Woodland Park’s last council seat decided by King of Hearts

Staying on the Woodland Park City Council was in the cards for Noel Sawyer Wednesday after he tied with another candidate in the city’s general election earlier this month.

Sawyer and Joel Schafer both got the same number of votes in the April 3 election for the last open seat on the council, and a recount verified those results. So the city went to casting lots to determine the winner Wednesday morning.

A witness said Sawyer drew the King of Hearts to win the drawing. Sawyer will take his Oath of Office again during Thursday’s city council meeting.

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Eight days after the election to decide Woodland Park’s next mayor and three council members, the final spot on the council is still undecided, due to a tie.

On election night, Neil Levy was the undisputed winner of the mayor’s race, while Kellie Case and Hilary LaBarre won the first two spots on the city council, but the third and final spot was too close to call.

John V. Schafer lead Noel Sawyer by two votes, but 22 ballot were still outstanding, and 12 more ballots had signature discrepancies.

Eight days later, the unofficial results show Schafer and Sawyer in a perfect tie, with 997 votes each.

According to city rules, the tie prompts an automatic recount, which will be held Monday at 1pm.

If the recount doesn’t break the tie, then a somewhat unconventional method will be used to decide the winner.

According to Woodland Park City Clerk Suzanne Leclercq, that method could be a coin flip, the rolling of dice, the drawing of a card, or otherwise.

It will be up to the two candidates to decide the tiebreaker method.

That contest of chance would occur at the next council meeting on April 19.