Murray wins coin toss, unseats Houston on school board

I'm sure that the three people that improperly voted knew that only 88 of the couple thousand eligible people in that district were going to vote. Conspiracy theorists of the world unite. Both men are qualified to serve, but things just had to be made white. If both gentlemen were white the election would've never been challenged. And it certainly wouldn't have been challenged by the whole board. Only one of which had the right to challenge.

AtomicDog. Do you know what B. S. stands for?

Sooo the coin, as it flipped elegantly through the air, is now a racist? Sounds as if there's some sour grapes. Atomic would you still have said anything if it had gone the other (your) way?

AD, do you really think that the board's decision to challenge was racially motivated? That would be tough to prove, but if true it's something that could not be tolerated by the community.

Bouncer, I wouldn't have said anything if it went the other way. They tied, Murray conceded, Houston was seated - done deal. Maybe Murray conceded before those 3 votes were thrown out, but the fact remains he conceded. If he was really up to a challenge he would have done so because of the close margin instead of conceding. Then the votes would have been thrown out and a coin flip (by law) could have decided the winner.

But he wasn't up to it and he did concede. So we (the school board -- I say "we" because "we" elected them so "we" are culpable in their decision making process) jerk these two guys around for several months while ineptness attempts to make a decision that could have been made as soon as a tie was determined by any 5th grader with average reading skills. Instead we have a group of people dragging this out for months to lord themselves over the community. Know the rules, know your job, do your job. It's really not a very difficult concept to grasp.

This is the most absurd, barbaric thing Mountain Home has done to date. There should be a run off so the people can vote again. A coin toss does not equal the wishes of the people. CD should appeal this and the people should stand behind him! What next, toss a coin to see who gets healthcare and who doesn't?

Yes the coin flip is dumb, but as of today still law. That doesn't mean this whole thing couldn't have been handled smarter. It easily could have. But the people who could have made a difference did not.

Again Kudos to Mr. Murrey, He handled victory last evening with the same class that he handled defeat. Well done young man. And Kudos to CD. He jumped in and made school visits during his short time in office. He made a difference. He "showed up".

Atomic Dog: BS

Dog Lover: it's the LAW; how is that Barbaric? Big cities do it too...

The ineptitude I was referring to was on the part of the school board. I feel they handled the situation poorly. Four months to get to the coin flip is ridiculous. They knew it was a tie fairly early on, yet they seated Houston without a coin flip. No one should have been seated until the matter was resolved. So Murray was cast aside and Houston was dumped after the board put their support behind him. Poor management is to blame here. I don't believe this was intentional, but if it was that's even worse. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt by casting the poorly handled situation as inept. The fact that you don't like my take on it doesn't amount much at all.

The election was over. They had seated Houston. Murray had conceded and congratulated Houston. Murray didn't challenge it. None of the voters challenged it. Everyone was happy with the outcome of the election except the people that didn't get who they wanted to fill that seat. If the school board didn't feel the need to make things white and file their challenge Houston would've been on the school board and it would have been perfectly legal. Don't try and make this out like they HAD to file. They didn't. They filed to get Houston out. The fact that they were too stupid to handle the three vote problem the night of the election and seated Houston anyway, only to ask for a do over, shows their complete incompetence and stupidity. It may not been entirely racially motivated but it is a big factor. And don't try and tell me that there's not some racism here.

So if the voters are unhappy with the process and feel that there should have been a new election, is there any recourse in the current law to initiate a new election. If voters are unhappy with the way that CD was seated and then stood up, is there anything in the process that can be implemented to force an election. and again,,,, I am not in the district. No matter what I am sure we will see the name CD on a ballot in the future.