A slip of paper and a 50 percent chance is all it took to keep an OU student’s campaign to join Norman’s City Council alive.

Stephen Tyler Holman, former OU student, was selected as the runoff-election candidate for Ward 7 after the original election produced no winner.

Linda Lockett received 164 votes, or 47.95 percent, which was not the majority needed to be elected as the next council member for the ward. Holman and Brande Kauffman had been tied for second place in the March 1 municipal election with 89 votes each.

The Cleveland County Election Board had to draw names on papers out of a container March 11 to decide Lockett’s opponent, Election Board Secretary Paula Roberts said.

Holman, who attended the name drawing with his girlfriend and her daughter, said he got up at 7:50 a.m. the morning of the drawing after not getting any sleep due to thinking about the decision and how long they have had to wait for it since the election.

“[I was] just kind of excited and nervous at the same time even though having no control over this overall ... just nerves, I’d say,” Holman said. “I’m hoping we can get more people out to vote [in the runoff] and that’s going to be the toughest part.”

Kauffman, a local lawyer, said she would be throwing her support behind Lockett because of her business experience. Norman is going to need a council member who can effectively deal with the city’s projected $3 million deficit, she said.

“I feel like she has the good business acumen and the ability to make the tough calls when it comes to those cuts, and hopefully she won’t do it at the expense of city employees,” Kauffman said.

Ward 7 includes most of the OU Norman campus, excluding the Max Westheimer Airport. The runoff election will occur May 10.