RICHMOND – Voters broke two ties during Tuesday’s special elections, with 4.6% of the registered voters choosing a Ward 1 council member and a Richmond R-XVI Board of Education member.

Jim Hardison took the vacant Ward 1 council seat with 18 votes. He topped four other candidates, who were all write-ins during the April 5 municipal elections. Tom Williams, now serving as an appointed councilman for the ward, was second with 10 votes. Robert Duncan got four votes, and Clay Mueller and Christopher Trego received one vote each.

“I just like to be there for the people,” said Hardison on his reason for running.

Appointed school board member Molly Lieberknecht keeps her seat, breaking April’s tie with Jessica McMillan with 170 votes to 127 votes. In April, Lieberknecht and McMillan each received 235 votes.

Lieberknecht joins Karen Dooley as elected school board members. Dooley won her seat in the April 5 election, ahead of Lieberknecht and McMillan.

The tie could have been broken with a coin flip, but Lieberknecht believed the runoff election was a public benefit.

“Elections and individual votes matter. Too many people have sacrificed to ensure ‘we the people’ have this right and responsibility,” she stated. “I am conflicted about the expense to the school district for a special election; however, the community deserves to have a voice in the final outcome.”

The estimated cost of the election was at least $4,000, according to Ray County Clerk Glenda Powell.

The Clerk’s Office reported that 298 ballots were cast Tuesday, just 4.6% percent of the county’s 6,500 registered voters.