For the second year in a row, it took a coin toss to decide a winner in the Wrangell Cooperative Association tribal council election.

Ethan “Coven” Petticrew, Dustin Johnson and James Leslie won election as the top three vote-getters, with Frank Churchill Jr. and Christie Jamieson tied for the fourth seat on the Feb. 2 ballot.

Churchill won the coin toss on Feb. 3.

Last year, Tim Gillen and Jennifer Davies tied at 48 votes each for a seat on the WCA council. Davies called “heads” but it landed on “tails” and Gillen won the seat.

WCA election rules designate a coin toss to decide the winner.

This year, Petticrew led all candidates with 94 votes, followed by Johnson with 91 and Leslie with 76 votes. Churchill, an incumbent on the council, and Jamieson were tied at 69.

Jamieson called “tails” and the coin landed on “heads,” deciding Churchill as the winner, said Albert Rinehart, tribal administrator.

Einar Haaseth, the tribal council election chairman, flipped the coin this year using an old silver dollar with an eagle on one side, Rinehart said. It was a step up from the 50-cent piece that Haaseth used last year.

“Hopefully, that will be the last time,” Rinehart said of needing a coin flip to decide the winner in a tied election.

The sixth candidate for the four seats on the council, incumbent Richard Oliver, garnered 54 votes.

Petticrew, Johnson, Leslie and Frank Churchill Jr. join Sandy Churchill, Luella Knapp, Ken Hoyt and Tim Gillen on the eight-member council. Edward Rilatos and Tom Gillen Sr. did not seek reelection and left the board this year when their terms expired.

Members serve two-year terms.

The new members were installed on the council Feb. 3, with Petticrew elected as president, Sandy Churchill as vice president, Hoyt as secretary and Frank Churchill Jr. treasurer.

WCA has about 800 members, with about half living in Wrangell. The election drew 136 members to the polls on Feb. 2.

“We had a big turnout,” Rinehart said, almost double some past years.

Only members living in Wrangell are eligible to vote. WCA brought ballots to members living at the Senior Apartments and at the long-term care center at the hospital so that they could vote in the election.