Election tie broken with number drawing

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa., Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania township resolved a tie from the recent board of supervisors election by having the candidates pick envelopes containing numbers.

Democrat Joseph Claar was chosen to serve a six-year term as a Greenfield Township supervisor Monday when he picked an envelope containing a lower number than the envelope chosen by his opponent, Republican Edward Helsel, The Altoona (Pa.) Mirror reported Tuesday.

Helsel and Claar each received 221 votes in the election.

Claar, whose previous term on the board ended six years ago, said the envelope-drawing tiebreaker was not the first for the township.

"It's been done this way for years. If it isn't broken, don't fix it," he said.

Helsel has held a seat on the board since 1988.