A purple plastic Easter egg hatched a new member onto tiny Clinchport’s town council Friday when Scott County’s registrar hand-picked the winning name from a basket, breaking a three-way tie.
Clinchport’s election results are usually some of the slowest to be finalized because all of the votes for their seven town offices are traditionally written in. Ties are not unheard of, but this was the first three-way tie for a position, Registrar Mike Edwards said.
Every two years, Clinchport elects a mayor, a town recorder and five council members. This year, “the Electoral Board has ascertained that four people have been elected by majority vote with a three-way tie for the fifth and final seat,” Edwards said in an announcement Thursday. “In Virginia, ties are settled by what is called ‘determination by lot.’ We will put all three names in a hat and draw one out as the winner. If that person declines the office, then a second drawing will take place to determine the winner.”
On Friday morning, rather than a hat, Edwards and Deputy Registrar Tammy Presley placed the three names in plastic eggs and drew them from a basket.
“Years ago when this happened, we used small film canisters to hold the names for the drawing,” Edwards said. “But now everyone uses digital cameras, and we didn’t have empty film canisters lying around. Last time this happened it was in the spring, and my kids were small. We had these plastic Easter eggs that were the perfect size.”
The purple plastic eggs and matching basket sit on a shelf in the registrar’s office ready for just such an occasion — such as Clinchport’s three-way tie for town council.
To earn a spot in the basket, Tammy Meade, Larry Thompson and Richard Merrill each received two votes. In Clinchport, with 64 residents as of the 2020 census, this is often enough to win.
Edwards said when he called the state elections board to inform them of the tie, they pointed him to the state code governing it, as long as the town held no more than 4,000 people.
“I told them we have 53 registered voters,” he said. “They said, ‘Oh, 53 hundred, that’s above the threshold.’ I said, ‘No, just the 53.’”
Tammy Meade was actually written in for two positions: town recorder and town council. She was not in attendance Friday; if her name had been drawn, Edwards would have called her so she could decline, allowing her to keep the town recorder position she’s held for several years.
The winner, Richard Merrill, was present with his wife, Sarah, when his egg was cracked open. Also in attendance were Scott County Electoral Board Chair Joe Quillen and members Walter Rose and C.M. Bond.
The Merrills moved to Clinchport this spring with their 4-year-old child. Merrill plans to open a blacksmith shop in town, Rivers Edge Metal Works.
The family moved to Clinchport looking for more nature and fewer people. They came from Brevard, North Carolina, where he operated a metalwork shop for 30 years.
“For a while, it was like he was the unofficial mayor there,” Sarah Merrill said of her husband, whose family had spent generations in western North Carolina.
“It’s become too much like Asheville,” Richard Merrill said. “Too touristy.”
The Merrills were attracted to Clinchport because “the town has lots of potential.” For example, they would like to use some of the unused property by the Clinch River to develop a playground for the town’s children.
“I am looking forward to working with him,” said veteran council member Andy Meade, who was reelected after having served in Cinchport’s town government with his wife, Tammy, for more than a decade.
During an Election Day interview, Meade mentioned his anticipation of Merrill’s blacksmith shop. Currently, Meade runs Clinchport’s only business, a small motor repair shop down the road from town hall.
The 2024 election drew 28 voters in Clinchport, a 53% voter turnout that is lower than Scott County’s overall turnout of 68%. But it’s still better than past elections, partially because of the move from May to November town elections, Edwards said.
“When it was in May, turnout was moderate to low,” he said. “In November, voting is on people’s minds.”
Edwards said the registrar’s office has been busy since the election making sure that all same-day registrations and provisional ballots were processed. Scott County had 192 provisional ballots, and all but six of them were counted. He said it was busy but nothing compared to other counties. Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, for example, processed 14,000 same-day registrations and provisional ballots, he said.
See our previous story on why it’s Clinchport tradition not to have anyone listed on the ballot.
