Silver Dollar Flip Decides Kentucky Local Election

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With both candidates in a Kentucky magistrate primary tied at 127 votes, they used a coin flip to decide the race.

One of the Democrats, Boyce Coles, said a runoff “wouldn’t be nothing but a … mess.”

The other, Barry Perkins, called it a fair way to resolve the surprising result. He said he “couldn’t imagine it ending in a durn tie to start with.”

And with that, a silver dollar was flipped into the air on Tuesday.

The Daily News reported that County Clerk Scottie Harper put pieces of paper reading heads and tails into different envelopes. Each candidate chose one. After the coin landed on tails, they opened their envelopes and learned that Coles will face Republican Robert Chyle in November.