A Virginia House of Delegates race is a high-profile example of a relatively rare but perennial phenomenon, determining the winner of a tied election by drawing lots.
The stakes are unusually high in Virginia, as the slip of paper placed in a plastic film canister and drawn out of a bowl in Richmond Wednesday will determine partisan control of the House. But election experts say a handful of elections each year are decided by chance, particularly in local elections, where there are relatively few ballots cast.
Kristin DeArruda Wharton and her opponent drew lots after tying 246-246 in a 2014 race for Cook County council in rural northeastern Minnesota.
Election officials originally planned for them to draw ‘A’ or ‘Z’ Scrabble letters out of a drawstring bag, but had concerns about the indentations on the tiles being distinguishable by touch.
So each reached in and drew from two colored tiles, one blue and one red.
“We both held our palms closed and at the count of three, we both opened out palms,” she said. Her opponent had the red tile, the winning color because Republicans had dominated in the recent election cycle.
“It was this anticlimactic and impactful conclusion to the process,” she said.
Some election experts say choosing a leader by chance may feel undemocratic but it is a better option than a new election.
In Virginia, if a special election were to be scheduled weeks after the original one, it would likely be awash in cash from influence groups and bring out a new range of voters, said Stephen Pettigrew of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies.
“It’s a totally different election in terms of who’s likely to turn out and their awareness of the consequences,” Mr. Pettigrew said. “It’s not unfair to one candidate over the other inherently but it’s a totally different race.”
Tie races are rare on a statewide, legislative or congressional level, where tens of thousands of votes are cast. A National Bureau of Economic Research study of a century of election results found that one of every 100,000 votes cast in U.S. elections and one of every 15,000 cast in state elections were for a candidate that officially tied or won by one vote.
In the Virginia House race, Republican incumbent David Yancey led in the election day tally by 10 votes out of more than 23,000 cast. Democrat Shelly Simonds requested a recount, which on Dec. 19 put her ahead by one vote.
A three-judge panel found on Dec. 20 that one ballot should have been counted for Mr. Yancey that hadn’t been, making the race a tie.
Ms. Simonds tweeted Dec. 22 that she needed cheering up. She asked her supporters to register a friend to vote this holiday season. “It would be the best gift ever and would lift my spirits,” she said.
It is likely that the Wednesday drawing won’t be the last step in deciding who represents Newport News in the House. The loser can request another recount. Party leaders say they are examining other legal options, too.
In Minnesota, Ms. Wharton said she wasn’t discouraged by the loss. She said she believes voter turnout has been higher in her region recently because people know their vote counts.
“I was willing to accept whatever the outcome was, whether it was God, a higher power or the universe opening or closing a door for me,” she said. “I felt at peace with that. Mostly.”
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com
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