THE TOWNSPEOPLE OF San Teodoro were balloted on Tuesday to see who they wanted as their new mayor.

Two of the three candidates – Marvic Feraren and Salvador Py – received exactly 3,236 votes each. What are the odds on that? That question was for another mathematics lesson as the Election Commission of the small farming town in the Philippines had to come up with an immediate solution.

According to the election officer Reny Pagilagan, the deadlock should be broken by the drawing of lots. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he said:

That could be done either through coin toss, drawing of straws or cards from a pack, or bingo balls.

He suggested five rounds of coin toss, a game agreed to by both candidates. The rules? The winner would be the person who flipped the most number of heads after five tries. The coin must be tossed by the candidates above their heads and it must bounce at least one on the tiled floor.

The first game, which took place inside a ring of desks in a bare room, was tied with both contestants throwing two heads each.

Eventually, Feraren was named victor and became the town’s new mayor. ABS-CBN reports that he is the son of a previous mayor.

The method isn’t as odd as it sounds though. A number of states in the US and Canada, as well as the UK, can settle electoral ties with similar games.

-Additional reporting by the Associated Press

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