A newcomer and a previous school board member will join the Karns City Area school board starting January 2026, alongside two incumbents, as a result of Tuesday’s general election in which seven candidates campaigned for four open seats.

According to unofficial election results reported in Butler County Bureau of Elections summary reports in the Nov. 4 election, William Weibel — a school bus driver for the district and a newcomer to the board — topped the polls with 1,606 votes, or 17.9% of the vote. This was followed by incumbent Cari Harmon with 1,463 votes, or 16.3% of the vote, then fellow incumbent Robert Bray with 1,317 votes, or 14.7% of the vote, and previous board member Tara Hackwelder with 1,245 votes, or 13.9% of the vote.

The night-of results indicates those who failed to gather enough votes to win a seat on the school board were Zach Scherer, who gathered 1,243 votes, or 13.87% of the vote, David Blair with 1,151 votes, or 12.85% of the vote, and libertarian candidate Morgen Mogus with 866 votes, or 9.7% of the vote.

Provisional ballots will be counted and the tally finalized at a later time, which could affect the election.

“I am very much appreciative,” Weibel said. “I'm very open-minded, fiscally conservative, and I think I'll do good by them. I'm looking forward to it. It's my civic duty and I think I'll do a good job.”

Harmon expressed appreciation toward the voters.

“I thank them for their support and their confidence in me,” said Harmon, who was elected to her second four-year term. “We of the board have accomplished a lot in the last four years. I didn't feel that my job was done and that's why I ran for another four-year term.”

As the Karns City Area School District spans Butler, Armstrong and Clarion counties, the results are the sum of the unofficial tallies from all three counties as of the close of polls on Election Day.

With Butler County’s results alone, Weibel captured the most votes with 1,018, followed by Harmon with 906, Bray with 879, Hackwelder with 788, Blair with 766, Scherer with 753 and Mogus with 503.

In Armstrong County, Weibel led the way with 443 votes, according to unofficial election results. He was followed by Harmon with 394, Scherer with 376, Hackwelder with 328, Bray with 311, Mogus with 306 and Blair with 272.

In Clarion County, it was Harmon who captured the most votes, with 163, according to unofficial election results. This was followed by Weibel with 145, Hackwelder with 129, Bray with 127, Scherer with 114, Blair with 113 and Mogus with 57.