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Drawing lots or drawing straws is a selection method, or a form of
Drawing lots or drawing straws is a selection method, or a form of sortition
In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...
, that is used by a group to choose one member of the group to perform a task after none has volunteered for it. The same practice can be used also to choose one of several volunteers, should an agreement not be reached.
The drawing of lots is sometimes used to determine which candidate is elected where the candidates have the same number of votes. In the United Kingdom, drawing lots can be used to decide on the allocation of school places where other criteria result in a tie.
Process
The group leader takes a number of straws (or similarly long cylindrical objects) and ensures that one of them is physically shorter than the others. The leader then grabs all of the straws in their fist, such that all of them appear to be of the same length. The group leader offers the clenched fist to the group. Each member of the group draws a straw from the fist of the group leader. At the end of the offering, the group member who has drawn the shortest straw is the one who must perform the task. Straws can also be cut diagonally so no two are the same length when multiple "lots" are to be "chosen" with a single draw to determine something like playing order, which participants will be teamed up, etc. No two straws the same length prevents "ties" and "redraws" among remaining participants where the short straw must be reused and a "long straw" that is in fact only one of several "identical" straws discarded. A "recycled" short straw can end up "marked" either accidentally or intentionally and be readily identified and intentionally avoided or selected by a "clever" participant in subsequent draws. Drawing straws as an alternative to a "coin toss" and "odd man out" is only "fair" when it creates a "level playing field" and multiple "random chance" processes for "fair" results are reduced to a single "random event".Politics
United Kingdom
In theUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, if a local or national election has resulted in a tie
Tie has two principal meanings:
* Tie (draw), a finish to a competition with identical results, particularly sports
* Necktie, a long piece of cloth worn around the neck or shoulders
Tie or TIE may also refer to:
Engineering and technology
* Ti ...
in which candidates receive exactly the same number of votes after three recounts, the winner must be decided by random selection.
On 5 May 2017, Local election candidates in Northumberland drew straws to decide the winner in South Blythe Ward. Liberal Democrat candidate Lesley Rickerby was declared the winner, denying Conservatives overall control of Northumberland County Council
Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028.
History
It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of N ...
.
United States
On 20 November 2015, a Mississippi state election was settled by drawing straws after both candidates received 4,589 votes. This resulted inBlaine Eaton
Blaine Eaton II (born September 11, 1967) is an American politician, farmer, and logger. He is a former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 79th District, serving from 1996 to 2016. He is a member of the Democratic Part ...
being re-elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives.
See also
*Custom of the sea
A custom of the sea is a custom that is said to be practiced by the officers and crew of ships and boats in the open sea, as distinguished from maritime law, which is a distinct and coherent body of law that governs maritime questions and offense ...
* Cleromancy
Cleromancy is a form of sortition (casting of lots) in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but that are sometimes believed to reveal the will of a deity.
In classical c ...
, a form of divination.
* Sortition
In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...
, the practice of randomly selecting political officials from a larger pool of candidates.
* Drawing lots (cards)
In card games, to cut the cards (also "cut the deck" or "cut the pack") is to split the deck into two packets by lifting one packet from the top and placing it face down beside the remainder; before placing the lower packet on top of it. This is ...
, the practice, in card games, of cutting or drawing a random card to determine seating, partners, or first dealer.
* The Nose Game
Nose goes or the nose game, also uncommonly called the "rule of nose goes", is a popular selection method most commonly used when deciding which of several persons is assigned an unwanted task. Whoever touches their nose last does the task.
Rules
...
*
References
{{reflist Decision-making Sampling (statistics) Games of chance