# Are any government offices chosen by sortition?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 18, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410 "2007-12-18T01:10:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410/1 "2007-12-18T01:10:10Z")

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Other than jurors are there any government offices chosen by [sortition](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition) in the United States? Are there any circumstances where an elective office could be filled by sortition (say nobody bothers to run for a municipal office in a small town)?

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410/2 "2007-12-18T01:58:32Z")

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In some jurisdictions, if there’s a tie in the election, the post is filled by lot. That may be as close is you can get.

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**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410/3 "2007-12-18T03:17:29Z")

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[QUOTE=RealityChuck]  
In some jurisdictions, if there’s a tie in the election, the post is filled by lot. That may be as close is you can get.  
[/QUOTE]

I was thinging more along the lines up picking a name from random out of a pool of eligable citizens.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-government-offices-chosen-by-sortition/430410/4 "2007-12-18T03:33:37Z")

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Other than juries, the only other example I can think of in the United States was the military draft.