2 Iowa races still undecided

The election isn’t over yet in the Iowa towns of Hastings and Avoca.

The fifth open seat on the Hastings City Council is stuck in a three-way tie involving Dustin Crouse, Kendra Copperstone and Ryan Campbell. Each got six votes Tuesday.

The Mills County Board of Supervisors will break the tie on Monday by putting the candidates’ names in a hat and drawing one winning name.

The four who earned seats on the Hastings council are Christine Courtier, Alan Crouse, Eva Hall and Joe Poorker.

In Avoca, a runoff election will be needed to fill the third seat on its council.

Three seats were open on the Avoca City Council and seven candidates were on the ballot. John Butcher and David Hoffman were the top two vote-getters.

The two next finishers — Jerry Espeseth and Tim Gubbels — will face off Dec. 1.

A runoff is needed because of the so-called majority-plus-one vote requirement.

Pottawattamie County Election Clerk Carolyn Stender said candidates must get at least one more than half of all the ballots cast in the race.

The target is determined by dividing the total votes cast by the number of seats available, then rounding the result to the next number and dividing that in half. “They need that number plus one more,” she said.

On Tuesday, 1,640 votes were cast in the council race. The formula meant that 274 was the number of votes needed to secure a seat.

Butcher received 382 votes and Hoffman got 287. Espeseth received 247 votes and Gubbels got 204.