The runoff race for Corpus Christi’s City Council District 1 was a tie. Each candidate–Billy Lerma and incumbent Councilmember Everett Roy vyed for for the spot on the city council.
Each candidate garnered 1,916 votes.
A recount is the requisite step in the event of a tie.
After an electronic recount and then a manual recount, incredibly, the exact same number came up for both candidates.
The recount then being inconclusive and revealing an exact tie, determined the next unorthodox move.
On Tuesday, in accordance with state law — the Texas Election Code — the candidates deemed to be deadlocked in a tie would have to do something seemingly random in an effort to fill the coveted seat. The candidates were to draw lots to break the tie to determine who will represent the residents of District 1.
This was a first for Corpus Christi— and for Texas. Even with its long idiosyncratic history, this was an extremely rare and odd situation with a totally unconventional approach to finally selecting a winner. But it is in accordance with the law.
The candidates were asked to pick from a box of numbered beads. The candidate who pulled the higher number would be declared the winner of the seat on the council.
Billy Lerma picked the first bead with the number two.
Then incumbent City Councilman Everett Roy pulled the bead with the number three.
This unusual, quirky way to break election ties isn’t without precedent. Other states have such rules to break elections from flipping a coin to drawing a higher card from a deck.
And how does this kind of random drawing of lots demonstrated in Corpus Christi express the will of the people? Observers find the method to be democratic–and practical for being somehow more precise and less expensive than trying to have another run-off election.
Everett Roy will be sworn in along with the other new council members on January 14.
