From an article at the Chicago Tribune by Contact Reporter Ted Slowik:

A toss of an 1899 silver dollar decided a tie Tuesday in an election for trustee in Sauk Village. Gary Bell called tails and won a seat on the village board when the coin landed tails-side up. Bell and Beth Zupon each received 288 votes after all ballots were counted following the April 2 election, the Cook County clerk’s office said.

Bell, 54, is deputy director of the Sauk Village Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. The village board honored the former firefighter in 2014 upon his retirement after 30 years with the Sauk Village Fire Department. This was the first time Bell ran for public office, he said.

“I (ran) because there were only two people running at first and I just couldn’t give it to them,” Bell said. “They’re my friends.”

The vote had a staggeringly low 9% voter turnout. Is this American democracy?