Here’s how a tie vote in Mission Woods was decided

When votes for a Mission Woods at-large city council seat were tallied on Election Night Nov. 7, the outcome was undecided because of tie votes.

And even after Johnson County officials added in provisional ballots and crunched the final official results on Monday, the tie still existed.

Voters were supposed to pick five winners out of six candidates. But Lauren Aleshire and Amy McAnarney each had 43 votes; Joan Ruff had 38 votes; Thomas Clemente had 37 votes; and both Michael Knierim and William Young had 35 votes.

So, Johnson County election officials resorted to an old fashioned and rarely-used method for deciding an election. A coin toss.

Young won and Knierim lost. So Young was the fifth council member elected.

Johnson County communities had one other tie vote after the Nov. 7 unofficial election results were counted. In Merriam’s Ward 2, Brian Knaff and Patty Newkirk each had 166 votes. But after all the provisional and other ballots were counted Monday, Knaff had won, in a squeaker. He got 171 votes to Newkirk’s 169.

In close local races, Johnson County candidates can request a recount, in writing, by late Tuesday. So the real final results may still change if recounts are requested.

This story was originally published November 13, 2017 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Here’s how a tie vote in Mission Woods was decided."