At least two local elections in Michigan are expected to be decided by a random drawing after candidates tied at the polls during Tuesday’s primary.
In Isabella County’s Wise Township, the race for township supervisor resulted in a tie between Republicans Robert Moore and Richard Los, with each receiving exactly 100 votes, WJRT reports.
The race included only one other Republican, John Moore who received 41 votes, with no Democratic challengers in November.
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It’s the same situation Huron County’s 4th District Commissioner race, with Republicans Darren Smithers and Steve Vaughan each garnering exactly 321 votes.
Michigan Election Law Act 116 of 1954 lays out the procedure for breaking the ties if they remain after canvassing.
According to Sec. 851:
The board of canvassers for the county in which such election was held shall appoint a day for the appearance of all affected persons before the county clerk for the purpose of determining by lot among such persons the right to the office, and shall cause notice thereof to be given to all the persons interested.
The county clerk shall prepare as many slips of paper as there are such persons, and write the word “elected” on as many slips of paper as there are offices to be filled, and the words “not elected” on the remaining slips, and fold the same so as to conceal the writing and so that they may appear as near alike as possible.
The slips shall be placed in a box and, at the time and place appointed for the drawing of the lots, each of the persons aforesaid may draw 1 of the slips from the box, and any person drawing a slip on which is written the word “elected” shall be deemed legally elected to the office in question and the county clerk shall forthwith give him a certificate of election.
Clerks in Isabella and Huron counties have not yet announced when the drawings will take place.
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Huron County Commissioners’ Executive Assistant Jodi Essenmacher told the Huron Daily Tribune on Wednesday the board of canvassers is still working to certify the votes there.
“That will be done over the course of today and tomorrow,” she said.
While the law does not prohibit a recount, Essenmacher expects the tie-breaker to take place soon if that doesn’t happen. The vote total for the race actually added up to 643, but one write-in vote was not counted because the write-in did not submit a signed affidavit to the county, according to the Tribune.
“It’s up to the board of canvassers to certify the election at this point,” Vaughan told the news site. “It will be what it will be when they are all said and done.”
Smithers said “our goal for this election was to provide people with choices and this election has shown lots of support for both candidates.”