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Outgoing Polkton Mayor Minnie Staton congratulates Mayor-Elect Henry Furr after he was named the winner of the mayoral race on Friday, Nov. 13.
What followed was a unique situation. At 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, the mayor of Polkton was chosen by a random person drawing a name out of a cup during a special board of elections meeting.
Once the tie had been confirmed on Tuesday, board of elections director Tasha 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.
One person was chosen who had no vested interest in the race— Sasha Crowder, who board of elections chairman James Paxton approached earlier in the day, not even telling Crowder why she would be needed at 5 p.m.
The two candidates' names were placed in a large coffee container and Crowder drew one out. And so Furr is the new mayor of Polkton.
"I appreciate the way the board handled it," Furr said after the meeting. "I thought it was fair."
Staton offered her congratulations to Furr, saying that she knew he would do a good job. "I really have been delighted that the town has allowed me to serve for the past two terms," she said. "And I will continue to support the town as well as I can."
Furr added that he's known Staton for most of his life and feels that she did a wonderful job as mayor.
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