# Election decided by lot and a sore loser
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [January 7, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071 "2018-01-07T20:50:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/1 "2018-01-07T20:50:21Z")
An election in Virginia was tied so the results was decided by [drawing lots](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/must_see/42571600/an-unusual-way-to-decide-an-election-in-virginia) from a bowl (BBC video). The loser behaved very poorly.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/2 "2018-01-07T20:57:35Z")
I just see her walking out, clearly upset, but not actually doing anything. I was expecting worse from your description of “behaved very poorly.”
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/3 "2018-01-07T20:59:58Z")
She wasn’t particularly gracious, but I’m not sure I’d say she behaved “very poorly”. Meh. Why does her 5 seconds of being pissed merit our attention?
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/4 "2018-01-07T21:02:03Z")
It was a totally fugly bowl. Really, it looked like a chamber pot.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/5 "2018-01-07T21:06:48Z")
I agree, she doesn’t seem to have behaved very badly.
But to be honest I think the process was not well done. We don’t have continuous video, but the names should have been put into the canisters out of sight of the one drawing. You can’t tell for sure that he couldn’t keep an eye on them the whole time. Even the hand mixing might be only apparent, as he could already have one gripped in his hand. I’m not saying the drawing wasn’t fair, I’m saying from what we can see, they did a poor job of making sure it was obviously fair. A simple coin flip would have done that.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/6 "2018-01-07T21:07:19Z")
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> She wasn’t particularly gracious, but I’m not sure I’d say she behaved “very poorly”. Meh. Why does her 5 seconds of being pissed merit our attention?
Because people on the left are just awful, awful people, as demonstrated by her failure to react with visible pleasure at the lot-drawing result.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/7 "2018-01-07T21:18:32Z")
> [@OldGuy](#):
>
> But to be honest I think the process was not well done. We don’t have continuous video, but the names should have been put into the canisters out of sight of the one drawing. You can’t tell for sure that he couldn’t keep an eye on them the whole time. Even the hand mixing might be only apparent, as he could already have one gripped in his hand. I’m not saying the drawing wasn’t fair, I’m saying from what we can see, they did a poor job of making sure it was obviously fair. A simple coin flip would have done that.
Agree.
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/8 "2018-01-07T21:20:50Z")
What? Did she slug a reporter or something?
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### Author:  [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/9 "2018-01-07T21:33:43Z")
Perhaps **Quartz** thinks the loser should have congratulated the winner before leaving. However, that would have been impossible in this case because while the loser was present, the winner didn’t even show up.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/10 "2018-01-07T22:42:11Z")
> [@Quartz](#):
>
> An election in Virginia was tied so the results was decided by [drawing lots](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/must_see/42571600/an-unusual-way-to-decide-an-election-in-virginia) from a bowl (BBC video). The loser behaved very poorly.
Let me see if I can guess your party affiliation.
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/11 "2018-01-07T23:13:12Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#):
>
> Perhaps **Quartz** thinks the loser should have congratulated the winner before leaving. However, that would have been impossible in this case because while the loser was present, the winner didn’t even show up.
Seriously? Yeah, that would make it kinda tough to shake hands with him. I guess she could have thanked the guy drawing names or something.
After the hard fought recount battle, being a little peeved that the drawing didn’t go your way is pretty understandable. And, anyway, not everyone can be as gracious and tactful as, for example, the President.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/12 "2018-01-07T23:14:22Z")
She showed more class in an incredibly close election than Roy Moore did after getting clearly beaten. From the video evidence supplied in the OP, she has got a lot to learn about being a sore loser.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2018, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/13 "2018-01-07T23:26:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#):
>
> Let me see if I can guess your party affiliation.
He’s a Scottish liberal sort, but has these strange streaks of propriety in politics. Like, he generally thinks Trump is treated unfairly.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/14 "2018-01-08T00:06:34Z")
It is also worth noting that Simonds [actually won the recount by one vote, and it was then decided to count a ballot which had both candidates marked on it for Yancey, creating the tie](https://www.npr.org/2018/01/04/573504079/virginia-republican-david-yancey-wins-tie-breaking-drawing). I cannot imagine anyone being happy about losing an arbitrary draw after legally winning the election, and Simonds took the loss with better grace than some notable people have behaved about winning an election, i.e. not levying a single complaint about rigged counts or fantasy illegal voters.
The o.p. apparently just wants to manufacture controversy ascribing purported bad behavior to anyone who is not of politically conservative bent, and will no doubt act shocked and hurt that anyone would think it so despite a pervasive pattern of similar behavior.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/15 "2018-01-08T00:52:57Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> It is also worth noting that Simonds [actually won the recount by one vote, and it was then decided to count a ballot which had both candidates marked on it for Yancey, creating the tie](https://www.npr.org/2018/01/04/573504079/virginia-republican-david-yancey-wins-tie-breaking-drawing).
I would’ve been pretty pissed, too. As soon as I heard that the ruined ballot would be accepted (which changed Simond’s win to a tie) and, as a result, a random draw would decide the winner, I just freakin’ \*knew \*that she had already lost. There was no way in hell the GOP would let the Dems break their stranglehold.
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### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/16 "2018-01-08T01:59:50Z")
The old rule in boxing is, if the title match ends in a draw, the champion keeps his belt. I just assume that’s probably the way it works in politics as well.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/17 "2018-01-08T11:47:42Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> The o.p. apparently just wants to manufacture controversy ascribing purported bad behavior to anyone who is not of politically conservative bent, and will no doubt act shocked and hurt that anyone would think it so despite a pervasive pattern of similar behavior.
You have the right to be wrong.
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### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/18 "2018-01-08T13:19:19Z")
How did the loser “behave poorly”, OP?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/19 "2018-01-08T13:26:12Z")
There’s also the problem that the “loser” actually won by one vote, and that the election was only tied because they chose to double-count one vote that had already been counted.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-decided-by-lot-and-a-sore-loser/806071/20 "2018-01-08T14:09:47Z")
I’ve seen the double-counting allegation raised before, but not with any cites. It doesn’t seem plausible, either - if you’re going to slip one ballot back into the pile, why not a few more to avoid the risk of losing a drawing?
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