Thursday, November 04, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Card draw to break election tie
By HENRY BREAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Forget Ohio. The real election drama will take place in Ely today, when two men meet for a game of cards that will decide which one of them wins a seat on the White Pine County Commission.
Robert Swetich and Raymond Urrizaga each got 1,847 votes in the race for Seat 3 on the commission. According to state law, they must draw lots to break the tie.
For the candidates, that meant a choice: They could toss a coin, draw straws or grab a deck and decide the race with a game of high-card.
"I'm sick about it," White Pine County Clerk Donna Bath said. "I don't care who wins (during an election), I just want them to win big. That's a clerk/registrar's dream."
Bath contacted the two candidates Wednesday afternoon, and they agreed to let a deck of cards break the tie.
The draw will take place sometime after 9 a.m., when the current County Commission meets to canvas the results of Tuesday's election.
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Briggs will cut the deck, and each man will draw one card, starting with Urrizaga. High card wins.
In the event that both candidates pick the same number or face card, suit will decide the winner. Spades are highest, followed by diamonds, clubs and hearts, Bath said.
Urrizaga knocked off incumbent Commissioner David Provost in the Republican primary. Swetich, a Democrat, advanced to the general election unopposed.
Neither candidate is expected to challenge the election results beyond today's draw. "Both gentlemen are very amenable," Bath said.
If the man left holding the low card has a change of heart, he still has the option of calling for a recount, as long as he is willing to pay for it. But the tiebreaker comes first because state law allows only a loser to call for a recount.
A game of high-card was used in 2002 to decide a race for the Esmeralda County Commission. The tie was broken when Dolores "Dee" Honeycutt and R.J. Gillum met at the historic courthouse in Goldfield, and each drew a jack. Gillum won the seat with the jack of spades, which beat Honeycutt's jack of diamonds.
