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C'mon, Best Two Out of Three?

For the first time in Alaska state history, the outcome of a legislative race has been determined by a coin toss. Bryce Edgmon and incumbent ...

coin-toss.jpg For the first time in Alaska state history, the outcome of a legislative race has been determined by a coin toss.

Bryce Edgmon and incumbent Rep. Carl Moses were deadlocked with 767 votes after last month's primary election.

The specially made gold and silver commemorative coin had a walrus on one side and the state seal on the other. Edgmon called "tails," and he won. (Would that be the walrus side??)

According to the Anchorage Daily News:

Wyoming and Idaho have decided contests with coin tosses or drawings in the last 20 years... Other states also rely on games of chance to decide ties.

Indeed, this recalls the 1986 Alabama House race in which Rep. Don Carrolton was ousted by a single round of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
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