On Election Night, the Polkton mayoral race came down to one vote, with incumbent Mayor Minnie Staton trailing challenger Henry Furr, 52-51.

The following Tuesday, Nov. 10, a canvass was held, during which the vote was finalized. "What we have to do is on canvass Tuesday, one of the candidates has to call for a recount," explained director of elections Tasha Coleman. "One candidate did ask for a recount on Tuesday so we did what's called a hand-eye reading of the ballots, counting each one by hand."

The hand-eye count resulted in a tie, with both Staton and Furr getting 52 votes.

At that point, Coleman contacted the town of Polkton to find out what sort of procedures were in the town charter to deal with ties in political races. There was nothing in the town charter dealing with such an issue, Coleman said, so she then contacted the state board of elections.

"You can either flip a coin or pick a random person off the street and they pick a name out of a hat. The person whose name is picked will then be mayor," she explained.

The town of Polkton opted to use the drawing-a-name-out-of-a-hat option.

Although this practice may seem unusual, Coleman said the town of McFarlan faced a similar situation a few years ago, when the election also brought a tie for mayor. McFarlan officials opted to do a coin toss.

The name will be drawn out of a hat on Friday afternoon, Nov. 13, at 5 p.m. at the board of elections offices in the basement of the Anson County Administrative Offices on Greene Street in Wadesboro.