Ranlo Commissioner candidate's fate decided by coin toss

Unofficial election results on the night of Nov. 7 showed a tie between two candidates running for the third town commissioner seat in Ranlo.

After completing a canvass officializing the results, the Gaston County Board of Elections confirmed a tie of 133 votes each between Corey Creech and Ronnie Laws.

On Friday, the board decided which candidate won the position with a coin toss.

“I’ve been the director of elections in Gaston for 12 years, and I’ve never had a tie,” said Gaston County Director of Elections Adam Ragan.

According to Ragan, the decision to settle election ties with a coin toss is North Carolina state law.

When a canvass has been completed and the county determines a true tie, state law 163-182.8 says the tie should be broken, “by a method of random selection to be determined by the State Board of Elections,” Ragan said. “The State Board of Elections determined a coin toss.”

Gaston County’s Board of Elections held the coin toss at their office on Franklin Boulevard Friday, Nov. 17.

Chair of the board James W. Ragan began the meeting with a comment.

“If I was Mr. Creech or Mr. Laws, I’d probably have spent a lot of time the last few days wondering if I had called one more person…” James Ragan said.

Both candidates viewed the coin for verification, and Creech took the preference for heads.

James Ragan flipped the coin over the corner of the table, and it landed tails-side up.

After inspecting the coin, James Ragan announced, “Ronnie Laws is declared the winner.”

Creech and Laws shook hands, and Laws commended Creech for a good race.

He later said, “That other guy is a good guy.”

“I guess I was a little bit nervous, but not a whole lot. I’m getting too old to be nervous,” Laws said. “Now it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get to work for the town of Ranlo.”

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Ranlo Commissioner candidate's fate decided by coin toss