Micki Varney leads Chris Cummings by five votes, but the Ward 8 Salem City Council race appears headed to November because neither candidate cleared the majority needed to win outright.
SALEM — The Ward 8 Salem City Council race is almost as close as an election can get.
The latest posted results show Councilor Micki Varney leading Chris Cummings by five votes. Varney has 3,514 votes. Cummings has 3,509. Write-in candidates received 14 votes.
That puts the race at 7,037 total votes.
But the five-vote lead is only half the story.
Under Salem’s election rules, a candidate has to receive more than half the vote in the May primary to avoid a November runoff. In this race, that magic number was 3,519 votes.
Varney finished with 3,514.
That means she is ahead of Cummings by five votes, but also five votes short of winning the race outright.
Because neither candidate reached the majority mark, the race appears headed to a November matchup between Varney and Cummings. The result is still not certified, and the close margin also appears likely to trigger a recount before the race fully moves into the general election.
The latest results were posted after Polk County’s deadline for voters to resolve challenged ballots. Those challenges can include ballot signature issues, but the public results do not show a Ward 8-specific number for how many ballots were challenged or fixed before the deadline.
For voters, the simple version is this: Varney is currently in first place, but she has not won the seat. Cummings is five votes behind, but he is still in the race.
Ward 8 covers West Salem, where traffic, housing, homelessness, public safety and city spending have all been major issues for residents and businesses. The council seat carries a four-year term and will help shape decisions at City Hall during a period when Salem is facing budget pressure and major policy debates.
The final certified count will determine the next procedural steps. But unless the numbers change enough to give one candidate a majority, West Salem voters should expect to see both names again in November.
A race that came down to five votes is not over. It is moving into round two.