Coin toss decides Kentucky election after candidates receive equal votes

A Kentucky magistrate race ended in a 91-91 tie and was settled by a coin toss, which Democrat Kristen Fryman won when Republican Benny Ray Renner called heads and it landed tails.

A Kentucky election was decided by the flip of a coin after Democrat Kristen Fryman and Republican Benny Ray Renner each finished with exactly 91 votes, the Daily Mail reports.

The tie in Robertson County’s 2nd District magistrate race was settled under Kentucky law, which allows tied elections to be decided by drawing lots.

The county clerk tossed a quarter borrowed from the sheriff. Renner, listed first on the ballot, called heads, but the coin landed tails.

“We laughed about it, and I left here as the winner and with the quarter in my pocket,” Fryman told local public radio station WEKU.

Her victory helped Democrats retain their majority on the county’s fiscal court, which sets budgets and tax rates.

In Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, mayoral candidates Robert Nelson and Halyn Roth each secured 1,401 votes, and officials may draw a name from a bag if the tie survives the official canvass.

“I don’t love it,” Roth told CBS.