Politics
Coin Toss Settles Atlantic Beach Commission Race After 3,162-Vote Tie
After machine and manual recounts left Jennifer Lagner and Lisa Herrold deadlocked at 3,162 votes each, two coin flips in 20 seconds decided Seat 4 on the Atlantic Beach Commission in favor of Lagner.
ATLANTIC BEACH â A deadlocked City Commission race was settled by chance Friday when two coin flips in a 20-second span made Jennifer Lagner the winner of Seat 4, following recounts that left both candidates with exactly 3,162 votes.
The Nov. 3 election between Lagner and Lisa Herrold ended in a tie, triggering a machine recount and then a manual recount. When those tallies confirmed the deadlock, the race moved to a game of chance under the city's tie-breaking procedure.
The coin flips, held Nov. 13, produced the same result twice, giving Lagner the seat. The outcome came after months of campaigning and days of recounting in a contest that neither candidate could win at the ballot box.
Atlantic Beach, a coastal community in Duval County, now has a commissioner chosen not by the voters' final tally but by the luck of the toss â a rare scenario in local elections that underscores how a handful of ballots can determine representation on the body that oversees the city's budget, land use and public services.
Both candidates had built campaign operations around the race. Lagner's campaign website and Herrold's campaign website were active during the contest.
The tie-breaking procedure is used only when election results are certified as an exact tie after all recounts are exhausted. In Florida, such situations are resolved by lot, a method that has decided local races before but remains unusual.
With the coin flips complete, Lagner is set to take the Seat 4 position on the commission. The result closes a contest that had remained unresolved for more than a week after Election Day.