LAS VEGAS — It was the luck of the draw for Pete Buttigieg at a Nevada caucus on Saturday. Literally.
At the North Valleys High School caucus site in Reno, Buttigieg's supporters drew from a card deck the number 3, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' backers picked a 2, breaking a delegate tie between the candidates and making the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor the winner of this caucus location.
The Nevada Democratic Party has used a deck of cards to break ties since 2008. Per party rules, if two caucus groups are tied, then representatives from each candidate draws a single card from a deck in order to break the tie. The winner is the high card, with aces the highest.
If both candidates draw the same card, then the winner is determined by the suit of the card. Spades are the highest suit, followed by hearts, diamonds and clubs.
The Nevada Democratic Party said they had distributed an un-opened deck of cards to all precinct locations and that the deck should be shuffled by a precinct chair at least seven times before being used.
The supporter who drew Buttigieg's card told NBC News that after an unlucky go at the Blackjack table the night before, her winning draw was a welcomed consolation prize.
