Kimberly prevails in Fairway primary — without having to win a coin toss

A week after the snowy election day, there’s a second winner in Fairway’s Ward 4 city council primary.

Anthony J. Kimberly

The Johnson County Election Office’s board of canvassers met Monday and accepted two provisional ballots cast for Ward 4 candidate Anthony Kimberly. Those votes broke the 6-6 tie Kimberly and Andy Duewel had when the polls closed last week.

Kimberly will face off against Tanya Keys, who led the field of four Ward 4 primary candidates with 18 votes, in the general election next month.

Had the board of canvassers not accepted the provisional ballots for Kimberly, the second spot on the general election ballot would have been decided by — wait for it — a coin toss.

In fact, that’s what it took to decide Merriam’s Ward 2 city council primary.

“Three provisional ballots resulted in a tie in Merriam between John Crabtree and Jim Wymer, 25 each,” wrote Johnson County Election Commissioner Brian Newby. “Mr. Crabtree called for heads on the coin, but it came up tails, so Mr. Wymer advances.”