The bizarre tradition that will see local candidates DRAW STRAWS to pick a winner in the event of a dead heat in the General Election

CANDIDATES standing in tomorrow's General Election will all be hoping to get enough votes to win their seats.

But if they and a competitor are neck-and-neck after all the ballot papers are counted, election officials will have to call on a bizarre law that could see them draw straws to pick a winner.

Dead heats after all the votes are counted and verified are rare - but election guidelines have been drawn up just in case two candidates are tied.

The odd guidelines will be called upon if after several recounts of the papers, there appears to be no clear winner.

And as the returning officer must be able to declare a result, the advice is they should decide the winner by drawing lots.

Election officials say it is up to the returning officer which method is used, but these can include drawing straws, pulling names out of a hat and even tossing a coin.

To date, using a random method to choose a winner has not been used to determine a General Election result.

But in 1886, a General Election constituency result was tied in the seat of Ashton-under-Lyme.

Then the returning officer was forced to make a casting vote to decide who should become the MP.

Meanwhile in last month's local elections, a Tory candidate and a Lib Dem had to draw straws to decide who won the South Blyth ward on Northumberland County Council.

Conservative Peter Jackson drew the short straw against rival Lesley Rickerby, who was later declared the winner.

The snap General Election was called in April after Prime Minister Theresa May decided the nation should head to the polls.