10 The last straw.

• Position: STATELINE - Stephanie Bounds to lobby for better way to settle ties - Brief article

When Stephanie Bounds says she drew the short straw, she's not speaking metaphorically. Bounds won 177 votes, the same as her opponent, in a city alderman race in Poplarville, Miss., a town of 2,818. Since state law says election ties "shall be determined by lot," city officials had both candidates pull straws from what Bounds describes as a cut-off bleach bottle, decorated as a hat. Bounds got the short straw. "Some of the national press we...