|
Becky Linebaugh, an incumbent alderman in the small town of
Hoxie, rolled a "six" to hold on to her seat for a third term,
defeating challenger Cliff Farmer who came up short with a
"four."
The dice roll broke a 223-223 tie in a Dec. 4 runoff election,
according to the Lawrence County Clerk's Office, which oversaw
the game of chance that ultimately decided the winner.
The runoff was scheduled after none of three candidates for
alderman in the Nov. 6 election got a majority of the vote in
Hoxie, a town of about 2,700 people located 120 miles (193 km)
northeast of Little Rock.
"The main thing is for people to get out and vote," said
Linebaugh, 65, a bank bookkeeper. "I early voted because I was
afraid something might happen and I might not be able to make it
to the election."
Her opponent, Cliff Farmer, 33, had a different approach.
Bad planning twice prevented him from making it to his local
polling place in time to cast a ballot in the runoff vote. The
first time he tried to vote early on Nov. 29 after his work day
ended but arrived at 6 p.m., when the courthouse had already
closed.
The second time, he was returning from a business trip on the
runoff day, and planned to vote after his plane arrived in
Memphis, Tennessee at 6:30 p.m. local time. Memphis is 80 miles
from Hoxie, and Arkansas polls statewide were scheduled to close
at 7:30 p.m.
Farmer, on the eve of the dice roll, had some advice for his
fellow U.S. citizens.
"It doesn't matter what you're doing - get out there and vote!"
said Farmer, who did not immediately respond to a Reuters
request for comment on Thursday.
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Scott
Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
