Dynee Medlock, left, and Deanna Gwyn, are running to represent south central Salem, Ward 4, on the city council (Campaign photos)
South central Salem residents will have to vote again in November for their city council candidate.
After a final ballot tally released Wednesday evening, just six votes separate Dynee Medlock and Deanna Gwyn, both political newcomers vying for the ward 4 council seat.
Medlock, 42, a network specialist, has 2,554 votes, while Gwyn, 59, a principal broker with Blum Real Estate, has 2,548. Gwyn was up by one vote in the previous ballot count on May 25.
The tallies include all ballots eligible to be counted, including those where voters corrected mismatched or missing signatures, said Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess.
The nonpartisan council races are generally settled during the May primary, but candidates must win 50% of all votes cast plus one. With 13 write-in votes in the race, Burgess said neither candidate has cleared that threshold, which means both would appear on the November ballot.
Burgess said his office will certify the election results Monday. The race is close enough to trigger an automatic recount under Oregon law, which he expects the elections office to complete by June 16.
“I don’t expect anything will change,” Burgess said of the recount.
-Rachel Alexander
