Correction: The run-off election will occur May 10, not May 5 as originally reported.
A Norman run-off election will occur May 10 after Ward 7 of the city council election resulted in no clear winner.
The Cleveland County Election Board reported Tuesday night a preliminary result that none of the three candidates in the race had a majority vote. Candidate Brande Kauffman tied Holman with 89 votes each, while candidate Linda Lockett had 164 votes.
The results of the election are preliminary until the one provisional ballot is validated by Friday.
Stephen Tyler Holman, a former OU student, ran for the open Ward 7 seat and is the youngest candidate in the 2011 city council election. A provisional ballot is when a voter's eligibility is in question, Holman said.
If the provisional vote is either declared invalid or in favor of Lockett, his and Kauffman's names will be put into a hat and the name selected will run against Lockett, Holman said. If the ballot goes to either Holman or Kauffman, whoever has the most votes will face Linda Lockett in a run-off election.
“I guess I just have to wait until Friday to find out, so I guess we’ll just be getting with everybody and staying positive about it … it’s really all we can do at this point,” Holman said.
Holman can request a recount for $600, but hasn't decided if he will do so.
Kauffman attributed the results to her opposition of the Norman Music Festival’s downtown events that are detrimental to public safety and small businesses, she said in an e-mail.
Kauffman said the Norman Arts Council, which organizes the April weekend music festival, campaigned against Kauffman because of her stance against current events.
“They prefer to party while Rome burns,” she said.
Lockett, a longtime Norman businesswoman and OU alumna, said she and her helpers would continue her campaign as actively as before the election, knocking on people’s doors and making calls as usual.
“I just had a lot of supporters who were here, and we all just said, ‘Oh well, we’ll just have to do a little more!’” Lockett said. “We’re in the top position and we gotta stay there if we can.”
Of the eight wards that make up Norman, Ward 7 includes all of OU Norman campus except for the Max Westheimer Airport.
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caitlynlacy 1 year, 2 months ago
“They prefer to party while Rome burns,”
Wait, is this a joke?