Local News in Brief : 1 More Count to Break Tie
Palos Verdes Estates officials, faced with an unprecedented tie between two candidates for a City Council seat, said Friday that they will recount ballots Monday evening at the Lakewood office of the city’s elections consultant. If the result is still a tie, the City Council, acting as an elections board, will choose a winner by lot on Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for City Clerk Barbara Culver.
Rita M. Bayer and Raymond D. Mattingly, vying for the second of two open council seats in Tuesday’s election, wound up with 1,565 votes apiece. Both consented to the recount.
Palos Verdes Estates, an affluent bedroom city of 15,050, had not had a contested council election in six years. The tie sent city officials to the law books looking for a next move.
“Nothing like this had happened before,” said Doriane Tippett, Culver’s secretary.
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