11 Elections Decided by a Single Vote (or Fewer)

While a victory by just one vote is uncommon, it has certainly occurred. Here are 11 elections where every single vote was crucial.

1. The 2017 Virginia House of Delegates Election

On December 19, 2017, Democrat Shelly Simonds claimed a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates by the slimmest of margins—a single vote. Although a court overturned her win, she ultimately conceded to her Republican challenger.

2. The 1910 Election for New York’s 36th Congressional District

Elections to the United States House of Representatives happen every two years and involve more seats (435 since 1911, with 437 between 1959 and 1962) than any other federal office. With such frequent elections, it’s no surprise there are more close calls in the House than in Presidential races, such as George Bush's narrow win over Al Gore in Florida with a certified margin of 537 votes in 2000, or the U.S. Senate, where a mere two-vote difference led to a revote in New Hampshire’s 1974 election. However, only once in the 20th and 21st centuries has a single vote made the difference in one of the roughly 18,000 House elections: the 1910 contest in Buffalo, New York, where Democrat Charles B. Smith defeated incumbent De Alva S. Alexander by just one vote—20,685 to 20,684 (although a later recount increased the margin slightly).

3. The 1910 Election of an Exeter MP

Interestingly, the only modern instance of a UK parliamentary election decided by just one vote also occurred in 1910, when Conservative Henry Duke narrowly defeated Liberal Harold St. Maur in Exeter, a city in South West England. St. Maur initially won by a margin of four votes, but after an electoral petition and several legal challenges, Duke managed to retain his seat in the House of Commons by the slimmest of margins: 4,777 to 4,776.

4. The 1839 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Election

In one of the most frequently cited examples from high school Civics classes, Democrat Marcus “Landslide” Morton (a name dripping with 19th-century irony) secured the 1839 Massachusetts gubernatorial election by a razor-thin margin of just one vote. Morton garnered 51,034 votes out of 102,066—a slim majority that kept the decision from going to the Whig-controlled state legislature, where he would likely have lost. He was defeated in his 1840 reelection bid (as gubernatorial races in Massachusetts were held annually back then), but managed to regain the office in 1842 by a single vote in the legislature after a deadlock in the general election.

5. Rajasthan’s 2008 Assembly Election

In 2008, Indian politician C.P. Joshi lost a bid for an assembly seat in the northwestern state of Rajasthan by just one vote. The final tally saw Joshi falling short against his rival, Kalyan Singh Chouhan, with 62,216 votes to 62,215. Rumor has it that Joshi’s wife, mother, and personal driver missed the election, while Kalyan Singh Chouhan’s wife allegedly cast ballots at two separate polling stations.

6. Wyoming’s 1994 Congressional Election

In Wyoming’s 1994 House race, Republican Randall Luthi and Independent Larry Call were deadlocked with 1,941 votes each. After a recount confirmed the tie, Governor Mike Sullivan resolved the election in a highly unorthodox manner—by drawing a ping pong ball from his cowboy hat to pick the winner. Luthi’s name was drawn, and he went on to serve the Jackson Hole-area district until 2007, ultimately becoming Speaker of the House.

7. Zanzibar’s 1961 General Election

When it comes to ties and one-vote victories, calling something the ‘Closest Election’ is practically an exercise in splitting hairs. However, for a time, the Guinness World Records deemed Zanzibar’s 1961 general election the closest ever. On that January day, the Afro-Shirazi Party secured 10 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council, narrowly beating the Zanzibar Nationalist Party, which took 9 seats. The decisive moment? The Afro-Shirazi Party claimed the Chake-Chake district by a single vote—1538 to 1537. Just five months later, to break the tie, a new election was held, and both parties ended up with 10 seats each.

8. The 2013 San Teodoro Mayoral Election

In the 2013 mayoral race in San Teodoro, a municipality in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines, things got heated when Salvador Py of the Nacionalista Party and Marvic Feraren of the Liberal Party ended up in a tie with 3,236 votes each. To resolve the deadlock, both parties agreed to settle it with a series of coin tosses. After the first round ended in a tie, Feraren eventually triumphed. However, Py was not pleased with the outcome. In a piece by the Philippine Star, he protested that ‘a mere flip of a coin’ decided his fate, especially after he had sold all his pigs to fund his campaign.

9. The 2013 Carinthia State Legislature Election

In one of the most bizarre instances of a single vote making all the difference, a 2013 state legislature election in Carinthia, Austria, was decided by a ballot featuring a drawing of a penis. Each ballot had two columns: one for ranking preferences and the other for the vote itself. The voter marked a penis in the ranking column and placed a check mark in the choices column. The ranking column was deemed to take precedence, so this particular ballot resulted in a seat for the Green Party, preventing a tie with the Alliance for the Future of Austria party.

10. The National Assembly of Québec’s 1994 and 2003 Elections

The National Assembly of Québec has seen its fair share of nail-biting election results. In 1994, the Saint-Jean district race ended in a perfect tie, with both Michel Charbonneau of the Liberal Party and Roger Paquin of the Parti Québécois each receiving 16,536 votes. A similar deadlock occurred in 2003 in the Champlain district, where Pierre Brouillette of the Liberal Party and Noëlla Champagne of the Parti Québécois both garnered 11,852 votes. Both of these tight races led to subsequent re-votes, with the Parti Québécois candidates winning by just over 500 votes in each case.

11. Nevada’s 2002 and 2011 Council Elections

In Nevada, ties are resolved with a classic twist—by drawing playing cards, with the high card winning the election. In 2002, Republican Dee Honeycutt found himself on the losing end of a jack-off, drawing the jack of diamonds while Democrat R.J. Gillum drew the jack of spades for a seat on the Esmeralda County Commission. The card-based decision was used again in 2011, when Tanya Flanagan and Linda Meisenheimer tied in a North Las Vegas city council primary. Neither wanted to pay the $600 for a recount, so Meisenheimer drew a king to Flanagan’s five. She still lost the election, making it clear that sometimes, a $600 fee is worth the expense.

This article was originally published in 2014.