Coin toss picks George mayor

GEORGE — The law in the state of Washington is quite clear.

In the event the top two candidates in an election each receive exactly the same number of votes, the person in charge of elections will “decide by lot” who wins.

And that’s how Don Entzel got to be mayor of George.

“I’m not an overly religious guy, I attend church but I don’t push it on anyone,” the 67-year-old Entzel said. “I really do believe someone greater than myself has his hand in this.”

When the election for mayor of George was certified on Nov. 26, 2019, Entzel and incumbent Gerene Nelson were tied at 28 votes each.

“It came down to a coin toss,” Entzel said.

According to Grant County Auditor Michele Jaderlund, who oversees the county’s elections, she had never had to decide the winner of an election by lot. In fact, it had been at least 10 years since a coin toss had determined the outcome of an election in Grant County.

“I chose a coin toss because that was what we had done in the past,” Jaderlund wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “I have not researched all the various methods that can be used.”

In December, Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton asked candidates in a tied Fairfield City Council race to pick a number, and then whichever number came out of a plastic milk bottle first “won” the election.

Entzel, who farms and owns the RV park in George that bears his name, said he ran for mayor because he was concerned “about the way the city was going” and a lack of cooperation about public safety and the city’s future growth.

“Unless you’re in the game, you can’t do anything about it. So I got in the game,” he said.

Growth is coming to George, Entzel said, and it’s important that the town of roughly 500 residents work together to make that growth happen as smoothly as possible.

“If we don’t grow, it’s because we choose not to, and I refuse to stop it,” he said.

Entzel hopes he can encourage town residents to work together for the good of the community.

“All I want is for people to get along,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.