Elections

By Melissa August, Harriet Barovick, Val Castronovo, Tam Gray, Desa Philadephia, Julie Rawe, Hope Reeves and Chris Taylor

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.