Coin Flip Decides Kentucky County’s Tied Election Between Republican and Democrat Candidates

Officials decided an ancient method was the best way to decide the outcome of an election in Robertson County, Kentucky.

When Republican Benny Ray Renner and Democrat Kristen Gifford Fryman tied with 91 votes each in the race for magistrate in the 2nd Magisterial District, it was up to officials to decide what to do next, KCRA reported Sunday.

“Out of the 182 ballots cast, there was not a single vote that separated the two candidates once all precincts had reported their numbers back,” the outlet said.

The Kentucky State Board of Elections recommended officials perform a coin flip to decide the outcome, and Fryman won.

Prior to her win, Fryman said she realized the race was extremely tight, WEKU reported Friday.

“When it was tied, I was like, ‘Wow.’ I was kind of shocked cause that’s just something I don’t think that…I was told that’s never happened in our county before,” she said.

The coin used to decide the election was a quarter the sheriff had in his pocket.

“Our county clerk, she flipped it, and Benny, my opponent, he’s the one that got the call because he was listed first on the ballot, and he called heads, and it was tails,” Fryman said.

People in ancient Rome would flip coins to determine outcomes and as a game of chance called “heads or ships,” according to First Colonial Mint:

The rules for a Roman toss of coin were different however, in as much as they would not call out, as we do today, their prediction of the winning side of the coin. One of the protagonists would be assigned “heads.” As the emperor was on the heads side of the coin, it was assumed that the emperor agreed with the person who wins. The “ship” side of the coin always lost.

Later in Middle-aged Britain, the game was known as ‘Cross or Pile’ due to the ‘heads’ side featuring a cross and the ‘tails’ side being referred to as the ‘pile’ because of its indentations from the pressing process.

Throughout history though, no matter what its name or reasoning, it has continued to be used for the same thing — to settle a dispute, make a decision, or end a rivalry.

Robertson County is Kentucky’s smallest county in population, according to the state’s website.