A Kentucky political race has been decided by a coin toss after the two candidates finished with an identical number of votes.
Democrat Kristen Fryman defeated Republican Benny Ray Renner in Robertson County after both candidates received exactly 91 votes in the contest.
Because not one ballot separated them, election officials relied on an unusual tiebreaker allowed under Kentucky law: a random draw.
Renner called heads, but the quarter landed on tails, handing Fryman the victory in the county’s 2nd District magistrate race.
Along with the elected position, Fryman took home the quarter that determined the outcome.
‘We laughed about it, and I left here as the winner and with the quarter in my pocket,’ Fryman told local public radio station WEKU.
The extraordinary result came after Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which residents of the rural northern Kentucky county voted for representatives on its fiscal court.
Once every ballot had been counted, however, the race remained perfectly tied.
Democrat Kristen Fryman won her Kentucky magistrate race after a coin toss broke a 91-vote tie, leaving her with both the elected seat and the lucky quarter
Fryman and Renner each won 91 of the 182 votes cast.
Fryman said she was stunned when she learned the final count had produced a deadlock.
‘When it was tied, I was like, “Wow,”‘ she told WEKU. ‘I was kind of shocked because that’s just something I don’t think … I was told that’s never happened in our county before.’
Kentucky’s election rules provide a way forward in such cases, allowing officials to settle a tie by drawing lots rather than leaving the result undecided.
The county clerk handled the toss using a coin borrowed from the sheriff.
Since Renner’s name appeared first on the ballot, he was given the first opportunity to call the result.
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‘Our county clerk flipped it, and Benny, my opponent, got the call because he was listed first on the ballot. He called heads, and it was tails,’ Fryman explained, bringing the unusual contest to an end.
Fryman is employed by manufacturing company 3M in nearby Cynthiana, north of Lexington.
Republican Benny Ray Renner lost the election despite receiving exactly the same number of votes as his opponent, after calling heads only for the coin to land tails
Her win also allowed Democrats to preserve their majority on Robertson County’s fiscal court, the local body that oversees budgets and tax rates.
A similarly dramatic tie is developing in Spring Lake Park, a suburb of Minneapolis, where two candidates for mayor also finished with the same vote total.
Incumbent Robert Nelson and challenger Halyn Roth each received 1,401 votes, equivalent to 49.77 percent. If the tie remains after the official canvass, officials are expected to draw a name from a bag to determine the winner.
That tiebreaker could be held after a public meeting later Monday, though a recount may still alter the result.
‘I don’t love it. I’ve heard from a lot of people who think this is kind of a silly rule and wish we could have a revote or something else,’ Roth told CBS.
City Administrator Daniel Buchholtz defended the process, saying: ‘It’s a process that’s been outlined in state law for a long time, and it’s a process that I believe is fair.’
Robert Nelson, left, and Halyn Roth, right, have both received 49.77 percent of the vote as the race for mayor in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota has ended. The tiebreaker could take place following a public meeting later on Monday
Robertson County is hardly the first Kentucky jurisdiction to use an unconventional method to resolve an election.
Earlier this year, a Republican primary in Union County ended in a tie and was settled with the flip of a silver dollar.
Other Kentucky contests have also required similar tiebreakers, including a Democratic magistrate primary in Logan County and a city commission race in Hanson.
A Madisonville city council election in 2010 was likewise decided by a coin toss.
