Sean O’Bryan was unlucky in his first political campaign for Orchard Lake city council. Tied with one of two opponents for the seat, his bid ended with an historic tie-breaking coin toss.. “I had this overwhelming feeling of joy for the whole process,” he said. “Although I didn’t win, I’m extremely grateful.” O’Bryan, 38, campaigned for one of two council seats, along with incumbent Kevin Kroger and former councilwoman DuAnne Sonneville. Unofficial election results after the polls closed on Nov. 4 showed Kroger received 314 votes and Sonneville finished second with 238 votes, ahead of O’Bryan’s 235. When the county’s bipartisan board of canvassers met on Nov. 5 to certify results votes from the single precinct, votes from mailed-in ballots and validated write-in votes, both Sonneville and O’Bryan were tied with 239 votes each. “This was the only known election tie in the history of Orchard Lake,” said Sonneville, 77, who served two three-year terms on the council before she was term-limited and had to wait for another run at a non-partisan council seat. She is also a volunteer for the Greater West Bloomfield Historical Society. County election officials rarely see tie votes. In 1955, the state standardized how tied elections are decided: • A coin toss determines which candidate is the first to draw a folded piece of paper from a closed cardboard box. • Candidates wait for the county clerk’s permission to open their papers simultaneously to see if the message inside says “elected” or “not elected.” According to the 2010 Census, Orchard Lake Village has an estimated 2, 375 residents in 802 households. Sonneville, O’Bryan and Kroger stood together on election day greeting voters at the city hall voting precinct. One voter asked the three candidates who won the 2020 presidential election, Sonneville said. “If you have any doubts about elections, do the poll worker training,” she replied. “I worked elections for years. Michigan has backups on its backups.” O’Bryan called the experience “very refreshing, politically speaking. We all got along great. We greeted the voters as a unit rather than shouldering each other out of the way,” After the polls closed, the three sat together inside city hall to await results. Sonneville said she wasn’t worried about who won because each candidate wanted to help the city. “I spent all day with Sean and found him to be a very good candidate,” she said. “I thought if I didn’t win it was fine, because at least we’ll be sure that someone got elected who cares about the city.” They appeared at the tiebreaking event at the county clerk’s Pontiac office with family in tow. County election officials and some city officials were also there. County Clerk Lisa Brown read the 1955 state statute aloud to those assembled and said it was too late for either candidate to withdraw or concede. “They showed us a quarter and randomly assigned me ‘tails’ and Sean ‘heads,’” Sonneville said, adding that Brown folded the papers in an identical shape and put them in the box held by Joe Rozell, the county’s director of elections. After the candidates selected and unfolded their papers, onlookers clapped and O’Bryan shook Sonneville’s hand. “Constituents know we’ve been elected to serve them,” Sonneville said. “We’ve been lucky to get good candidates who have always stepped up.” After posing for photos and accepting an election certificate from Brown, Sonneville asked O’Bryan if he would join her in donating their unfolded papers to the Orchard Lake Museum. He agreed. “I wish we’d asked the county for the quarter,” he told The Oakland Press. Sonneville is glad the election is getting some attention. “It’s a good lesson that every vote counts,” she said. O’Bryan said the election was handled by City Clerk/Treasurer Nancy Morogi and staff “with absolute transparency and professionalism” and Brown and Rozell handled the tiebreaking procedure “in a very fair, transparent and efficient way.” O’Bryan plans to run for office again and appreciated the community’s support at the polls. But for the next few months, he’ll concentrate on opening his law office in Waterford Township. Sonneville said she would attend council meetings even if she hadn’t won the election, because it’s a way to give back to the community. “It doesn’t matter which side of the desk I’m on, this is my community,” she said. “I’ve never turned into my subdivision without thinking how lucky I am to live here.”.
https://www.theoaklandpress.com/2025/11/24/orchard-lake-council-seat-election-hinged-on-a-coin-toss/