Bolton, CT election settled by coin toss!

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Seriously!

[Republican Michael] Eremita and Democrat Kim Miller received the same number of votes, 718, in last week’s election, creating a tie for the final seat on the board.

A recount Monday upheld the tie, and the candidates agreed to let the decision be decided by a coin toss rather than a special election, as allowed by the town charter.

Eremita, Miller, and Town Clerk Elizabeth C. Waters all tossed coins Tuesday in Town Hall. Eremita won because his coin matched Waters’, with both showing tails. Miller’s came up heads.

“It’s an old New England small town at its best,” Eremita said of the flip. “It’s the most fun I’ve had so far as a selectman.”

Eremita, who was elected in 2015, said he would not have been upset if Miller won.

“Kim was an excellent candidate and would have done an excellent job,” he said. “I knew the town would be in good hands whether I won or lost.”

No one in Bolton runs for public office unless they have the town’s best interests in mind, he added.

Both candidates agreed to toss coins instead of another election for several reasons. Eremita said a special election could cost the town between $2,500 and $3,000, and the comparative cost of the coin toss made sense. Miller said an election would be too costly for the town, and the coin flip would be best for Bolton.

I think this story shows what’s best in Americans and what politicians should strive to be like, especially when dealing with each other.

Congratulations to Mr. Eremita on his win, thanks to Miss Miller for her candidacy and a big thumbs up to the whole community for being, IMO, an excellent example of what Americans (and American politics) can and should aspire to be like.

[John_Mace]

Hmmm. One of my best friends lives in Bolton. I’ll have to ask him what he things about it.

I’ve been there several times, and it is a really, really small town. Like, maybe 5,000 people.

[thelurkinghorror]

Bolton? The winner should be the one who lasts longest while being flayed. Or perhaps the one who can suffer through Michael Bolton the best.

[Julius_Henry]

I seem to remember reading about a similar incident somewhere in Texas quite some time ago where the outcome was decided by dealing 5 cards to the 2 candidates. The one with the best poker hand won.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

I didn’t find anything in a quick google for “texas election decided by poker”, but I did see that New Mexico has a similar provision:

A little-known, rarely exercised provision of New Mexico’s state constitution calls for ties to be settled by a game of chance.

And it did happen in 1999 in the town of Edgewood:

The most recent example of heads-or-tails politics came last year when Gary Chemistruck won a seat on the Edgewood Town Council by drawing a 7 of spades, while his two rivals drew a 2 of diamonds and 4 of diamonds.

There had been a three-way tie for the town council seat, with each candidate garnering 55 votes.

(Interesting sidetone: Edgewood was incorporated 1 July 1999. Mr. Chemistruck won his card draw for his seat on the soon-to-be-newly-created-town’s council less than 2 months before the town was created. The story of the founding of Edgewood is pretty cool.)

And 12 years prior to that:

In 1988, James Farrington took the mayor’s race in Estancia by winning a single hand of poker. He drew to an ace-high flush.

I also found When a State Election Can Be Literally Determined by a Coin Toss over at The Atlantic; it’s from 2012 but is excellent; lots of examples of this sort of thing.

It’s one of the weirder traditions of American democracy: In many states, if a race is tied, a “game by lot” – cards, straws, or most often, a coin toss – determines who goes to the house and who goes home. Months of campaigning, committee assignments, the fortunes of careers, the possibility of political change – it all comes down, like possession in a football game, to heads or tails.

Allowing chance to enter the core of a democratic system seems counterintuitive, although it’s widely recognized today as an electoral tiebreak. In fact, the roots of election by lottery stretch back to ancient Athens. (Modern-day Americans aren’t the first people to be wary of the method; it was also used by sorcerers to predict the future. “Sorcery” comes from the Latin sors, meaning “lot.”)

[PatrickLondon]

I think it’s been known to happen here in the UK, but only after everyone’s too tired to recount for the umpteenth time, and only in local elections like this. I think the record for a parliamentary election is something like twelve recounts.