Frank Moe reached into a bag and picked out the lucky red game piece Monday morning, signifying he had won the election for 1st District Cook County commissioner.
The drawing came less than a week after Moe received 246 votes on Election Day, the same number as Kristin DeArruda Wharton.
State law requires that a tie election be decided by a “lot’’ giving each side equal chances to win.
Most tie elections are decided by a coin flip. Cook County was hoping to be a little different and use the letters “A” and “Z” from a Scrabble board game, with “Z” winning because it has a higher point total in the game.
“But somebody noted that they might be able to feel the difference between the Scrabble pieces, so I ended up using some cubes - they are shaped like dice - from a trivia game my niece gave me,’’ said Braidy Powers, Cook County auditor. “There was absolutely no difference to them except the color.”
Powers decided that, since it was such a “red state’’ landslide election this year, that the red cube would be the winner. Moe picked it.
DeArruda Wharton, following state guidelines, immediately requested a recount of the original vote. The recount took less than 90 minutes “and came up with the exact same results. No change,’’ Powers said.
“People up here are boringly accurate with how they fill out their little ovals on their ballots,’’ Powers noted.
The 1st District covers eastern Cook County, the very tip of Minnesota’s Arrowhead, and includes Grand Portage, Hovland and Colvill.
Moe, a dog musher, former state lawmaker and environmental activist, will take his post in January. DeArruda is a nurse, farmer, mother and longtime resident of the county.
Western Cook County race within five votes
Western Cook County also saw a close race, for the 5th District county commissioner spot, with incumbent Bruce Martinson losing to challenger Ginny Storlie by a five-vote margin, 303 to 298.
Despite the close margin, however, the race doesn’t qualify for a publicly funded recount - the margin would have had to be only three votes, Powers said. If Martinson wants to pay for the county auditor to recount, Powers said his office will oblige.
Martinson has until Friday to decide, Powers said, “but I think he’s leaning against it now because the 1st District recount didn’t show any differences at all.”
