The municipal election was so long ago — three weeks — you could certainly be forgiven for having forgotten all about it and moving on with your life.
New councils are being sworn in and the business of running various towns and cities is underway, some under new management.
However, one community, Canal Flats, had a little bit of business to take care of before they could move on.
They had a tie for the mayor’s position. Yes, an absolute deadlock. Mark Dohoerty received 158 votes, as did Douglas McCutcheon.
According to Canada Census, Canal Flats has a population of 802, with a voting age population of about 500 or so. The fact that 316 people cast ballots is actually pretty good, compared to rates in other communities. But we are not here to talk about voting turn out. We are here to talk about the tie, and how it was decided to break it.
The tie was broken by the drawing of lots, as is stipulated in the province’s Local Government Act.
The lots were drawn, after both Dohoerty and McCutcheon agreed a recount was not needed, and Dohoerty won and was declared winner, winner, Canal Flats dinner.
Drawing lots. Who would have thunk?
You’d think they would have a slightly more sophisticated, or at least complicated — it is government after all — method.
But they don’t. There are different tie breaking methods across Canada. In PEI they eschew the drawing of lots and go for the coin toss instead.
At higher levels, such as federal, it requires a by-election. But small towns like Canal Flats don’t really have the resources for that.
Some provinces have the returning officer cast the deciding vote. That puts a lot of pressure on the returning officer.
Nova Scotia also goes for drawing lots, as does the Yukon.
In the United States, 27 states draw lots, while others call for a new election, or a legislative vote to decide. Nevada, South Dakota and Arizona have in the past used a deck of cards. According to Axios, in 2014, a tie for county commissioner in Minnesota was decided by having the two candidates draw coloured blocks from a bag, with the red block winning.
In Florida, again, per Axios, a tie for a City Council seat was broken in 2014 by first a name drawing, which allowed the winner to first call “heads” or “tails” in a coin flip, which then allowed the winner of that to decide who drew a ping-pong ball from the bag first. Whoever drew the ping-pong ball with the highest number won. That’s pretty complicated. And still completely random, no matter how many steps.
But there must be other ways that would be even more fun for the voting public.
How about a skills or strength contest in the public square? A tug of war. Candidate Dohoerty on one end of the rope, and Candidate McCutcheon on the other. The first to pull the other across the train tracks is declared mayor.
Or a trivia night? That would be great fun. Or name that tune? A Canal Flats Jeopardy evening. Cage fighting? 18 holes of golf? All of these would be entertaining. And about as fair as drawing lots.
And you could charge admission. Maybe pay for a by-election.
carolyn.grant@kimberleybulletin.com
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