After 250 Votes, City Council Remains Deadlocked [VIDEO]

UPDATED: Despite voting 250 times at City Hall Thursday night, Salem City Council members have so far been unable to pick a replacement for Joan Lovely.

There are six candidates who have applied to fill out the remaining year of Lovely's term. Also the council president, Lovely resigned to become a state Senator.

The two candidates with council experience have been consistently splitting votes tonight.

Steven Pinto, a former two-term councilor at large, who was not reelected in 2011, has five votes.

Lucy Corchado, who served two terms as a ward councilor, has expressed an interest in returning to the council for at least the one year remaining on Lovely's term and has the other five votes.

A candidate will need six votes to earn the seat.

At 11 p.m., councilors took a recess after 150 votes.

As of 12:08 a.m. the councilors were taking their 204th vote.

At 1:05 a.m., the councilors took a recess after their 250th vote.

Click Here for our story previewing the vote, including information about the other residents running for the position.

The Corchado bloc is: Councilors Kevin Carr, Thomas Furey, Robert McCarthy, Josh Turiel and Joseph O'Keefe.

The Pinto bloc is: Councilors Arthur Sargent, Michael Sosnowski, Todd Siegel, Jerry Ryan and Paul Prevey.

Salem Patch will be posting more information as it becomes available.