# A single ballot will decide control of the Alaska House
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [November 29, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298 "2018-11-29T23:15:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/1 "2018-11-29T23:15:29Z")
Apparently a single ballot will decide control of Alaska’s House of Representives:
The House is currently divided 20-19, with one seat in Fairbanks undecided.
The latest count of that seat came to an exact tie, 2661-2661, with one ballot unclear.
Let this be an example for those who say their vote doesn’t count.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2018, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/2 "2018-11-29T23:39:51Z")
Looks like there’s still one independent. Are you counting him in the Democratic total?
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/3 "2018-11-30T00:01:53Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> Looks like there’s still one independent. Are you counting him in the Democratic total?
I heard he votes with the Democrats usually.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/4 "2018-11-30T00:07:43Z")
So what happens now? Here in the UK there’s a recount and if the ballots are still tied the result gets determined by lot - tossing a coin, drawing straws, or similar.
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/5 "2018-11-30T00:15:58Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> So what happens now? Here in the UK there’s a recount and if the ballots are still tied the result gets determined by lot - tossing a coin, drawing straws, or similar.
I think they’ve recounted several times, by machine and by hand. It’s a tie.
In Virginia last year they drew straws. Not sure how Alaska does it.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/6 "2018-11-30T00:29:27Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> I think they’ve recounted several times, by machine and by hand. It’s a tie.
>
> In Virginia last year they drew straws. Not sure how Alaska does it.
[They’ll draw lots](http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/resolving-tied-elections.aspx).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/7 "2018-11-30T02:27:51Z")
No, in Virginia last year they pretended to draw lots, and then just declared that the Republicans won, after changing the rules to get the tie in the first place, instead of the Democratic win.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/8 "2018-11-30T09:36:59Z")
I’ll bet the Gopster is declared winner. What odds do I have to give up to get action?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-single-ballot-will-decide-control-of-the-alaska-house/825298/9 "2018-11-30T23:23:19Z")
> [@suranyi](#):
>
> Let this be an example for those who say their vote doesn’t count.
The point is not that elections cannot end in ties, but rather that by and large the margin of error in ballot-counting is greater than one ballot. Note the unclear ballot here (or any number of elections in Florida),