No one could remember it ever happening before, but the Wrangell Cooperative Association was ready when it did happen last month.
The annual tribal council election on Feb. 27 ended in a tie for the fourth seat. WCA election rules designated a coin toss to decide the winner, said Tribal Administrator Esther Aaltséen Reese.
Einar Haaseth, the tribal council election chairman, researched online the proper way to toss a coin, Reese said. He studied how NFL referees do it at the start of every game.
Tribal Council President Ed Rilatos brought in “a really nice 50-cent piece.” Though officials had wanted to use an Elizabeth Peratrovich dollar coin for the toss, they couldn’t find one, Reese said.
The U.S. Mint produced the Peratrovich commemorative coin in 2020 to honor the late Alaska Native rights advocate.
Tim Gillen and Jennifer Davies had tied at 48 votes each for the fourth seat on the WCA council. Davies called the coin while it was in the air, opting to stake her chances on “heads,” but it landed on “tails” and Gillen won the seat, Reese said.
“This just goes to show that every single vote counts,” she said of the election.
Rilatos retrieved his coin after the toss, which was conducted at WCA offices on Zimovia Highway.
In addition to Gillen taking a seat on the council, WCA members reelected Sandy Churchill, with 76 votes; elected new member Ken Hoyt, 61 votes; and reelected Luella Knapp, 58 votes.
Other candidates were Christie Jamieson, 43 votes, and DaNika Smalley, 23.
The council members were scheduled to be sworn in Tuesday, March 4, with the election of officers on the agenda for the meeting, Reese said.
Though she said it was the first tie vote that anyone could remember in a tribal council election, it wasn’t the first ever in Wrangell.
The 1969 election for city council was a tie between school guidance counselor Ron Castle and commercial fisherman Edward Pat Churchill Sr. They each polled 153 votes.
The city clerk let the two candidates choose between a coin toss, drawing straws or picking slips of paper from a hat. They chose the hat — and Castle won.
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