# Bolton, CT election settled by coin toss! **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 16, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782 "2017-11-16T17:04:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/1 "2017-11-16T17:04:25Z")
[Seriously](http://www.journalinquirer.com/public/coin-toss-gives-republican-win-in-bolton/article_46363078-ca22-11e7-8e92-2387d2894d61.html)! > [@](#): > > [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. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/2 "2017-11-16T20:05:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/3 "2017-11-16T20:37:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/4 "2017-11-19T03:21:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/5 "2017-11-19T05:02:14Z")
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](https://nypost.com/2000/11/14/a-game-of-poker-could-decide-n-m/): > [@](#): > > 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](http://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/06/news/mn-61541).) 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](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/when-a-state-election-can-be-literally-determined-by-a-coin-toss/265413/) 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.”) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bolton-ct-election-settled-by-coin-toss/801782/6 "2017-11-20T07:58:14Z")
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.