark leads city councilman Steve Schmitt by just 29 votes. Uncounted and absentee ballots could decide the race.

When candidates start taking down their campaign signs, it's typically a good sign that the election is over. But the Waterloo mayor's race is far from over.

"We thought it'd be close, but we didn't think it'd be this close,” Schmitt said.

Here's where things stand right now. There are 58 outstanding absentee ballots. And, there are 8 provisional ballots. Plus, there are 24 additional ballots that were mistakenly not counted on Election Day. That adds up to 90 votes which could affect the election.

"It is...to a degree...frustrating. But, it is the process. The process will work eventually. We just have to wait for it,” Clark said.

The Black Hawk County Auditor's office says it's not all that unusual to have such a close race.

"Just this past September, we had a school board race that went through the recount process with a margin of one vote. Last fall, we had a legislative seat here that was recounted and the margin got as low as a dozen ballots,” Elections Manager Kyle Jensson said.

In this case, both candidates think they have a good idea why the town the election has ended up this way.

"He and I were similar in a lot of our ultimate goals and what we hoped to achieve. We just differed a bit on how we thought we'd get from here to there,” Schmitt said.

Clark said, "Steve and I were friends before this race and we will be friends after the race. There is no animosity whatsoever."

Regardless of who wins, both men pledge to work together to keep the city moving forward.

We will get an election update on Thursday, but the final results won't be in until next Tuesday. After that, the loser has three days to request a recount. So, it still may not be over yet.

Mark Geary, KCRG-TV