MONTGOMERY, WV (WOAY)- Just over 2 weeks since our primary, one local election still had a winner to be decided on. This evening it took a game of chance to decide.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a game of chance means “a game in which chance, rather than skill, determines the outcome.” The race for Montgomery city council was decided by these two cards.
Shawn Malhotra and Roger Landers ran for reelection to the council this past primary. They had a tie of 109 votes each. To break this tie the secretary of state’s office requires it to be broken by lot. After working with their office, they decided to use a deck of playing cards.
When council members and candidates determined it was a sealed deck, the recorder removed all the spades and shuffled them on the table. Malhotra and Landers then randomly selected one. Landers won the draw as he selected the 10 and Malhotra selected the 4.
“Well, I won my first election by one vote. Then and originally [for this election] I was ahead by one vote before they did the canvassing,” said Roger Landers, Councilman and winner of the draw. “And then to find out it was a tie, I just thought, well, this is was no surprise. It’s just my luck, so to speak.”
Regardless of the winner, Malhotra was grateful for the experience.
“Well, Roger and I, we served with all our hearts and, we are great friends. We always will be friends,” explained Shawn Malhotra, Councilman. “So it was it was fun to serve for the city. We enjoyed it. And, we accomplished things. And I feel great that he’s there. I have other things to do, so I don’t I don’t feel sad or anything
