Kentucky Election Tie Decided by Coin Toss Using Sheriff's Quarter

“We laughed about it, and I left her as the winner and with the quarter in my pocket,” Democrat Kristen Fryman told WEKU.

The race for a seat on the Robertson County fiscal court ended not with a recount, but with a coin toss, USA Today reported.

Republican Benny Ray Renner and Democrat Kristen Fryman each received exactly 91 votes in the contest for magistrate in the 2nd Magisterial District.

Because the votes were tied, local officials opted to break the stalemate using a quarter borrowed from the local sheriff’s pocket.

Fryman noted that because Renner was listed first on the ballot, he was given the right to call the flip.

Renner called heads, but the coin landed on tails, handing the victory to Fryman.

This local seat carries weight for the community, as the county’s fiscal court sets local tax rates and manages the county budget.

This wasn’t the only time a coin toss decided a Kentucky election in 2026, according to reports from WEHT and USA Today.

In a Republican primary in Union County, a magistrate race between Ehren Shaffter and Dakota Jones also required a coin flip to resolve.

According to WEHT, a voter claimed they had been issued the wrong ballot, and after deliberations, the election board decided to toss that specific vote.

The decision left the candidates in a dead heat, prompting another coin toss to determine the winner.

In that instance, Jones allowed Shaffter to make the call, and Shaffter won the race when the coin landed on tails.

The frequency of these narrow margins highlights the high stakes of local administration, where a single vote or a single coin flip can dictate the direction of municipal spending and taxation.