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All Chandler council candidates headed to runoff
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Getting the most votes in Chandler's City Council primary election was not enough to win a seat, according to the final tabulations released late Saturday.
Incumbent City Councilman Matt Orlando came up 151 votes short of getting re-elected in the primary Tuesday, which means his name will be on the Nov. 4 runoff next to the five other candidates who are vying for the three open seats.
Chandler council race remains unsettled
Typically, one or two candidates win their seat in the primary election by getting the required 50 percent of the ballots cast, and on occasion all three seats are filled in the primary, according to City Clerk Marla Paddock.
One or two candidates often are also disqualified for the runoff after the primary depending on how many candidates run.
This year, though, a high number of "under votes," or the ballots that were cast where the voter didn't select a city council candidate, inflated the vote count and increased the number needed for a majority, Paddock said.
But this is also the first year in which the City Council elections are held in the fall, sharing the ballot with state, legislative and congressional elections.
Out of 19,364 ballots cast in the Chandler election, Orlando got 9,531 votes. He needed 9,682 to win his seat.
Rick Heumann got 9,198 votes to Jack Sellers' 8,867.
Interim Councilman Kevin Hartke finished fourth with 8,848 votes, while Tracy Buelna got 6,428 votes and Dorsha Hale finished with 3,380.
The rules change in the runoff, where the seats go to the top three vote-getters.
"I don't think anybody foresaw a primary no one would get through," Hartke said.
Orlando did not immediately return a message seeking comment Sunday.
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