Tie-breaking draw moves sheriff ahead
Elections: ‘No hard feelings'
Tie-breaking draw moves Blaine Co. sheriff ahead

By Tony Thornton

Published: August 6, 2008

WATONGA — Need proof that every vote counts?

Just ask Blaine County Sheriff Ricky Ainsworth, who Tuesday received the luck of a draw to stay in contention for re-election.

After a manual recount showed Ainsworth and Watonga police officer Tony Almaguer in a 451-to-451 tie, Special Judge Paul Woodward pulled Ainsworth's name from a hopper as the Republican nominee for November's general election.

But it wouldn't have been possible if not for an unnamed woman who insisted to precinct officials last week that she had registered in time to cast her vote for the July 29 Republican primary.

Precinct officials stuck her ballot in a sealed envelope, but it wasn't counted until Friday, when county Election Board Secretary Jane Crawford verified that the woman had, indeed, registered.

That vote left Ainsworth and Almaguer tied.

The recount showed no changes.

When Woodward stuck his hand into the hopper, it marked the first time in at least 25 years that a countywide or larger race had been settled through a tiebreaker, said Michael Clingman, the state election board secretary.

"Without her vote, I would have lost,” Ainsworth said of the provisional voter.

Ainsworth has been sheriff since 1997. He will face Democrat Travis Daugherty, a former deputy, in November.

Almaguer said during the recount that the outcome wouldn't alter his working relationship with Ainsworth.

"There's no hard feelings between the sheriff and me. We've worked together for 14 years. This (running for office) is just something I decided to do.

"Let the best man win, I guess,” Almaguer said.

Afterward, he said he still believes in the tiebreaker method.

"I don't have any gripes. I just wish it would have been my name instead of his,” the losing candidate said.

Before the judge chose the winner, Ainsworth said he preferred to let the voters break the deadlock through another election.

"We're going to have a runoff, anyway (for another race),” he said.

Afterward, the winner said the outcome has made him a believer in the hopper method.

The last race involving a margin of one or two votes was the 2000 election for Le Flore County sheriff, Clingman said. In that case, initial results showed the incumbent winning by a single vote. After a recount, the challenger won by one vote.

At that time, Clingman's predecessor said only twice had a recount overturned the results of an election.

In this race, the odds of a tie were enhanced greatly by low voter turnout. Clingman said last week the statewide turnout was the lowest since 1952.

Crawford said she recalled one other time a tiebreaker was needed in Blaine County. It involved a Longdale city council race several years ago in which each candidate received about 15 votes, she said.

Tuesday's recount drew considerable interest, requiring court officials to shuffle a previously scheduled docket and move the recount into the county's largest courtroom.

In announcing how the recount would be conducted, Crawford said, "Fortunately we're not in Florida, so there will be no hanging chads.”

The two candidates sat next to each other during the nearly 3½-hour recount, watching from behind two women chosen to "read” each ballot. Two other women counted each ballot, providing a throwback to the days of elections held before the advent of electronic vote counters.

After Woodward named the winner, Ainsworth and Almaguer shook hands and congratulated each other on running a good race.

"It's as fair as you could get,” Almaguer said of the tiebreaker.

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