Candidates draw straws to decide Mississippi race
JACKSON, Miss. — Incumbent Democratic state Rep. Bo Eaton drew the box with the long, green coffee straw from the red secretary of state tote sack Friday, making him the winner of the tied state House race, for now anyway.
"I'm a Southern Baptist, but I have about a quarter Presbyterian in me, so I believe whatever will be will be," Eaton, a cattle farmer from Taylorsville, said after a reporter jokingly asked if he had used a strategy for drawing the long straw.
His opponent, Republican Mark Tullos, drew the short, red coffee stirrer, but his lawyer announced that Tullos is contesting the results of the race — and thereby the straw drawing — to the state House, which is the final arbiter of House election disputes.
The straws may have gone Eaton's way, but the cards may be stacked against him in the House challenge of the election.
The House is majority Republican, and a Tullos victory would give the GOP a 3/5 supermajority of 74 in the 122-member chamber. This would allow the Republican caucus to steamroll Democrats on tax, revenue and other bills that require a supermajority and generally cement the dominance of the GOP.
Even Eaton in recent days had indicated a full House vote to decide the tied, disputed race would mean he was toast. But after drawing the long one, he was more upbeat about keeping the legislative seat he's held for 19 years.
"I believe the Mississippi House of Representatives will be fair to me," Eaton said. "I have a lot of Republican friends who I believe will look at the facts and be fair."
There is no runoff provision for most state general elections. State law says ties are to be determined by lot, or games of chance, such as flipping a coin or drawing straws.
But legislative race results can be appealed to the House or Senate. The House when it convenes in January will have the final say on whether Eaton or Tullos is the District 79 representative.
In the final count from the Nov. 3 general election, Eaton and Tullos tied at 4,589 votes for the House District 79 seat.
An earlier vote count days after the election had Tullos ahead by six votes, with only four photo ID affidavits still out. State Republican leaders had already claimed a "supermajority" victory. But Tullos said local election officials, without notifying him or allowing him to be present, went back and counted nine affidavit ballots they had previously rejected, resulting in the tie. Tullos is questioning the veracity of the re-counted affidavits.
"What would you expect them to say," said Eaton's attorney, William Ruffin of Bay Springs. "That's about all I'm going to say (on Tullos' challenge) right now."
Tullos had little comment after drawing straws Friday but said he would be making statements later after meeting with his attorney.
The governor's conference room in the Sillers Building downtown was packed Friday for the straw drawing, mostly with media including some national news outlets.
Bounds last year lost a tied Poplarville alderman's race after drawing the short straw from a mock top hat made from a Clorox bottle. She had been astonished to learn her election was to be decided by chance and said the whole process seemed "archaic." She said she had no problem with losing, and congratulated her opponent, but said voters, not coins or straws, should decide tied elections.
Bounds successfully lobbied for bills to be filed in the state House and Senate in the 2015 session requiring subsequent elections to break ties, but neither bill made it out of committee.
On Friday, Bounds said she hopes the "spectacle" of the Eaton-Tullos race would give some momentum to change, and she said House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, has agreed to file her bill again this year.
Bounds said she also opposes the practice of a governing body, such as the House of Representatives or a county board of supervisors, deciding the winner of a tied election.
"That's still being decided by people who were not voted on by that district or area," Bounds said. "It's still leaving the people out of deciding who represents them."