Copyright Mechanicsburg Patriot News
WILLIAMSPORT — The race for one of three Williamsport City Council seats is officially a tie. The military ballot that could have broken the deadlock was not received on Wednesday, which was the deadline, according to Forrest Lehman, Lycoming County elections director. That means Republican incumbent Eric Beiter and political newcomer April Line, a Democrat, who each received 2,415 votes, will break the tie by drawing numbers on Nov. 21. The lowest number wins. The date is set by the election code, Lehman explained. All ties from the General Election will be broken that da,y including one for a South Williamsport Area School Board seat where 13 write-ins are tied, he said. Historically, some of those who receive write-in votes choose not to serve, he added. Beiter, the current council vice president who was seeking a second term, led Line by 12 votes before the eligible provisional votes were counted. She received 18 of them while Beiter got only 6 to create the tie. He led all City Council candidates in the number of votes received on election day with 2,079, but Line received double the number of mail-in votes as him, 665 to 336. Line is a self-employed business consultant who moved to the city from the Carlisle area in 2010. The other two successful candidates for council, both Democrats, were incumbent Liz Miele with 2,813 votes and another political newcomer Jonah Miliken with 2,677. Republican David J. Dussinger was last with 1,980 votes.
