LORDSTOWN COUNCIL Incumbent member wins by toss of a coin

One of the candidates said she knows how the candidates felt after the 2000 presidential election.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Tails was the winner in the Lordstown Village Council race.
Karen Jones, incumbent councilwoman, won a coin toss Monday at the Trumbull County Board of Elections. The toss of the silver dollar was required because Jones and challenger Mary Jane Wilson each garnered 551 votes in last month's election, tying them for the fourth village council seat.
State law dictates a recount when a race is tied.
"This is really very strange," Jones said. "We were as equal as equal can get and it came right down to the coin toss. It just shows you that every vote counts."
Wilson said she now knows how President Bush and former Vice President Al Gore felt. The two were locked in a recount battle for more than a month after the 2000 presidential election.
"From the beginning, I said it's not in my hands," she said. "God's will be done."
Process: Wilson and Jones drew pencils to determine who would call the coin in the air. Wilson won, choosing heads, and Pat Sebastiano, board of elections chairman, threw the coin into the air. It landed with tails up, giving Jones the win.
Sebastiano said coin tosses are rare.
"I've been here for six or seven years and there are only two that I can recall," he said.
A recount after the coin toss, also a requirement of state law, showed the same vote totals.
Other recounts: The board of elections also recounted three other races because of the narrow vote margins. Recounts are automatic when candidate vote totals are within 0.5 percent of each other.
The outcomes remained the same with Todd E. Brewster receiving six more votes than incumbent Clyde R. Luther in the Braceville trustee race.
In Gustavus Township, Steve Ragalyi earned one more vote than William C. Palette to win a trustees slot. In the Newton Township trustees race, Delbert J. Woloski was declared the winner.