"Deciding City Council Member by Straw Drawing"... This Place Held a Final Vote for Just 5,000 Won

Two Galt City Council Candidates in California Receive Same Votes
Further Procedure Needed
Instead of Special Election Costing 150 Million Won, Straw Drawing Chosen

On the 17th (local time), two newly elected city council members were sworn in at the city council of Galt, located in Sacramento County, California, USA. Among them, Matthew Fratten (Republican) was a candidate who barely won after a runoff election. He won because he drew a slightly longer straw in the runoff vote.

On the 17th (local time), Councilman Matthew Fratton and Councilman Tim Reed were taking an oath at the City Council of Galt, a city within Sacramento County, California, USA.
Photo by Tim Reed

The New York Times (NYT) recently reported a story about the city council election held in Galt. Galt is a small city with a population of about 26,000, located south of Sacramento. In this area, the city council election was held simultaneously with the U.S. presidential election on the 5th of last month. Three candidates competed fiercely for two of the five city council seats.

The results of the city council election, which was conducted in this way, were announced earlier this month after a month-long delay due to the slow ballot counting process in California. The first place was confirmed to be Tim Reed, who received more than 5,800 votes. However, for second place, candidates Fratten and Bonnie Rodriguez each received exactly 3,882 votes. Initially, Rodriguez appeared to be trailing, but by the time the final count was confirmed, the vote counts were completely tied.

Faced with this unexpected situation, both candidates and the city election authorities were reportedly very surprised. The NYT reported, "Fratten recalled someone who said they intended to vote by mail but did not, while Rodriguez thought of voters whose doors she had not knocked on during her campaign."

At this time, Tina Hubert, a city clerk, recalled that earlier this spring the city council had resolved that in the event of a tie in any election, the final decision would be made by drawing straws, according to the NYT. However, since the possibility of a perfect tie in an actual election was considered unlikely, the details of how to conduct this were not discussed. The city purchased a pack of straws for $3 (about 5,000 won), selected three green straws symbolizing neutrality, each of different lengths, and decided that the person who drew the longest straw would be the winner.

The straw drawing was conducted in the city council meeting room with cameras installed to avoid controversy and under the supervision of the local police chief. After a brief dispute over who would draw first, Fratten drew first and ultimately drew the longest straw, confirming his victory. Rodriguez said, "A more democratic solution would be to hold a special election," but also expressed trust in the straw drawing method considering the cost and time involved.

Local media reported that this method saved at least $100,000, the minimum cost that would have been incurred if a special election had been held. A city official, Hubert, explained to a media outlet, "If we held a special election, small cities like ours would have to bear greater costs. Instead of making citizens pay those costs through taxes, we conducted the runoff election by drawing straws."