This Presidential Election Will Be Decided On A Coin Toss

A village in southern Illinois will elect its next president on the flip of a coin.

The winner of the race for village president in Colp will be decided entirely by chance after last Tuesday’s election ended in a tie, The Southern Illinoisian reports.

Candidates Tammy O’Daniell-Howell and Bryan Riekena will meet at the office of Williamson County clerk Amanda Barnes next Thursday to learn their fate.

Both candidates received just 11 votes each in the poll, as only 29 out of an estimated population of 225 turned up at the polling booth. Under state law,a coin toss must settle political deadlocks.

Although flipping a coin may appear an unconventional way to decide who wins a democratic election, it’s not that unusual.

In 2016, the results of several precincts in Iowa’s Democratic caucuses were reportedly decided using the same method — as was the winner of a mayoral election in San Teodoro in the central Philippines in 2013.

Canadian government officials also once used a coin flip to decide which company would win a federal contract.