Choice of 'heads' in election coin toss comes up a winner for county commission candidate
By Jim Phillips
March 31, 2008
If former York Township Trustee Jim Pancake wins a seat on the Athens County Commission, it may be partly thanks to a sign from beyond, transmitted through his television screen.
The candidate won a coin toss at the Athens County Board of Elections Thursday, beating out former union leader Charlie Adkins to become the Democratic nominee for an open seat on the three-member commission. If nothing changes, Pancake will face Republican Larry Payne, an Athens Area Chamber of Commerce official, in November.
Trailing Adkins by 143 votes after the unofficial tally in a seven-candidate Democratic primary race, Pancake pulled even with Adkins after about 2,300 absentee and provisional votes were added in Thursday. Both men ended up with 2,854 votes. This meant the winner by law had to be chosen by “lot,” which can include a coin toss.
Contacted by phone after the final count was in, Pancake told Athens County Prosecutor C. David Warren that if there was going to be a coin toss, he wanted “heads” on the coin. And that’s what came up on the John Adams brass dollar tossed by Warren onto the carpeted floor of the elections board office.
Why heads?
“I’m going to testify before the Lord,” Pancake related after getting the news. “Two days ago, a peace came over me, and a calm. And when Dave Warren called me, I was watching TV, and on the TV screen there was this commercial running, with two pennies. I don’t know what the commercial was for. But there were two pennies on there, and they were showing heads. And I think that was a sign.”
Adkins, former president of the local of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers (AFSCME) that represents many Ohio University classified workers, took the news that he lost the nomination on a coin toss with rueful resignation.
“I couldn’t get the endorsement of my own union, and now I lose a coin toss,” he noted. “I hate that, but life will go on… Seven people running, and it comes down to me and Jim Pancake, and then they have to do a coin toss.”
According to elections board officials, state law required them to name an official winner in the contest as of last Thursday, which is why the coin toss was necessary. Due to the closeness of the outcome in the race, the board must also conduct a recount, to be held April 5. If Adkins and Pancake are still tied after that recount, the coin toss holds and Pancake is the nominee. If Adkins picks up even one vote, he’s the winner.
“If it changes, I will do the best I can for the people of Athens County. I won’t embarrass them,” Adkins said Thursday. “We’ll see what happens in a week.”
In a room packed with elections officials and reporters, Board of Elections member William Lavelle announced that both candidates had been informed that the coin toss was coming, and neither had arrived for the event.
Lavelle said that Pancake had specifically asked for heads in the toss, and the board opted to grant his request.
“There’s only one other side of the coin left, so (Adkins has) got heads,” he noted.
“Heads it’s Pancake; tails it’s Charlie Adkins, right?” Warren clarified, before flipping the dollar coin into the air.
“The coin is heads – Pancake,” he announced after it came to rest.
PANCAKE DOWNPLAYED ANY concerns that he might be a weaker candidate than Adkins, based on baggage that includes a drunk-and-disorderly arrest by Glouster Police, and his spoiler role in the 2002 race for the 92nd Ohio House District.
In that election, Pancake prevailed in a three-way Democratic primary, then was roundly beaten by Republican Jimmy Stewart, who took 58 percent of the vote district-wide, and came close to 50 percent even in heavily Democratic Athens County. Pancake has been criticized for trusting in an offer of support in the election from former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a Republican, who Pancake later admitted had deceived him.
“They’ve been bringing stuff up about me ever since I got involved in politics,” Pancake said. “Yes, I’ve made some mistakes, and I’m sorry for them.” He argued that his arrest last June in Glouster “was not my fault,” and noted that he has filed a complaint over the incident, which is still under investigation.
Pancake said he believes his record of hard work for the county will make him a winner in the commission race.
“I just feel humbled, I really do,” he said. “I think that people voted for me because they know what they get. When I promise something, I try to get it.”
Regarding Payne, his opponent in November, Pancake said, “I think he’s a great guy, but I think with my energy, and my connections with (Gov. Ted) Strickland and the other agencies, I can do a better job than Larry.”
Compared to Adkins, he added, “most people think I’m a stronger candidate.” He reiterated a promise that if he’s elected, he’ll donate $10,000 out of his commissioner salary to the county dog shelter, and will work to remove the county’s $15 license-plate “piggy-back” tax.
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jackscrow commented, on March 28, 2008 at 12:16 p.m.:
Pancake was joking, right?
Please say he was joking....
If he wasn't then Warren had better be scouring that carpet for another vote.
