A flip of a coin determined the winner of a City Council race in Albertville, Minn., ending two weeks of suspense that included a recount and contested ballot that left even the council divided.
Candidate Mark Barthel won by one vote until a recount put Larry Sorensen up by one. But when Barthel contested one partially filled-in bubble cast for Sorensen, the City Council split on its validity, prompting the coin toss.
"When you campaign, you say every vote counts, but I didn't think it would come down to one vote," winner Sorensen said Tuesday.
To settle the unusual tiebreaker, the city used a unique gold dollar coin. Sorensen was assigned heads. Barthel got tails. And with the flip of the coin Monday night, nearly two weeks of uncertainty ended: Heads prevailed.
"It's a very strange election, but the process did what it was supposed to and I respect that," Barthel said, adding that his supporters were baffled by the news Tuesday, saying 'What? You won [on Election Day]!' People were shocked."
Minnesota Secretary of State spokeswoman Pat Turgeon said elections are rarely determined by the flip of a coin, but it isn't unheard of.
In 2008, the northwestern Minnesota town of Goodridge had a recount for the mayoral race that ended in a tie of 44 votes each, prompting a coin toss. That also was the case that year in Farmington, where a deadlocked school board race for a sixth open spot was broken by a coin toss.
But in Albertville this year, the race wasn't just tied, it was divided at every turn.
