Amid last Tuesday’s blue wave, a more-than-usual election took place in Kentucky that was eventually decided by a coin flip.
In the race for magistrate in the 2nd Magisterial District in Robertson County, Kentucky, Republican Benny Ray Renner and Democrat Kristen Fryman both received 91 votes, bringing them to a tie.
According to local news station WEKU, instead of a recount, officials in the district decided to break the tie with a coin toss, and in a move straight out of an old western, borrowed a quarter from the local sheriff’s pocket.
“Our county clerk, she flipped it, and Benny, my opponent, he's the one that got the call because he was listed first on the ballot, and he called heads, and it was tails,” Fryman told the outlet. “We laughed
about it, and I left her as the winner and with the quarter in my pocket.”
According to the state of Kentucky, the race Fryman won was for a seat on the county’s fiscal court, which sets the county’s local budget and tax rates.
A coin toss state
Despite the incredible climax to last week's election, it was not the only contest decided by a coin toss this year in Kentucky.
In a Republican primary election, this time in Union County, Ehren Shaffter won by one vote over Dakota Jones in a magistrate race. But, according to WEHT, the vote difference was erased after a voter claimed to have been given the wrong ballot.
After an investigation, the ballot was tossed, leaving both candidates tied and after deliberations between the county’s election board and the candidates, a coin toss was chosen to break the tie.
According to WEHT, Jones deferred to Shaffter to call the flip, which he eventually won when the coin landed on tails.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: An election race was tied in Kentucky. So they flipped a coin
