GARDNERVILLE, Nev. – The ace of clubs beat the eight of diamonds to win Kingsbury resident Natalie Yanish a seat on the general improvement district board.

Yanish and board member Robert McDowell cut cards in Minden on Friday to determine who would get the seat after they tied for third place in the Nov. 2 general election.

“My friends were teasing me that I needed to practice, so we tried it and eight out of 10 times I lost,” the 30-year-old Colorado native said. “Maybe I got all my bad luck out of my system. I’m usually not very lucky.”

McDowell congratulated Yanish.

“Did you wonder if you should have knocked on a few more doors,” he said of the race that deadlocked at 373 votes.

“Or maybe bought a bigger sign,” Yanish replied.

“Just shows that every vote counts,” McDowell said.

Douglas County Clerk-Treasurer Ted Thran shuffled and then spread the cards out and each candidate selected one.

He said he predicted a tie in the race that saw 11 candidates seeking three seats.

The Kingsbury District is losing two of its board members to term limits and had two more, including McDowell, who was appointed in March.

Darya Vogt and Dan Norman won the election outright and will take office on Jan. 1 along with Yanish.

Board members Billy Hayes and Larry Schussel both termed out.

Board member Brett Barrett resigned Aug. 31 to become commissioner of the Nevada Division of Insurance. Norman was appointed in his place.

With all the shuffling, there will be a seat open in January, which McDowell said he intends to apply for.

Yanish said Kingsbury residents are concerned about converting to water meters.

“I think they’ve accepted the idea,” she said. “But there are a lot of mutifamily homes and condos where they don’t quite understand how it will work.”

The district also maintains roads and does snow removal, both issues for residents, she said.

She said she felt the board needed more people of family age to represent the community.

“We’re trying to attact more families with children to Tahoe, and it would help if there was more representation of people who are of family age.”