§11-157  In case of tie.  In case of thefailure of an election by reason of the equality of vote between two or morecandidates, the tie shall be decided by the chief election officer or countyclerk in the case of county elections in accordance with the followingprocedure:

(1)  In the case of an election involving a seat forthe senate, house of representatives, board of education, or county councilwhere only voters within a specified district are allowed to cast a vote, thewinner shall be declared as follows:

(A)  For each precinct in the affecteddistrict, an election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the totalvoter turnout in that precinct by the total voter turnout in the district.  Forthe purpose of this subparagraph, the absentee votes cast for the affecteddistrict shall be treated as a precinct.  The election rate point shall becalculated by dividing the total absentee votes cast for the affected districtby the total voter turnout in that district.  All election rate points shall beexpressed as decimal fractions rounded to the nearest hundred thousandth.

(B)  The candidate with the highest number ofvotes in a precinct shall be allocated the election rate point calculated undersubparagraph (A) for that precinct.  In the event that two or more persons aretied in receiving the highest number of votes for that precinct, the electionrate point shall be equally apportioned among those candidates involved in thatprecinct tie.

(C)  After the election rate points calculatedunder subparagraph (A) for all the precincts have been allocated as providedunder subparagraph (B), the election rate points allocated to each candidateshall be tallied and the candidate with the highest election rate point totalshall be declared the winner.

(D)  If there is a tie between two or morecandidates in the election rate point total, the candidate who is allocated thehighest election rate points from the precinct with the largest voter turnoutshall be declared the winner.

(2)  In the case of an election involving a federaloffice or an elective office where the voters in the entire State or in anentire county are allowed to cast a vote, the winner shall be declared asfollows:

(A)  For each representative district in theState or county, as the case may be, an election rate point shall be calculatedby dividing the total voter turnout in that representative district by thetotal voter turnout in the state, county, or federal office district, as thecase may be; provided that for purposes of this subparagraph:

(i)  The absentee votes cast for a statewide,countywide, or federal office shall be treated as a separate representativedistrict and the election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the totalabsentee votes cast for the statewide, countywide, or federal office by thetotal voter turnout in the state, county, or federal office district, as thecase may be.

(ii)  The overseas votes cast for any election inthe State for a federal office shall be treated as a separate representativedistrict and the election rate point shall be calculated by dividing the totalnumber of overseas votes cast for the affected federal office by the totalvoter turnout in the affected federal office district.  The term "overseasvotes" means those votes cast by absentee ballots for a presidentialelection as provided in section 15-3.

Allelection rate points shall be expressed as decimal fractions rounded to thenearest hundred thousandth.

(B)  The candidate with the highest number ofvotes in a representative district shall be allocated the election rate pointcalculated under subparagraph (A) for that district.  In the event that two ormore persons are tied in receiving the highest number of votes for thatdistrict, the election rate point shall be equally apportioned among thosecandidates involved in that district tie.

(C)  After the election rate points calculatedunder subparagraph (A) for all the precincts have been allocated as prescribedunder subparagraph (B), the election rate points allocated to each candidateshall be tallied and the candidate with the election rate point total shall bedeclared the winner.

(D)  If there is a tie between two or morecandidates in the election rate point total, the candidate who is allocated thehighest election rate points from the representative district with the largestvoter turnout shall be declared the winner. [L 1970, c 26, pt of §2; gen ch1985; am L 1990, c 198, §2; am L 1996, c 239, §2]