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FROM STAFF REPORTS

LLANO — Incumbent Linda Ballard will retain her seat as the Llano County Precinct 2 justice of the peace after a coin toss at the courthouse gazebo June 12, officials said.

After a March primary, a May run-off and a June recount, the race for the Republican nomination between Ballard and challenger Steve Lange was decided by the chance outcome of a coin flip.

Lange, listed first on the ballot, called tails. Llano County Republican Chairman Jim Simmons flipped the coin — a Lincoln dollar — and it came up heads in Ballard’s favor.

During the Republican primary in March, Ballard and Lange were the top two vote-getters in a five-way race, forcing them into a run-off. But the May 27 run-off ended in a tie with Ballard and Lange each earning 371 votes.

On June 9, Llano County Republican Party officials held a recount of the run-off election votes and announced the results were the same — still tied at 371.

The incumbent more than likely will be sworn in as the Precinct 2  judge, representing the Tow, Bluffton and Buchanan area, Jan. 1, 2015, since no Democrat has filed to run in the general election in November.

Ballard started as a clerk in the justice of the peace office and spent three years as chief clerk before being elected as JP in 2006.

editor@thepicayune.com