Kentucky city’s mayoral race decided by a coin toss

When the mayoral race for a small Kentucky metropolis led to a tie, metropolis officers turned to likelihood to find out the winner.

Mason Taylor will develop into the subsequent mayor of Butler after profitable a coin toss this week.

He and incumbent Greg McElfresh every garnered 55 votes in Tuesday’s election. A 3rd candidate — Joshua McGriffin — additionally acquired 15 votes.

Kentucky regulation stipulates that election ties should be damaged by “lot” — which means the winner is chosen at random. Pendleton County officers used a coin flip that evening to find out who will lead the town of some 600 residents.

The Pendleton County sheriff assigned heads to McElfresh and tails to Taylor earlier than flipping the coin, in keeping with ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO.

“The coin circled across the ground about 3 times and spun after which it simply flopped over on tails and I had this massive exhale of aid,” Taylor informed WCPO.

The 25-year-old Butler native at present sits on the Butler metropolis council and works as a firefighter and paramedic.

Taylor informed ABC Information that he has a “well-thought-out” future for the town of Butler.

“I wish to reassure those who, going ahead, my visions for the town are going to stay [the same as] the marketing campaign guarantees that I ran on,” he stated.

He informed WCPO that he wish to increase the town geographically as a way to develop income. In an interview with the native Falmouth Outlook, Taylor stated he would additionally search grant work to extend income.

“However I additionally wish to make the town of Butler a spot the place my youngsters can develop up and my youngsters’ youngsters can develop up,” Taylor, whose household has lived within the northern Kentucky metropolis for generations, informed WCPO.

Different objectives the mayor-elect shared with voters on social media forward of Election Day included attracting new companies into the town, making “wanted repairs” to the town’s infrastructure, together with its water remedy plant, and including sights by rising entry to the Licking River.

McElfresh, the outgoing mayor, didn’t instantly reply to ABC Information’ request for remark.

Taylor informed ABC Information this is not the primary time the town has used a coin toss to interrupt a tie; in 2018, it was executed in a metropolis council election, he stated.

Kentucky is not the one state to resolve elections by lot, both. Twenty-eight states decide winners by drawing of tons “or related random strategies,” in keeping with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.

Final 12 months, the winner of a tied metropolis council race in Portland, Maine, was decided by drawing a reputation out of a picket bowl.

The winner of a hotly contested Virginia Home of Delegates seat in a 2017 race was decided by drawing a reputation out of a ceramic bowl.