Incumbent Ed Kissel will keep his East Deer commissioner seat for the 21st year.
The Nov. 4 race for the township’s 2nd Ward seat ended in a tie between Kissel, 75, and newcomer Alexander Gigler, 34. Each got 131 (49.8%) votes.
After the results were certified by the Allegheny County Elections Division, the tie remained and the candidates were called to draw lots.
Allegheny County uses a leather shaker bottle with wooden pellets numbered 1 through 51, according to David Voye, the county’s Elections Division manager. The candidate who picks the highest number wins the seat.
County spokesperson Abigail Gardner said the drawing was held in the elections office of the county office building.
Both candidates attended and Kissel was declared the winner.
Ties are not as uncommon as they seem, according to county elections officials.
“Ties are actually fairly common in a municipal election year; our Elections Division recalls it is normal to see at least one every cycle of municipal elections,” Gardner said in an email to TribLive.
