New Mexico Election Settled by Poker

The U.S. government may be trying to protect its citizens from the evils of poker, but the state of New Mexico sure thinks the game is fine for its own electoral process.   

Josie Richards and Michelle Dunlap ran against each other for the position of Estancia Town Trustee, and, as luck may have it, the election resulted in a dead heat.  According to state law, ties in an election must be broken by the outcome of a game of chance.  In the case of the Estancia contest, that game was five card stud. 

Each woman was dealt one card face down and four face up.  It came down to the hole cards, and when Richards turned over a nine to give her a pair of nines, she became the new Town Trustee.   

This wasn’t the first New Mexico election decided by a hand of poker.  Richards’ sister, JoAnn, lost her bid to become Estancia’s mayor several years ago the same way Josie won her contest.  In 2006, Edgewood’s mayor was determined by the draw of a single card.