Voters in District 9 will have to wait one more week before they know the outcome of Tuesday's election between Councilman Peter Murphy and Yusuf Hakeem.
In an emergency meeting of the Hamilton County Election Commission Thursday morning, the commission determined that it was not in compliance with a provision of the Sunshine Law, which states that such meetings require a 24-hour notice.
Both Hakeem and Murphy, along with members of the media, were present.
Commission Chairman Mike Walden said the group would likely examine seven write-in ballots that were cast Tuesday. Walden said the commission would specifically be looking to see if names on the write-ins were for either Hakeem or Murphy.
"We'll report what we found and make a decision," Walden said.
If there is no clear winner, the candidates will face each other in a runoff April 9.
Hakeem, a former councilman, scored six more votes than incumbent Murphy in Tuesday's election. Hakeem tallied 1,030 votes, as opposed to 1,026 votes scored for Murphy.
But seven write-in votes kept Hakeem from claiming the 50 percent plus one vote total needed to claim victory. In fact, Hakeem would have only needed one of the write-in votes cast in his name instead in order to defeat the sitting councilman.
The next commission meeting is scheduled for March 13 at 8 a.m.
