COLUMBUS-Town of Columbus Council candidates Mark Phillips and Brent Jackson both approached county commissioners recently to ask the board to sponsor a bill to change the state law related to a tie.

Phillips won the race by three votes, but there was a chance of a tie because there were three provisional votes outstanding at the close of the Nov. 7 election. None of the three provisional voters voted for Phillips or Jackson so Phillips retained his seat but both candidates expressed concern over what would have happened if it had been a tie.

State law requires that in nonpartisan elections, such as a municipal election, that ties are broken “by lot,” or a method such as a coin toss or drawing a name out of a hat.

Polk commissioners met Nov. 20 and heard from both Phillips and Jackson.

Phillips said everyone knows the Town of Columbus recently had an election and it was “kind of tight.”

Phillips said the candidates had to wait 10 days for the provisional votes to be counted and had it turned out to be a tie, it would have been settled by lot.

“It was the most ludicrous thing I’d ever heard of in my life,” said Phillips. “To take it out of the voter’s hand is un-American.”

Phillips asked commissioner to adopt a resolution inviting other counties throughout the state to petition legislation to change the law.

“Neither of us wanted it to come down to the flip of a coin,” said Phillips. “I would rather see a run-off or some other means. The law is almost 50 years old. It passed in 1971. So, I think it’s outdated.”

Jackson said he also came to ask commissioners to adopt some kind of resolution to get the legislators to change the statue. He said everyone he has talked to was really surprised with the method of drawing straws or names out of a hat.

“It wouldn’t have been fair to the people who voted for me or (Phillips) to come down to a game of chance,” Jackson said.

As far as cost for a runoff, Jackson said according to the board of elections, the municipality would pay for any runoffs.

“I think this would be really good for the people, to maybe get something changed here that would work better,” said Jackson.

County manager Marche Pittman suggested commissioners invited Polk County Board of Elections Director Cliff Marr to the next meeting and explain options and what happened.

Pittman said most people were not aware of the law until they read it in the paper for the case in Columbus.

Commissioner chair Tommy Melton said he came to the board of elections meeting on Friday, Nov. 17. He said the board discussed the game of chance was not the way to determine an election and he agrees with the board 100 percent.

“They’ve (candidates) worked hard, they’ve spent a lot of money and to have a flip of a coin or pull a name out of a hat is not the way to decide an election,” Melton said. “In my opinion, this is not the opinion of the board of commissioners, it’s disrespectful to the voters that that’s how a council member is decided.”

Melton said the county will invite Marr to the next meeting and explain the process of petitioning the state for a change.

Commissioner vice chair Jake Johnson asked if there is a way to do a municipal referendum to handle changing the law or does it have to come down from North Carolina.

County attorney Jana Berg said it is state law so would have to come from legislation.

Johnson said he can see why they don’t want to have another election because of the expense, but it’s expensive for large cities. He said it’s more likely to have a tie in a small town.

Berg said perhaps a local government can individually choose which way they break a tie.

Commissioners came to a consensus to invite Marr to the next meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 4.