Two politicians just drew cards to decide who would become mayor in Florida

If you thought X-Factor’s dramatic DEADLOCK was the cruellest way to decide the outcome of a dead heat, think again.

This week, when the vote for the mayor of Bradenton Beach in Florida ended in a tie between two candidates, William Shearon and Jack Clark, there was only one way to decide who could sit in the big chair: a highly official game of higher or lower.

Clark must’ve thought he’d done enough to take the title when he turned out a respectable ten of clubs, only for his dreams to be clawed away from him when Shearon, who for some reason chose to wear cycling sunglasses to the showdown, pulled it out of the bag with his unbeatable ace.

Our favourite bit of the whole cruel-but-amazingly-bonkers duel, though, is seeing the victor turn to his right to check with his colleague that an ace, indeed, was enough to win.

“The voters voted, and the man up above made the decision,” Shearon later said, accrediting his lucky card picking to the Big Man in the Sky.

Although the process seems utterly insane, Florida isn’t unique in deciding the outcome of a tie by drawing lots – 35 fellow states are free to do the same, although the final method is left up to the returning officer.

"We could've flipped a coin,” said Mike Bennett, the county election supervisor. “We've could've drawn straws, I supposed we could've played that paper rock and scissors or roll a dice. We felt the easiest one to do with less confusion was to go ahead and cut a deck of cards."

Yeah, not confusing at all. 

Next election: Twister.