The commander of the Avalon Sheriff’s Station held the hat while the deputy city clerk drew the name from the hat.
The name was that of Michael Ponce.
The drawing broke the tie between Ponce and Oley Olsen for one of two seats on the Avalon City Council. Mary Schickling won the most votes in the citywide race.
The tie was broken at a special Thursday, July 14, Avalon City Council meeting (held after the Islander’s print deadline). Olsen participated in the meeting by phone, as there were technical difficulties with his attempts to join the meeting by Zoom. Most of the council members were physically in the council Chambers.
But before the tie could be broken, the council had to decide how they would go about it, according to City Attorney Scott Campbell.
Deputy City Clerk/Senior Administrative Assistant Gabrielle Morones went over the city’s options. “We can do a drawing of cards,” she said. “We can do longest straw, picking names out of a hat, coin flip.”
Campbell argued that as some of the council members were not present, drawing straws would be challenging.
Someone pointed out the same problem applied to drawing cards.
“So, well, you can do a coin flip or names out of a hat or box,” Campbell said.
Mayor Anni Marshall, who was re-elected, said she wanted to know what Ponce and Olsen wanted.
Olsen said he was fine with either method.
Campbell said that if the council chose a coin toss, they would need to decide who flipped the coin and who called heads or tails.
The council discussion focused on pulling names out of a hat and who would do the pulling of the names.
The council members voted unanimously to have Morones pull the names out of a hat held by Capt. Joseph A. Badali.
As you already know, Michael Ponce’s name was the name pulled from the hat.
Ponce said: “This is why every vote in this town counts.”
He repeated: “Every vote in this town counts. And I just want to say that I’m disappointed that only a little over 700 people voted in this last election.”
