It is now official that Greg Bjelke and Gwen Brown will meet in a July 5 runoff election to fill the open Ward 3 position on the Selma City Council after city and election officials authorized the results of the May 24 special election.

The results were authorized during Tuesday afternoon’s Selma City Council meeting.

There had been some suspense ahead of Tuesday’s meeting in determining just who would meet Bjelke in the runoff. The unofficial results had placed Bjelke safely in the runoff, but Brown’s 149 votes were just slightly ahead of Karl Lewis and his 136 votes.

If enough of the provisional ballots, or contested ballots, had been accepted by election officials and gone for Lewis, he could have passed Brown and made it to the runoff.

But, with only 23 provisional ballots counted, and only six accepted Tuesday, Lewis’ chances of making the runoff were through.

Bjelke and Brown must now meet in a July 5 runoff to fill the seat left vacant when Dr. Monica Newton moved.

The runoff election is needed now because neither Bjelke nor Brown received more than 50 percent of the votes.