By Paulina Pineda Arizona Republic
Tempe voters have returned incumbent Jennifer Adams and elected newcomers Arlene Chin and Berdetta Hodge to three seats on th Tempe City Council, according to preliminary unofficial results posted Wednesday.
Chin, Adams and Hodge held onto their early leads in the seven-way race and received enough votes to avoid a runoff election.
Trailing them were John Skelton, Casey Clowes, Gina Kash and Harper Lines.
The city uses a method prescribed in state law to determine which candidates received the majority of votes cast. Candidates needed to receive nearly 9,300 votes to win Tuesday’s election outright. The top three vote-getters exceeded that threshold.
About 75 ballots are left to count, which is not enough to change the outcome of the race. Final results will be posted Friday, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department.
