The day long ago that a Davis City Council election ended in a dead heat and no one knew what to do
Efforts to break the tie became so bizarre that our town hit the national news
Let me tell you about the time in my humble hometown of Davis, California where one vote could have produced a win for either one of the two candidates left standing.
I note this today because more and more I'm hearing people complain that in this election especially, their vote simply doesn't count.
After all, the Golden State is solidly blue, so even if you stay home from the polls and spill Cheetos on your new blue couch, Kamala Harris and the Coach will still get every one of California's 54 electoral votes.
And Adam Schiff will no doubt crush Steve Garvey now that Garvey's San Diego Padres have been eliminated from the National League playoffs by another team he played for in Los Angeles.
So let me take you back many full moons ago to a hotly contested Davis City Council race where the battle for the final seat ended up in a dead heat.
In baseball, a tie base goes to the runner. There is no such rule in City Council elections. A winner must be selected in an above-board manner for all the world to see.
The year was 1962. The population of Davis in the recent 1960 census was 8,910. I was a sophomore at Davis High School, obsessed with anything to do with numbers and fascinated by the incredible story that was unfolding before my very eyes.
Given the agricultural history of this small but charming town, the residents were still driving tractors instead of Teslas.
The two combatants for the final City Council seat were Ernie Hartz and John McMurdie.
Hartz, a popular local Ford dealer, was part of the old guard, while the younger but equally popular McMurdie, a UC Davis soil scientist, was part of the new generation as the political demographics of Davis were quickly changing.
The campaign had been civil and respectful, which was the way things were in this town 62 years ago, even though these two were decidedly different folks in their approach to city affairs.
This likely was the first time in California history that a City Council election had ended in a tie, proving once again that even so many years ago the city of Davis was always a trailblazer long before we became the City of All Things Right and Relevant.