Close? No, it was a tie — twice!

Did you vote for Jim Ruse, Republican, for county commissioner yesterday?

That’s a trick question. Practically speaking (and assuming no write-in candidate can ambush a candidate whose name is actually printed on the ballot), we had no choice.

The decision on who was to succeed Randy Sims as county commissioner was actually determined in the August primary when Jim won the Republican party nomination. Within a week Gov. Mike Parsons appointed Ruse as commissioner since no other declared candidate would appear on yesterday’s ballot.

So, Mr. Ruse has been on the job since Aug. 14 even though he wasn’t officially elected until yesterday. That’s about as cut-and-dried as an election can get.

On the other hand, you might be surprised to learn this is not always the case. In fact, sometimes final official ballot counts can total exactly the same between two competing candidates. In Daviess County this happened not once but twice!

In 1958, Democrats gained control of the Daviess County Court for the first time in nearly 10 years despite election ballots which tallied a tie vote. After absentee votes and all voting precincts were totaled, Republican Grover Hoyle and Democrat Roy Gibbens had exactly the same vote counts.

By state law in effect at that time (which harkened back to 1877), the outcome in such unusual circumstances was to be decided by the county sheriff. So, it fell to Sheriff Leland Houghton to break the tie. He chose Roy Gibbens — which especially chagrined Republicans since several absentee ballots declared invalid were cast for Republican Grover Hoyle.

The same Gallatin Democrat edition that reported this unusual county election result also pointed to a precedent.

Exactly 40 years previous to 1958, a tie vote for county judge (today’s county commissioner) occurred in 1918 between Republican Daniel Blackburn and Democrat O.I. Brown. In this election, Brown appeared to have a 57-vote margin over Blackburn until absentee ballots were counted. The official final tally had the election for the county government seat deadlocked.

At first it was proposed that the election should be decided by the toss of a coin or by drawing of lots. But, eventually, the legal statute to determine the outcome was presented. Republican Sheriff J. Atch Blair quickly cast his deciding vote for Blackburn and the GOP won the seat on the county’s government.

This wasn’t welcomed news. Particularly vehement was colorful editor Wes Robertson of the Gallatin Democrat (he was later shot and killed a year later for what he published about the county clerk, thus continues to be known today as Missouri’s Newspaper Martyr). Robertson’s take on Sheriff Blair’s vote to break the tie of the 1918 election was published, in part, as follows:

“Sitting as Lord High Executioner — casting two ballots in an election where the average citizen has only one — giving a partisan opinion to determine the result of a tie election in which his fellow citizens should have rights for fair consideration, is the latest role in which our High Sheriff figures conspicuously.

“And the role suits him fine — for if there is anything for which our High Sheriff has an aversion more than a Democrat in office — or a fair chance to get one in — it is several Democrats on the job. In fact, he has about as much regard for a Democrat he cannot use as the devil has for holy water.”

The other newspaper in town, the North Missourian, was quick to respond. An article written by Moses Mann began as follows:

“Under the caption ‘High Sheriff As Judge’, the impetuous Quill Pusher of the Democrat, who is always a poor loser, proceeds to pull off a ‘gander dance’ and create as much commotion as a Tom Cat on a tin roof all because of the application of a law…

“… should Blair have decided against Blackburn, some people would have said D—n, others would have said $$$$, and would have met with derision and contempt from people of both parties.

“There is no cause, except for the sting of defeat, for the vitriolic harangue of the Gallatin Democrat for we all know if a Democrat had held the office of sheriff what the result would have been. It is seldom that a loser is satisfied in a case like this, yet it is the law. It is as plain as the English language can make it and if the people do not like the law, let them petition the legislature to change it.”

So, were these the good ol’ days when elections (and emotions) were more lively?

Tie votes can happen on any level of government. One more noteworthy than these examples of Daviess County government is the national election of 1800.

Thomas Jefferson won the presidential election with 73 votes in the electoral college to John Adams’ 65 votes. But the Republican vice presidential candidate Aaron Burr also received 73 votes. When presidential electors cast their votes, they failed to distinguish between the office of president and vice president on their ballots. Thus, the vote for the presidency was declared a tie between Jefferson and his vice presidential running mate.

At that time, the constitution directed that the election be decided by the House of Representatives and Jefferson became president. It took the House 36 ballots and six days to declare Jefferson the winner!

Thomas Jefferson called his election “the Revolution of 1800” because it marked the first time that power in America passed from one party to another.

Of course, more recent presidential elections also come to mind.

Eighteen years ago the contentious 2000 presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore came to a climax when a divided Supreme Court ruled that Florida’s court-ordered manual recount of vote ballots was unconstitutional. You may recall that the election outcome was not known for a month after balloting because of the extended process of recounting Florida’s ballot.

Republican George W. Bush narrowly lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but defeated Gore in the electoral college to become president.

And then our last presidential election when Republican Donald Trump won the electoral college vote to become president over Democrat Hillary Clinton, 304-227. The president still doesn’t like to be reminded about the official tally of popular votes which went Clinton’s way by over 2.8 million votes.

Who says elections aren’t interesting?