Coin toss may decide fate of 4th Ward seat

In Fostoria, the 2021 General Election made history as the two Fourth Ward city council candidates received exactly 117 votes each in the unofficial count — a perfect tie. The official count, which includes all outstanding absentee and provisional ballots, will take place on Nov. 17; if the race is still tied after that, the city council seat will be at the mercy of a coin toss. The two candidates were Thomas Lake, incumbent, and Michael Spencer, who had previously run unsuccessfully for city council three times before this year. In Spencer and Lake's last face-off, the margin was narrow. "Me and Michael have always been close on votes," Lake said. "I'm just surprised that it came out a tie like that." Neither Lake nor Spencer can ever remember a tie happening for a Fostoria City Council seat before. Mayor Eric Keckler couldn't either. "I have never seen or heard of a tie in any of our elections," Keckler said. "I have talked to mayors of other communities that have had that happen. It's interesting to see a tie." Steve Kauffman, sitting council president, expressed the same sentiment. "I knew it was going to be close," Kauffman said. "I think the general mood of the nation right now is sort of anti-incumbent, anti-establishment … it's not surprising that there was a close race, but I certainly never expected a tie." In Fostoria, the anti-incumbent trend carried over to the Fostoria City Schools board of education, where former board president Sharon Stannard was ousted from her seat in this week's election. Tiffin City School Board and other school boards across the county saw the same measure of new candidates elected to open seats. The Codified Ordinances of the City of Fostoria has a very brief section on this circumstance — section 9.03, Conduct of Elections. The section is only three sentences, and states that "where the Charter is silent, the provisions of the election laws of Ohio shall be followed." As for the Ohio Revised Code, Section 3503.33, "Declaration of Election Results — Tie Votes," details the process to be taken in a tie-vote scenario — the winner of the election is chosen by lot by the appropriate board of elections. "By lot" in this case means the winner is chosen randomly — whether by coin toss, names drawn from a hat or some other way. The decision must be resolved in the presence of the majority of the members of the Seneca County Board of Elections. After the official vote count on Nov. 17, if the number of votes cast for the winner is less than 0.5% greater than the number of votes cast for the loser, the board is legally required by the Ohio Revised Code to perform a recount. "If nothing changes at the official count, or neither one of them has won by half a percent at that time, the board will schedule a recount," said Lori Ritzler, Deputy Director of the Seneca County Board of Elections. Even if the difference in votes is greater than 0.5%, the losing candidate can still file a written application for a recount with the board. If the recount also reveals a tie, or a close enough margin, the board will still have to administer a coin toss. "It seems like a heck of a way to decide something like this," Kauffman said of the coin toss principle. "Rules are rules, I guess. "That shows you the likelihood of this happening." Kauffman posited that if the city hadn't had a primary for city council seats, and the fourth ward still had four candidates running as it did originally, the chance of a tie would've been far lower. A proposed charter amendment that was also on the ballot would have eliminated primaries for council seats, but the amendment was not approved. Both Lake and Spencer were in disbelief at the result. "I've never seen this happen," Lake said. "You would think there would be more than 234 people voting in a ward to decide what's going on with elections, but that's just how it is. People don't vote." Lake noted his daughter and her family recently moved out of the fourth ward — if they had stayed, he would've been ahead by two votes. He also said that some older folks who used to vote for him have passed away by now. Kauffman also noted the small number of voters. "Everyone thinks their one vote doesn't matter … you're wrong! On local issues, especially," Kauffman said. "We're talking 234 people. If someone else would've gone in there and pulled the lever for their preferred candidate … one vote would've made the difference." Spencer was not surprised at how few people showed up to vote. "I think people are election-tired from last year," Spencer said. "And it was cold that day, and windy! I'm happy that even that many turned out." Even though the first and second ward council seats had no candidates, and will therefore be open to applications, Kauffman said that neither Lake nor Spencer are eligible since they both live in Ward 4. Council members must reside in the ward in order to represent it, with the exception of at-large members. The only thing anyone can do now is wait. "Whatever comes out, comes out," Lake said. "I'm not going to worry about it a whole lot, and I'm not going to concede or anything. I'll wait for the coin toss." Spencer agreed. "We'll just have to wait and see," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."