Nebraska village election candidate wins race by drawing higher playing card, breaks tie in town of only 123 voters

This candidate was dealt a good hand.

The newest trustee of a tiny Nebraska village broke the election tie and secured the seat by drawing a higher playing card than her opponent.

Patricia Neu pulled a 10 of spades over opponent Wyatt Staben’s seven of hearts to be seated as the trustee in the village of Nehawka – where there are only 123 registered voters, according to KETV.

The two ran for office this month after multiple resignations last November forced the village to hold a special election to fill three seats on the five-person board.

While two candidates faced each other in one contest, Neu and Staben were part of a three-way race with two seats up for grabs.

Matthew Anson earned the most votes to win one seat, but after multiple recounts, Staben and Neu remained knotted at 45 votes going into Thursday’s final showdown.

As a result, Cass County Election Commission shuffled a deck of cards and spread them across a table facedown so the two could pick a card.

“I’m really glad that we were able to get something worked out here,” Staben told KETV. “The tie was kind of an oddball deal. Congratulations to Pat.”

Before this month’s election, village business nearly ground to a halt because there were only two trustees left on the board in the village of 170 people.

The two elected officials, Tim Dineen and Ian Begemann, have turned a valve twice a day to keep the village water system going and have operated a village truck for snow removal, NCN reported.

One of the former trustees that stepped down last year, Robert Sorenson, previously told KETV the board had become a “toxic environment” while another ex-trustee, Jason Jackson, left public service after he said his family “continues to be targeted and harassed.”

But Neu, the lucky election winner, said the community needs to turn a corner.

“Sometimes small towns get a bad rap, but that’s not always the case,” Neu told KETV. “It’s a very quiet community and we just need to move forward. It’s been some turbulent times for us and it’s time.”