List of close election results

This is a list of close election results on the national level and within administrative divisions. It lists results that have been decided by a margin of less than 1 vote in 1,000 (a margin of less than 0.1 percentage points): single-winner elections where the winning candidate was less than 0.1 ahead of the second-placed candidate, as well as party-list elections where a party was less than 0.1% short of the electoral threshold or two lists that obtained seats are less than 0.1 percentage points apart. This list is limited to elections in which at least 1,000 votes were cast.

To provide context, the section on "Distribution of elections" shows the distribution of winning margins in different areas. Depending on the area, from 1 in 40 to 1 in 500 election contests is decided by less than 1 vote in 1,000.

According to a 2001 study of state and federal elections in the United States between 1898 and 1992, "one of every 100,000 votes cast in U.S. [House of Representatives] elections, and one of every 15,000 votes cast in state [legislative] elections, "mattered" in the sense that they were cast for a candidate that officially tied or won by one vote."^[1]

While not an election, a member of Congress once owed his seat to the drawing of lots. In 1902, after more than 7,000 votes at three conventions, the Democrats were unable to decide among three candidates for nomination to Texas's 12th congressional district. Two candidates put their names in a hat, drew one out and the loser agreed to withdraw and support the winner. Oscar W. Gillespie won the game of lots, the nomination and the following general election, serving in Congress for eight years.^[2]

There are a variety of ways in which tied elections are settled. Some are decided by drawing lots or other games of chances. Others lead to a runoff or special election. Still others are decided by some third party such as the legislature or a high-ranking elected official. In one case in Waynetown, Indiana, in 1891, two candidates for town treasurer agreed to settle their 339–339 tie by a foot-race.^[3] However, despite some fictionalized accounts, the town board overruled the agreement and determined that then-incumbent William Simms would remain in office for another term, and the proposed race never occurred.^[4]

Year	Country / Region	Election	District/Race	Total votes cast for winner	Description
1985		Victorian Legislative Council	Nunawading	54,821	Bob Ives tied with Rosemary Varty, but won the seat with a vote cast by the returning officer, who drew Ives' name from a hat. Adding to the drama, the seat decided control of the Legislative Council. Before Ives could take his seat, the result was subsequently voided by a Court of Disputed Returns on the grounds that 44 votes had been incorrectly excluded from the count, and the court ordered a by-election. Varty then won the by-election.[5]
2011		Swiss federal	Ticino	23,979[6]	Marco Romano and Monica Duca Widmer both had 23,979 votes.[7] Initially, a computer program was used to draw lots and Widmer was declared the winner. Following complaints and appeals, the Federal Supreme Court ruled against the Canton's decision to use a computer program for the lottery and ordered new manual lottery. This was conducted on November 25 and Marco Romano emerged as the winner.[8][9] (There were 760,995 votes cast in total for 8 seats. The PPD won two seats. Romano and Widmer, both of the PPD, were tied for the PPD's second seat.)
1994		National Assembly of Quebec	Saint-Jean	16,536	Incumbent Liberal Michel Charbonneau tied with Parti Québécois candidate Roger Paquin. Consequently, a new vote was held 42 days later, which Paquin won by 532 votes.[10]
1971		Virginia House of Delegates	District 19	16,410	The initial vote count had Republican William Moss ahead of Democrat Jim Burch by 1 vote for the sixth at-large seat in what was then a six-member district. But then a three-judge circuit court ruled that one of the ballots was "defaced" because the names of two candidates were crossed out with the notation "Do not desire to vote for these two". They did this even though the person who cast this vote (which was known because it was a signed absentee ballot) testified that he intended to vote for Moss. Throwing out the ballot created a tied vote.[11] The names of the two candidates were placed in sealed envelopes, and a blindfolded Elections Board chairman plucked one from a silver loving cup. Moss won.[12] Two years later Moss would lose re-election by 0.03% of the vote.[13]
2003		National Assembly of Quebec	Champlain	11,852	PQ candidate Noëlla Champagne tied with Liberal Pierre Brouillette. Consequently, a new vote was held 36 days later, which Champagne won by 642 votes.[14]
2017		Virginia House of Delegates	District 94	11,608	The initial vote count had incumbent Republican David Yancey ahead by 13 votes. After a canvas that included provisional ballots, Yancey's lead was cut to 10 votes.[15] Following a recount, Yancey trailed Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds by one vote out of 23,215 cast.[16][17] After review by a three-judge panel appointed by the Virginia Supreme Court, a disputed ballot that had been excluded as an overvote was instead counted for Yancey and the race was certified as a tie with the candidates to draw lots to determine a winner.[18][16] The drawing of lots was later postponed after Simonds asked a state court to reconsider the disputed ballot.[19] On January 4, 2018, the names of each candidate was placed inside a film canister, both canisters were placed in a bowl and one canister was drawn at random by State Board of Elections chairman James Alcorn. David Yancey won the draw and the seat, giving Republicans control of the House 51–49.[20] Had Simonds won instead, a 50–50 split would have prompted a power sharing arrangement between the two major parties.[21] In 2019, the two met in a rematch in a redrawn district and Simonds won.
2010		Massachusetts House of Representatives	6th Worcester district	6,587	After Peter J. Durant was initially declared the winner by 1 vote, judge Richard T. Tucker ruled that one absentee ballot that was initially discarded was to be counted for Geraldo Alicea creating an exact tie.[22] Six months later, a special election was held where Durant beat Alicea by 56 votes.[23]
1963		House of Commons of Canada	Pontiac–Témiscamingue	6,448	Paul Martineau (Progressive Conservative) and Paul-Oliva Goulet (Liberal) each received 6,448 votes in the Québec electoral district of Pontiac–Témiscamingue. Because the vote was tied, the returning officer cast his vote for Martineau.[24]
1988		Massachusetts Senate Democratic Primary	Plymouth District	4,543	George F. Buckley and Michael Creedon tied, but Creedon secured the nomination and later the seat.[25]
1996		South Dakota House of Representatives	District 12	4,191	Four candidates Democrats John R. McIntyre and Dick Casey; and, Republicans Hal Wick and Judy Rost were contesting two seats. In the initial tally, they had respectively 4195 (24.73%), 3889 (22.93%), 4191 (24.71%), and 4687 (27.63%) votes (16,962 total votes). McIntyre was initially declared to have been elected by a four-vote margin. Wick petitioned for a recount in accordance with SDCL 12-21-12. The recount was conducted in the presence of representatives for both candidates. The results were certified on December 4, 1996, and showed that Wick had been elected by one vote: 4191 (24.71%), 3891 (22.94%), 4192 (24.71%), 4689 (27.64%) (16,963 total votes). The South Dakota Supreme Court examined several ballots and invalidated one vote for Wick. The House then voted, mostly along party lines, 46–20 to seat Wick.[26][27][28] Remarkably, two years later, McIntyre and Wick would again tie (at least on the initial count).
1999		Nova Scotia House of Assembly	Shelburne	3,206	Progressive Conservative Cecil O'Donnell tied with Liberal Clifford Huskilson (3,206–3,206).[29] The returning officer broke the tie by pulling Mr. O'Donnell's name from a box.[30]
1886		House of Commons of the United Kingdom	Ashton-under-Lyne	3,049	Conservative incumbent John Edmund Wentworth Addison and Liberal challenger (and English cricketer[31]) Alexander Butler Rowley were tied, 3,049–3,049. The Returning Officer (and also mayor[32][33][34]) James Walker[35] broke the tie by casting a vote for Addison.[36][37][38][39]
1978		Rhode Island Senate	Senatorial District 29	4,110	Both Russell and Flynn had exactly 4,110 votes in the general election. On Jan 9th, 1979, a special election was held where Flynn beat Russell 2,546–2,038.[40]
1980		New Hampshire Senate Republican Primary	District 16	2,438	Incumbent Frank Wageman found himself in a tied election after a hospitalization left him unable to vote in the election. Two numbered balls were placed in a black leather bottle, and the first one to roll out was the winner. Wageman's ball came out first and challenger Eleanor P. Podles demanded a recount that did not change the outcome.[41] Podles won a rematch in 1982.
1958		Alaska Senate	District B	1,953	Republican candidate Boardman and Democrat "Bo" Smith both received 1,953 votes in Senate District B in Southeastern Alaska around Ketchikan. The Democratic-controlled Alaska Senate resolved the tie in favor of Smith.[42]
1994		Wyoming House of Representatives	District 21	1,941	Republican Randall Luthi and independent candidate Larry Call each received 1,941 votes in a state House race in northern Lincoln County. On live TV (NBC's Today Show) Secretary of State Kathy Karpan drew a ping pong ball with Luthi's name out of Governor Sullivan's rumpled cowboy hat.[43][44]
1826		United States House of Representatives	Pennsylvania's 2nd District	1,597	Adams Federalist John Sergeant and Jacksonian Henry Horn tied at 1,597, with a 3rd candidate getting 1,391 votes. The governor treated it as a vacancy, but did not call a new election until both Sergeant and Horn relinquished their claims. Sergeant defeated former Representative Joseph Hemphill in the special election a year later and was seated. Residents of the district contested the election, arguing that ballots were found that would've swung the regular election to Horn, but the House dismissed the contest because Horn had voluntarily relinquished his rights.[45]
2006		Alaska House of Representatives Democratic Primary	District 37	1,534	After a recount, a state Supreme Court challenge and wrangling over five disputed ballots the race was decided by a coin toss, using a special coin with a walrus on one side and the seal of Alaska on the other.[46] Bryce Edgmon, the winner of the coin toss, went on to be Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives.[47]
2004		Montana House of Representatives	District 12	1,559	The November 2, 2004 election resulted in the district 12 race being a 1,559–1,559 vote tie between Democratic candidate Jeanne Windham and Constitution candidate Rick Jore. On December 28, the Montana Supreme Court invalidated a small handful of ballots, which was enough to resolve the tie and give control of the state house to the Democratic Party.[48]
1887		House of Commons of Canada	Joliette	1,532	Conservative Édouard Guilbault tied Liberal F. Neveu, but won the seat after the deciding vote was cast by the returning officer.[49]
1896		House of Commons of Canada	Assiniboia West	1,502	Conservative Nicholas Flood Davin tied independent John K. McInnes. The deciding vote in Davin's favor was cast by the returning officer after the two candidates tied.[50]
2015		Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island	Vernon River-Stratford	1,173	On Declaration Day, Mary Ellen McInnis and Alan McIsaac had 1,172–1,174 votes. McInnis filed a petition for a judicial recount. Provincial Court Judge John Douglas discovered that a vote for Ms. McInnis was mistakenly put in the pile for Mr. McIsaac. The result of the recount was thus that they were tied 1,173–1,173. Pursuant to section 102 of the Election Act, the toss of a coin was completed by the Returning Officer. The results of the coin toss were in favour of Alan McIsaac.[51][52][53][54][55]
2022		New Hampshire House of Representatives	Strafford District 8	970	The November 2022 election to this seat in the city of Rochester ended in a tie of 970–970 between Democrat Chuck Grassie and Republican David Walker. Despite rumors that the Republican-controlled state House would vote to seat Walker anyways, a special election was called for February 21.[56] In the end, Chuck Grassie won with over 55% of the vote, a 4% over-performance for Democrats.[57][58]

Year	Country / Region	Election	District/Race	Margin (%)	Margin (votes)	Total votes cast for winner	Description
1974		United States Senate	New Hampshire	0.000901%	2	110,926[59]	On election day, Republican Louis Wyman won with a margin of just 355 votes out of more than 220,000. His opponent John A. Durkin then won the recount by 10 votes. After a second recount, Wyman won by just 2 votes. The Democratic-controlled Senate at first agreed to seat Wyman, who served the last 3 days of Norris Cotton's term, but began to deliberate again when the new Senate took office. When the Senate deadlocked for months, Durkin agreed to Wyman's proposal for a new election. The Senate declared the seat vacant and the governor appointed Cotton to hold the seat for six weeks until a special election on September 16. Durkin won the special by 27,000 votes.[60]
1839		Massachusetts gubernatorial	Governor of Massachusetts	0.00098%	1	51,034[61]	Marcus Morton and the incumbent Whig Edward Everett received 51,034–50,725 votes respectively, with the remaining 307 votes went to scattering. The constitution of Massachusetts required a candidate to receive a majority of votes cast in order to win the office outright; otherwise, the legislature would have the authority to choose among the leading candidates. Morton exceeded this threshold by just 1 vote (50% of the 102,066 ballots cast), and had he not, the Whig controlled legislature would have been allowed to select the governor. The legislature could successfully deprive Morton of a majority if it disqualified the return from the town of Westfield. There was, moreover, an argument for doing so: the Westfield return was irregular and improper under the laws of the state because the attestation of its authenticity was not under seal. Instead, the return had been sealed first, and only afterward affixed with an attestation from the relevant local official. Despite pressure from partisans to contest this result, Everett refused. Historian and former Ohio Solicitor General Edward B. Foley notes: "In the annals of American history there is not an equivalent example of a candidate in a major statewide election willing to forgo a victory so tantalizingly within reach based on, first, such a narrow margin and, second, such a readily available legal argument for invalidating disputed ballots."[62]
2020		United States House of Representatives	Iowa's 2nd District	0.00152%	6	196,964	In the House election, Democrat Rita Hart lost by only 6 votes to Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Unofficial results shortly after election day showed Miller-Meeks with a 282 vote lead. Official results, which included late-arriving absentee ballots and corrected canvassing errors, narrowed that lead to 44. A recount narrowed that vote still further to 6 votes. Hart chose not to appeal the election in the "contest court", arguing that Iowa law didn't allow enough time as from the November 30 certification date, the court would've had only 8 days to organize and then carry out the recount.[63] Instead she contested the election in the House of Representatives, asking for another recount, on the grounds that 22 votes were erroneously excluded due to poll worker error (and Iowa law had no way to remedy this) and that the recount was not done uniformly over the district.[64] Miller-Meeks was provisionally sworn in and requested the House Committee on Administration dismiss the contest, but that request was denied. On March 31, after several Democratic House members publicly stated that they wouldn't vote to change the result, Hart withdrew her contest.[65] It was the 2nd closest House race in US history and the closest since 1824.
1984		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 8th District	0.00171%	4	116,645	The initial count showed that Democrat Frank McCloskey had won by 72 votes, but Indiana's Republican Secretary of State refused to certify him pending a legal challenge by his Republican challenger Rick McIntyre.[66] After a tabulation error was found a month later McIntyre took the lead by 34 votes and was certified by the Secretary, even though a recount was on-going.[67] When the House opened it chose to seat neither person, but to pay them as though they were both members. The statewide recount was completed in late January and gave McIntyre a 418 vote lead, but against the Democratic-controlled House chose not to seat McIntyre, against the wishes of Republicans.[68] The House conducted their own recount, in which they made several controversial decisions, and seated McCloskey after declaring him the winner by just four votes. Republicans, who sought to declare the election void and call for a special election, staged a procedural protest and a walk out to protest what they viewed as a stolen seat.[69][70]
2013		Australian Senate	Western Australia	0.002125%	1	23,532[71]	Before senate electoral reform in 2016, the Australian senate was elected by a series of complex preference deals. At one point the next party to be eliminated was between the Shooters and Fishers Party and the Australian Christians. The margin was effectively one vote at that point in the count, and depending on which party was ahead either the Labor Party and PUP or the Sports Party and the Greens would have been elected. As the recount was taking place it became apparent that there were some missing ballots, which was greater than the margin, so the election was voided and a re-run was conducted in 2014.[72]
2023		Caddo Parish sheriff	Sheriff of Caddo Parish	0.002312%	1	21,624	In the runoff election, Henry Whitehorn, a Democrat, defeated Republican John Nickelson by one vote. After a court challenge, the election was rerun; Whitehorn won again with a larger margin.[73]
1910		United States House of Representatives	New York's 36th District	0.00242%	1	20,685	Charles Bennett Smith, a Democrat, defeated the incumbent, Representative De Alva S. Alexander, a Republican, by one vote, 20,685 to 20,684.[74]
1988		Massachusetts Governor's Council Democratic Primary	3rd District	0.00340%	1	14,716	Herbert L. Connolly lost to Robert B. Kennedy by one vote, and it was his own. Connolly arrived at his precinct a few minutes after the polls closed and wasn't able to vote. Kennedy won the following general.[75][76]
2003		Russian legislative	Sverdlovsk Oblast District 163	0.00342%	5	73,083	Incumbent Georgy Leontyev held the seat by five votes,[77] despite allegations of vote manipulations, later rejected by the Supreme Court [78]
1919		Australian House of Representatives	Ballarat	0.00369%	1	13,569	Edwin Kerby defeated incumbent MP Charles McGrath by a single vote. The result was voided by the Court of Disputed Returns, which criticised the "almost incredible carelessness" of the electoral officers. McGrath won the subsequent by-election.[79]
1997		United Kingdom general	Winchester	0.00383%	2	26,100	In the General Election, Mark Oaten led Gerry Malone by 2 votes (26,100–26,098).[80] A total of 55 ballot papers were excluded from the count for want of official mark, of which 18 were votes in favor of Oaten and 22 in favor of Malone. Therefore, Malone would have had a majority of 2 votes had they been included in the count. On hearing an Election Petition in the High Court on 6 October 1997 Lord Justice Brooke and Mr. Justice Gage ordered that there should be a fresh election. The petition also stated that four voters cast tendered ballots after claiming to have been impersonated, but the impersonators could not be found and the allegation was not pursued.[81] In the subsequent by-election, Oaten easily beat Malone (37,006–15,450).
1992		Philippine Senate	At-large	0.00398%	966	3,964,966	The Philippine Senate is elected via multiple non-transferable vote. The 24th placed candidate, Butz Aquino of LDP, edged out Alfredo Bengzon of Lakas to win out the last Senate seat.
1882		United States House of Representatives	Virginia's 1st District	0.00476%	1	10,505	The initial tally had incumbent Democrat George T. Garrison up 70 votes on Readjuster challenger Robert M. Mayo. The Readjuster-controlled State Board of Canvassers then threw out the votes of Gloucester County and Hog Island precinct (Garrison had received all 14 votes from Hog Island). The new totals then had Mayo up one: 10,505–10,504. (A third candidate, the Republican John W. Woltz, received 168 votes).[82] Mayo was seated and served for a little over a year, but Garrison contested the result. The Committee of Elections then chose to accept the Gloucester County and Hog Island ballots and the House voted unanimously to seat Garrison.[83]
1868		United States House of Representatives	North Carolina's 7th District	0.004841%	1	10,329	Plato Durham (D) was initially declared elected over Alexander H. Jones (R) with an 18-vote majority: 10,347–10,329. When Republicans began to complain of fraud, the votes were sent to General Canby at Charleston, who threw out enough for Jones to defeat Durham. Jones was then elected by 1 vote, 10,329–10,328.[84][85][86][87][88]
2004		Washington gubernatorial	Governor of Washington	0.004842%	133	1,373,361[89]	Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi, following two recounts, after the initial count and first recount showed Rossi as the winner.
2024		Indian general	Mumbai North West	0.00503%	48	452,644	Ravindra Waikar (Shiv Sena) won with a 48-vote-lead against Amol Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena (UBT)).[90]
2024		Budapest local	Mayor of Budapest	0.00524%	41	371,578	The candidate of the centre-left opposition candidate Gergely Karácsony defeated LMP candidate Dávid Vitézy who was backed by the Fidesz–KDNP alliance by 324 votes (0.0415%). Vitézy demanded a recount, asserting that a large portion of the ballots had been wrongfully deemed invalid. After recounting these ballots, the Hungarian National Election Office declared Karácsony the winner by a margin of 41 votes.[91][92]
1931		United Kingdom general	Ilkeston	0.00569%	2	17,587	A.J. Flint (National Labour) gained the seat from George Oliver (Labour). After the polls closed it became clear that the Ilkeston election was very close. There were four recounts overnight, and the Returning Officer decided to call a halt in the early hours to return later in the day. At the end of the fifth recount, the Returning Officer declared Flint elected by a majority of two votes over the sitting Labour MP. This result remains the joint smallest majority in any individual constituency election since universal suffrage.[93]
2002		Irish general	Limerick West	0.00584%	1	8,564[94][95]	Going into the fourth (and final) count, sitting Fine Gael TD Dan Neville trailed his party colleague Michael Finucane, also an outgoing TD, 7,862 to 7,867 in the race for the third and final seat. He picked up 702 votes transferred from the eliminated candidates, six more than his opponent, to win by one vote. Finucane requested a recount, but when it became clear that the margin of his defeat would only increase, he requested the returning officer to terminate the recount, thus leaving the official margin of defeat at one vote. "I am happy enough with the findings and I accept it. Democracy has spoken and I am sure there are many people out there feeling sorry at this stage that they didn't vote for me to tip me over the line."[96][97]
1854		United States House of Representatives	Illinois' 7th District	0.00592%	1	8,452	On the initial tally, incumbent Democrat James C. Allen was ahead of challenger Republican William B. Archer by one vote: 8452–8451. Archer contested. Livingston precinct had initially certified Allen and Archer's votes as 47–100 (in that precinct). But they later certified that they had made a mistake and the vote (in that precinct) should instead have been 46–102. In which case the overall vote should have been 8,451–8,453. The Committee of Elections concluded that Allen had won by at least 1 and probably 2 votes and recommended that he be seated. However, the House voted 94–90 that Allen was not qualified and also voted 91–89 that Archer would not be seated either. The seat was thus vacated.[98][99] A special election in 1856 was a rematch between Allen and Archer, and Allen soundly defeated Archer 13,081–10,136.[100]
2000		South Korean legislature	Gwangju	0.00614%	3	16,675	GNP Park Hyuk-kyu defeated MDP Moon Hak-jin by an official tally of 3-vote difference.[101]
1966		United Kingdom general	Peterborough	0.00626%	3	23,944	Conservative Party incumbent Sir Harmar Nicholls defeated Labour Party challenger Michael Ward 23,944–23,941. Ward would again challenge and lose in 1970 and Feb 1974, but would win in Oct 1974.
1847		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 6th District	0.0067%	1	7,455	Whig George G. Dunn defeated Democrat David M. Dobson 7,455–7,454.[102]
2017		United Kingdom general	North East Fife	0.00727%	2	13,743	Stephen Gethins of the Scottish National Party saw off a challenge by Elizabeth Riches of the Liberal Democrats to retain the seat of former leader Menzies Campbell.[103]
1962		Minnesota gubernatorial	Governor of Minnesota	0.00734%	91	619,842	The vote count after election day had Governor Elmer L. Andersen in the lead by 142 votes. Then-Lieutenant Governor Karl Rolvaag went to court and won the right for a recount.[104] After the recount, it was determined that Rolvaag of the DFL had defeated Andersen, Republican, by 91 votes out of over 1.2 million cast. Rolvaag collected 619,842 votes to Andersen's 619,751.
2020		North Carolina Judicial	Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court	0.00744%	401	2,695,951	Following a count, recount and hand-to-eye recount in 1% of precincts, Incumbent Chief Justice Cheri Beasley was defeated by Justice Paul Newby. The result meant that Republicans won all 8 statewide judicial races in the 2020 general election.[105]
1916		United States House of Representatives	Iowa's 11th District	0.00768%	4	26,033	In the initial vote count, the sitting member Republican George C. Scott won by a majority of 131 votes, which Thomas J. Steele contested, alleging failure to count votes cast for the contestant and illegal counting of votes for the contestee. After a series of recounts, during which the lead switched back and forth and the contest was even tied at one point, the tally changed to 26,033–26,029 and after some legal wrangling (about lost ballots and votes by Iowa National Guardsmen serving at the Texas border), Scott was declared elected by the Democratically-controlled House.[106]
1991		Virginia House of Delegates	District 53	0.00770%	1	6,493	After a recount, Jim Scott won by a single vote, earning him the nickname "Landslide Jim".[107]
2018		Kentucky House of Representatives	13th Representative District	0.0079%	1	6,319	In the initial count, Democrat Jim Glenn defeated Republican incumbent DJ Johnson by 1 vote, which was confirmed by a recanvass. Johnson filed for a recount, and Glenn was seated on January 8, 2019. The House later ordered another recount which was carried out over the weekend of January 30.[108][109] Following that recount, Glenn emerged as the winner by 3 votes, but then the County Board of Electors voted to reinstate one of the votes taken from Johnson earlier in the day and later to count five of 17 rejected absentee ballot. The result was a 6,323–6,323 tie.[110][111] On February 8, 2019, when Glenn threatened to sue if a coin toss were held and he lost, Johnson withdrew his challenge, thus settling the election.[112]
2014		North Carolina District Court	District 5	0.00813%	5	30,746	Lindsey McKee Luther defeated Kent Harrell for North Carolina District Court, District 5 by five votes: 30,746–30,741.[113]
1974		United Kingdom general	Carmarthen	0.00851%	3	17,165	Labour Party incumbent Gwynoro Jones defeated Plaid Cymru candidate Gwynfor Evans 17,165–17,162.[114] Jones had also beaten Evans in 1970, but would lose to Evans in Oct 1974.
2002		Washington House of Representatives Republican Primary	26th Legislative District	0.00852%	1	5,870	Ed Mitchell defeated Kevin Entze by one vote: 5,870–5,869.[115][116] Adding insult to injury, one of Entze's friends admitted that they never got their ballot mailed. "He left his ballot on his kitchen counter and it never got sent out," Entze said.[117] Mitchell went on to narrowly lose the general election.[118]
1912		Kansas gubernatorial	Governor of Kansas	0.00866%	29	167,437	George H. Hodges defeated the popular Republican Arthur Capper by a razor-thin margin of 29 votes out of 359,684 cast.[119][120][121]
1948		United States Senate Democratic Primary Runoff	Texas	0.00880%	87	494,191	Lyndon B. Johnson is declared the winner over Coke R. Stevenson despite suspicion about 202 votes reported six days after the election from Precinct 13 of Jim Wells County.
1996		Vermont Senate	Rutland County	0.00911%	2	10,978[122]	There were six candidates for the three Rutland County Senate seats. On the night of the election, John H. Bloomer, Jr. and Cheryl M. Hooker received the first and second highest vote totals. Hull Maynard received the third highest total with 10,952 votes and Thomas Macaulay received the fourth highest total with 10,934 votes. Macaulay petitioned for a recount, whereupon the Rutland Superior Court determined that Maynard still beat Macaulay by two votes: 10,978–10,976. Macaulay's petition for further relief was dismissed by the Senate.[123][124][125]
2000		United States presidential	Florida	0.00921%	537	2,912,790	Republican George W. Bush was ahead of Democrat Al Gore after the initial count by 1,784 votes. After a mandatory statewide recount his lead was cut to 327.[126] After military and overseas ballots were added in, his lead increased to 930.[127] An additional hand recount was halted by the United States Supreme Court which resulted in the certified margin. Florida was the tipping point state for Bush's presidential victory.
2001		Italian Senate	Marino	0.00929%	14	62,330	Olive Tree candidate Severino Lavagnini [it] was elected but the defeated House of Freedoms candidate won a seat via levelling seats.
1982		New Hampshire Senate	District 8	0.00934%	1	5,352	Incumbent George Wiggins (R) defeated Fred Belair (D) by 1 vote.[128]
2010		United Kingdom general	Fermanagh and South Tyrone	0.00939%	4	21,304	Michelle Gildernew (Sinn Féin) defeated independent Rodney Connor.[129]
2022		Connecticut House of Representatives	District 81	0.00944%	1	10,593	Democrat Chris Poulos defeated Republican Tony Morrison by 1 vote.[130]
2022		California State Senate	District 16	0.009495%	13	68,461	Democratic incumbent Melissa Hurtado defeated Republican David Shepard by 13 votes.[131]
1970		Missouri House of Representatives	District 116	0.01037%	1	4,819	Both the initial count and a recount showed that incumbent Gus Salley (R-Warsaw) had defeated Morran D. Harris (D-Osceola), though a clerical error cost Salley 100 votes, indicating the real result was not nearly as close.[1] Harris brought the case to the House Election Committee to decide, but they chose not to overturn the results.[132]
1832		United States presidential	Maryland	0.01044%	4	19,160	National Republican Henry Clay carried Maryland by four votes over Democratic President Andrew Jackson, but this is trivial since all of the electors were chosen based on the outcome in four districts. Had Jackson won the statewide vote it wouldn't have changed the electoral college vote.[133]
1910		United Kingdom general	Exeter	0.0105%	1	4,777	Henry Duke (Conservative), the incumbent at the time of the general election, re-gained the seat from Harold St Maur (Liberal) on an election petition in 1911. The court changed the original result (under which the Liberal had won by four votes). The revised result was the smallest numerical majority in a UK Parliamentary election in the twentieth century.[134]
2015		Mississippi House of Representatives	District 79	0.0109%	1	4,585	After Democratic incumbent Blaine Eaton tied Republican Mark Tullos with 4,589 votes each, he won re-election by drawing the long straw.[135] However, Tullos asked the State House to review the results, which they did, resulting in them throwing out five affidavit ballots for Eaton. The ballots were cast by people who had moved within 30 days prior to the election and hadn't updated their address. The vote that seated Tullos was largely a party-line vote and gave Republicans a super-majority.[136] Which five ballots were invalidated was never publicly stated, but they were all for Eaton and so the committee stopped evaluation the votes because even if the other four were for Tullos and also invalid, Tullos would still win by 1 vote. The final official count is unknown, and the count here is based on that decision.[137]
2022		Arizona general	Arizona Attorney General	0.01116%	280	1,254,809	Democrat Kris Mayes originally defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh by 511 votes, but after a recount, her lead narrowed to 280 votes.[138]
2001		Cape Verdean presidential	President of Cape Verde	0.0112%	17	75,828[139]	Pedro Pires (African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde) defeated Carlos Veiga (Movement for Democracy) in the second round of the election after neither won more than 50% in the first round.[140]
1924		United Kingdom general	Leeds, West	0.0114%	3	13,057	Labour Party candidate Thomas Stamford defeated Conservative Party candidate A.F.G. Renton 13,057–13,054. This was the lowest margin of victory in a Leeds parliamentary election.[141]
1908		United States House of Representatives	Massachusetts's 10th District	0.0121%	4	16,533[142]	Representative Joseph F. O'Connell, a Democrat, defeated J. Mitchel Galvin, a Republican, by four votes, 16,553 to 16,549.[143] The record does not disclose the official returns, but a recount before a bipartisan board under the laws of Massachusetts gave O'Connell 16,553 votes, Galvin 16,549 votes, and two other candidates 1,380 and 1,187 votes, respectively, a plurality of 4 votes for Galvin, the sitting Member.[144]
1923		United Kingdom general	Devon, Tiverton	0.0122%	3	12,303	Liberal Party incumbent Francis Dyke Acland defeated Conservative Party candidate Gilbert John Acland-Troyte 12,303–12,300. Acland had also defeated Acland-Troyte in the by-election earlier that same year, but Acland-Troyte would defeat Acland in 1924.[145]
1972		Canadian federal	Ontario	0.0123%	4	16,328	Liberal incumbent Norman Cafik defeated Progressive Conservative Frank Charles McGee.[146] A PC win in this district would have resulted in a 108–108 tie with the Liberals in the overall seat count.
2006		Hungarian general election	District 8 of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county	0.01263%	3	11,871[147]	Socialist candidate Nándor Gúr defeated incumbent, conservative, Fidesz-candidate Oszkár Molnár by 9 votes. At Molnár's request, the Court decided to recount the votes and Gúr finally won by three votes.[148]
2018		Italian Chamber of Deputies	Guidonia Montecelio	0.01269%	19	55,360	M5S candidate Sebastiano Cubeddu [it] defeated CDX candidate Barbara Saltamartini.
2008		United States Senate	Minnesota	0.01287%	312	1,212,629	After the first count, Norm Coleman edged out Al Franken by 215 votes, but following a state mandated recount, Al Franken defeated Norm Coleman by 225.[149] Coleman contested the recount, after which Franken's lead grew to 312. After the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected Coleman's appeals, he conceded the race to Franken on June 30, 2009, 238 days after the election.[150]
1929		United Kingdom general	Cheshire, Northwich	0.01292%	4	15,477	In this three-way race, Conservative Party incumbent Lord Colum Crichton-Stuart defeated Labour Party candidate Mrs. Barbara Ayrton-Gould 15,477–15,473. Chrichton-Stuart also defeated Mrs. Gould in 1924 and 1931.[151]
1994		United States House of Representatives	Connecticut's 2nd district	0.0133%	21	79,188	In this three-way race between Democrat Sam Gejdenson, Republican Edward Munster, and Connecticut Party candidate David Bingham, the initial official tally was 79,169–79,167–27,729 (186,065 total votes).[152] Following a recount, Gejdenson and Munster were 79,160–79,156 with 186,030 total votes cast. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled instead that the correct final tally was 79,188–79,167, awarding the seat to Gejdenson.[153] (However the Court did not mention what the correct total number of votes cast was.) Munster originally contested the election in the Republican-controlled House, but withdrew his contest citing the expense and time it would take.[154]
1964		Selangor State Legislative Assembly	Kepong	0.0134%	2	7,487	Tan Chee Khoon, president of the Labour Party of Selangor, defeated the incumbent Chan Keong Hon of the Malaysian Chinese Association by two votes.[155] At the time Chan was a member of the state executive council.
2016		Vermont Senate Democratic Primary	Washington County District	0.0135%	1	3,709	Superior Court Judge Timothy Tomasi determined that Francis K. Brooks defeated fourth-place finisher Ashley Hill by one vote in the Democratic primary for the three-member at-large Washington County district, 3,709 to 3,708.[156] The victory hinged on a disputed ballot from Worcester that Tomasi determined contained a vote for Brooks, but not one for Hill.[156] Brooks went on to finish third in the general election that fall, unseating longtime incumbent Republican Bill Doyle by 191 votes.[157]
1968		South Australian House of Assembly	Seat of Millicent	0.0138%	1	3,635[158]	On 2 March 1968, Martin Cameron contested the seat of Millicent for the House of Assembly, standing against the sitting member, and minister in the Labor Cabinet, Des Corcoran. Narrowly losing the seat by one vote (3635–3634), the Liberal and Country League challenged the decision and the election was referred to the South Australian Court of Disputed Returns. The court ordered a by-election, which was held on 22 June. This was won comfortably by Corcoran (3994–3564), the Dunstan-led Australian Labor Party running the campaign on electoral reform.[159]
1930		Canadian federal	Yamaska	0.0143%	1	3,505	Liberal incumbent Aimé Boucher defeated Conservative Paul-François Comtois.[160] The riding result was later declared void, and Boucher won the by-election in 1933 by 84 votes (0.1%).
1968		Canadian federal	Leeds	0.01478%	4	13,536	Progressive Conservative Desmond Code defeated Liberal incumbent John Matheson.[161]
1945		United Kingdom general	Worcester	0.01479%	4	13,523	In this three-way race, Conservative Party candidate George Ward defeated Labour Party/Co-operative Party candidate J. Evans 13,523–13,519.[162]
2020		Queensland Legislative Assembly	Bundaberg	0.0148%	9	30,287	Australian Labor Party candidate Tom Smith won the seat, unseating Liberal National Party MP David Batt, by just 9 votes, after distribution of minor candidate preferences. The margin had been initially reported as 11 votes, but was reduced to 9 votes after a formal recount.[163]
1946		Philippine Senate	At-large	0.0149%	384	557,156	The Philippine Senate is elected via multiple non-transferable vote. The 8th placed candidate, Salipada Pendatun of the Liberal Party, edged out partymate Prospero Sanidad to win out the last Senate seat. Sanidad later won an election protest to enter the Senate.
1949		Canadian federal	Annapolis—Kings	0.0152%	4	13,202	Liberal Angus Alexander Elderkin defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent George Nowlan.[164]
2020		Florida State Senate	District 37	0.01529%	32	104,630	After the initial tally, challenger Ileana Garcia led incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez by 21 votes. An automatic hand recount extended that lead to 32 votes. The race was marred by fraud as a 3rd party candidate, also with the last name Rodriquez, received more than 6000 votes after being funded by a mysterious donor who funded an ad campaign that seemed designed to confuse voters.[165] A few months after the election the candidate, Alex Rodríguez, pleaded guilty to accepting illegal campaign donations and lying on campaign documents and agreed to testify against former Sen. Frank Artiles who had been charged with felony campaign fraud charges in March 2021.[166]
1968		Wisconsin House of Representatives	District 25	0.01533%	2	6,523	Official count showed a margin of 3 vote for Joseph L. Looby (D) over Wilmer R. Waters (R), but it was 1 after a recount. A case was filed with the circuit court, where the judge declared the margin was two votes. An election committee investigated, but could make no proclamation of the true margin. After Waters appealed to the Republican controlled assembly, it voted unanimously to seat Looby.[1][167]
2002		Connecticut House of Representatives	District 65	0.0155%	1	3,236	Republican Anne Ruwet defeated Democrat John S. Kovaleski by one vote (3,236–3,235).[168]
1922		United States House of Representatives	New York's 21st District	0.0156%	10	32,089	Sitting Member Royal H. Weller had been returned by an official plurality of 245 votes, which the contestant Martin C. Ansorge contested. Following a recount, the tally was 32,089–32,079 and Weller was declared elected.[169]
1964		United Kingdom general	Brighton Kemptown	0.0157%	7	22,308	Labour Party challenger Dennis Hobden defeated incumbent Conservative Party David James 22,308–22,301.[170]
2022		2022 North Carolina state legislature Republican primary	North Carolina House of Representatives District 115	0.0159%	1	3,146	After a hand-eye recount that added one vote to his total, Pratik Bhakta defeated Sherry M. Higgins.[171]
1870		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 4th District	0.0159%	4	12,561	Republican Jeremiah M. Wilson defeated Democrat David S. Gooding by 4 votes: 12561–12557.[172] Gooding contested. The Committee's majority report gave Wilson a "clear legal majority of 8", while the minority report gave Gooding a majority of 17. The US House then voted 105–64 (71 abstentions) "on strictly party lines" to reject the minority report, accept the majority report, and thereby seat Wilson.[173][174][175]
1950		Maryland Senate	Garrett County	0.0162%	1	3,080	Republican incumbent Neil C. Fraley defeated Democratic challenger Bernard I. Gonder by one vote: 3,080–3,079.[176][177][178][179] Gonder contested the result but to no avail.[180]
1983		United Kingdom general	Leicester South	0.0163%	7	21,424	Conservative Party challenger Derek Spencer defeated Labour Party incumbent Jim Marshall 21,424–21,417.
2004		Kelantan State Legislative Assembly	Kemuning	0.01646%	2	6,078	The Kemuning state constituency was shifted east in the 2004 redelineation, absorbing most of the abolished Banggol Judah constituency. Incumbent Banggol Judah assemblyman Zakaria Yaacob retained the seat for PAS by two votes against UMNO candidate Wan Mohamad Zin Mat Amin, 6,078–6,076. Crucially, this allowed PAS to maintain control of the Kelantan assembly throughout the term as it won 24 seats to UMNO's 22, and UMNO subsequently cut PAS' margin to one seat by winning the 2005 Pengkalan Pasir by-election.
1988		Canadian federal	London—Middlesex	0.0165%	8	18,534	Progressive Conservative MP Terry Clifford narrowly edged out Liberal Garnet Bloomfield.[181]
2005		Virginia General	Virginia Attorney General	0.01663%	323	970,886	Bob McDonnell was certified as the victor over Creigh Deeds following a recount.[182]
1988		Massachusetts Governor's Council Democratic Primary	3rd District	0.0170%	5	14,709	In the recount, Robert B. Kennedy led Herbert Connolly by one vote: 14,716–14,715.[183] (Connolly had actually failed to vote for himself.)[184] In the recount, Kennedy again led by one vote: 14,691–14,690. Connolly contested the result. The Supreme Judicial Court considered 116 contested votes and decided ultimately that Kennedy won by five votes: 14,709–14,704.[185]
1829		United States House of Representatives	Kentucky's 2nd District	0.0179%	1	5,591	Jacksonsian candidate Nicholas D. Coleman defeated Adams candidate Adam Beatty 2520–2519.[186]
2018		Pakistani general	Mardan-II	0.0181%	35	78,911	Awami National Party's Ameer Haider Hoti defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's Atif Khan 78,911-78,876.[187]
2011		Canadian federal	Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup	0.0189%	9	17,285	Conservative incumbent Bernard Généreux was initially declared the winner by 311 votes. Subsequently, the returning officer determined that approximately 300 votes for the New Democratic candidate, François Lapointe, had been allocated to the Green Party candidate in error. After the correction, Lapointe was declared elected by 5 votes, prompting an automatic judicial recount. As a result of this recount, Lapointe was confirmed as the victor over Généreux by 9 votes, 17,285-17,276.[188]
1936		United States House of Representatives	New Hampshire's 1st District	0.0193%	20	51,702	After the initial count, Republican Arthur B. Jenks was declared the winner by 550 votes, however a recount left the vote tied at 51,690 votes each. Both parties contested ballots, 108 in total, to the state ballot-law commission which after ruling on each determined that Alphonse Roy had won 51,695-51,678. After those hearings were over, Jenks argued that there was a 36 ballot discrepancy between those cast and those counted in Newton. The ballot-law commission called for another recount, finding the count was now 51,702 to 51,678, but also that 34 ballots were missing and that they should be awarded to Jenks making him the winner by 10 votes. Roy contested, and though Jenks wasn't sworn in until 2 days after Congress met, he did take office. During Roy's contest the majority of the Committee on Elections found that though there was a discrepancy between the ballots and the tally sheet, there was no evidence that any ballots had disappeared due to fraud or mistake and that in such a conflict the ballots should be considered the best evidence of the votes cast; and they found that four additional ballots should be awarded to Jenks raising his total to 51,682. The minority of the committee argued that they could establish both by testimony and the tally sheets that more people had voted in Newton than there were ballots to count; that in every race in Newton Republicans had lost 34 votes in the recount and Democrats had lost zero; and that the number of ballots (used and unused) returned to the state was 34 lower than what was sent. In the end the Democratically-controlled House decided to accept the majority's position, and on June 9, 1938 Jenks was removed from office and Roy was seated. Jenks then won election five months later and served until 1943.[189][190]
2003		Somaliland presidential	President of Somaliland	0.0195%	80	205,595	Dahir Riyale Kahin, of the For Unity, Democracy, and Independence party narrowly defeated the Peace, Unity, and Development Party's Ahmed M. Mahamoud Silanyo in a three-way race.[191][unreliable source?]
1974		United Kingdom general	Bodmin	0.0196%	9	20,283	Liberal challenger Paul Tyler defeated Conservative Party incumbent Robert Hicks 20,283–20,274.[192]
2001		Italian Senate	Rome Centre	0.0196%	29	68,773	House of Freedoms candidate Giulio Maceratini was elected but the defeated The Olive Tree Tana De Zulueta candidate won a seat via levelling seats.
2006		Oklahoma House of Representatives	District 25	0.0208%	2	4,798	Initially Democrat Darrel Nemecek beat Republican Todd Thomsen by two votes for the Oklahoma House of Representatives seat in its 25th district. But during the recount, a Hughes County judge threw out four votes for Nemecek when it was discovered the voters who cast the contested ballots were not registered to vote in the district. Though Nemecek argued that the straight-party option was confusing and voter intent was clear on some ballots that were not counted for him, Thomsen was declared the winner and sworn in.[193][194][195]
2004		Commonwealth's Attorney Special Election	Radford District	0.0211%	1	2,375	Chris E. Rehak defeated Patrick Moore by 1 vote, and a recount didn't change the margin.[196]
1820		United States House of Representatives	Maryland's 6th District	0.02136%	1	2,341	The race for Maryland's 6th District House Seat was originally declared a tie, and so the Governor and Council of Maryland – in what they thought was accordance of the law – decided to seat Jeremiah Cosden. Phillip Reed, who like Cosden was a Democratic-Republican, contested the election. The House decided that the Governor and Council were not allowed to choose a winner; that two votes for Reed that were excluded ought to count and that one that was counted for him was illegal. As a result Cosden, who had been seated for 15 days, was removed and Reed was seated for the remainder of the term.[45][197]
2021		United States House of Representatives Democratic Primary	Florida's 20th District	0.02144%	5	11,662	In the Democratic primary for the chance to replace Alcee Hastings who had died in April, healthcare executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick defeated Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness by just 5 votes. The election day results had Cherfilus-McCormick ahead by 12 votes, but a recount narrowed that lead to 5.[198]
1896		Canadian federal	Ontario North	0.0215%	1	2,328	Liberal-Conservative John Alexander McGillivray defeated Patrons of Industry Duncan Graham.[50]
2022		New York State Assembly	New York's 99th State Assembly district	0.021575%	8	18,539	Democrat Chris Eachus defeated Republican Kathryn Luciani by 8 votes following a hand recount.[199]
1900		Canadian federal	Selkirk	0.0230%	1	2,172	Liberal William Forsythe McCreary defeated Conservative John Herber Haslam.[200] This was the second time in a row that a Liberal candidate defeated his Conservative rival in this riding by a single vote.
1904		United States presidential	Maryland	0.0233%	51	109,497	Republican President Theodore Roosevelt barely carried Maryland over Democrat Alton Parker on his way to an electoral landslide.[201]
1970		United Kingdom general	Ipswich	0.0234%	13	27,704	Conservative Party challenger Ernle Money defeated Labour Party incumbent Dingle Foot 27,704–27,691.[202]
1959		United Kingdom general	South East Derbyshire	0.0236%	12	25,374	Conservative Party challenger John Jackson defeated Labour Party incumbent Arthur Champion 25,374–25,362.[203]
2010		Texas House of Representatives	District 48	0.02398%	12	25,023	Election Day results gave Democrat Donna Howard a 16 vote victory. Following a recount, that lead was cut to 12 votes. Republican Dan Neil requested the election by investigated by the House of Representatives.[204] After a four-day hearing headed up by Representative Will Hartnett, Howard was found to have won the election by 4 votes and Neil ultimately dropped the contest.[204] The Secretary of State still reports an official margin of 12 votes.[205]
1964		United Kingdom general	Reading	0.02402%	10	20,815	Conservative Party incumbent Peter Emery defeated Labour Party challenger John Lee 20,815–20,810. Lee would later defeat Emery in 1966.[206]
1822		United States House of Representatives	New York's 29th District	0.0241%	1	2,072	Initially, Isaac Wilson and Parmenio Adams had 2,093–2,077 votes. On a recount, the tally changed to 2,071–2,072. There were also irregularities raised. The committee of elections considered it "doubtful, from the evidence, who ought to have been returned". The House then voted 116–85 to seat Adams.[207]
2021		Canadian federal	Châteauguay—Lacolle	0.02412%	12	18,029	Liberal incumbent Brenda Shanahan Defeats Bloc Québécois candidate Patrick O'Hara after a recount.
1900		Canadian federal	Bruce North	0.02418%	1	2,065	Liberal-Conservative incumbent Alexander McNeill defeated Liberal J. E. Campbell.[200] Later the election was voided.
2022		Italian Chamber of Deputies	Ravenna	0.02419%	44	75,596	CDX candidate Alice Buonguerrieri [it] defeated CSX candidate Ouidad Bakkali [it].
1964		United Kingdom general	Eton and Slough	0.024255%	11	22,681	Conservative Party challenger Anthony Meyer defeated Labour Party incumbent Fenner Brockway 22,681–22,670.[208]
2024		Brandenburg state election	Spree-Neiße I	0.025153%	7	11,562	Incumbent minister president Dietmar Woidke barely loses his constituency.[209]
1923		United Kingdom general	Durham, Sedgefield	0.0252%	6	11,093	Conservative Party challenger Leonard Ropner defeated Labour Party incumbent John Herriotts 11,093–11,087.[210]
2016		New York Senate	8th District	0.0256%	33	64,499	John Brooks secured a spot in the State Senate by defeating incumbent Republican Michael Venditto.[211]
1980		Utah House of Representatives	District 44	0.0259%	1	1,931	A recount gave Republican Bob Curran a 1-vote victory over the incumbent Democrat Jen Patterson, after leading by 2 votes following the official canvass.[1][212]
1914		Australian House of Representatives	Werriwa	0.0266%	7	13,162	John Lynch defeated the sitting member Alfred Conroy by seven votes.[79]
1930		Canadian federal	Norfolk—Elgin	0.0266%	5	9,424	Liberal William H. Taylor defeated Conservative John Lawrence Stansell.[160]
1832		United States House of Representatives	Ohio's 7th District	0.02675%	2	3,739	William Allen (later 31st Governor of Ohio) defeated General and 11th Governor of Ohio Duncan McArthur by two votes: 3739–3737.[213] According to Niles' National Register, a third candidate by the name of Murphy also won 55 votes.[214]
1899		New Zealand House of Representatives	Riccarton	0.02678%	1	1,867	Incumbent MP William Rolleston lost his seat to Liberal challenger George Warren Russell after a margin of only 1 vote separated the two on the final count.[215]
1876		United States House of Representatives	Massachusetts' 3rd District	0.0268%	5	9,313[216] (depending on which count use)	After much investigation, the Committee of Elections gave Walbridge Field the 5-vote majority over Benjamin Dean.
1970		Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Primary	14th Essex	0.02722%	3	5,513	In a 3-way race, Edward J. Grimley, Jr. topped Gerard A. Guilmette by 3 votes, but Guilmette ran in the general and topped him by 2.2%. The two would meet again in both the 1972 primary and general with Grimley winning both, also in close races. Guilmette would then serve two terms representing 25th Essex.[217]
1970		Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Primary	17th Worcester	0.02723%	2	3,674	Andrew Collaro defeated Robert J. Bohigian, but then Bohigian defeated him by 900+ votes in the general. Collaro and Bohigian would repeat this process in 1972 and then Collaro would represent 22nd and 15th Worcester from 1974 to 1992. Bohigian would serve until he lost re-election in 1990.[218]
2017		French legislative (2nd round)	Loiret's 4th constituency	0.0275%	8	14,561	Four-term incumbent Jean-Pierre Door of The Republicans (LR) narrowly defeated Mélusine Harlé of La République En Marche! by 8 votes in the second round. Harlé filed an appealed the result to the Constitutional Council,[219] which annulled the election on 18 December 2017 due to the number of ballots not corresponding to the number of signatures in one commune and the improper dissemination of electoral materials which was considered sufficient to potentially have altered the result of the election.[220] Door won the seat in a 2018 election.
1843		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 7th District	0.0276%	3	5,441	Democrat Joseph A. Wright defeated Whig Edward W. McGaughey 5,441–5,438.[221]
2022		New Hampshire House of Representatives	Hillsborough 16 District	0.0278%	1	1,799	After initially being behind by 23 votes, Democrat Maxine Mosley defeated Republican Larry Gagne by 1 vote after a recount.[222]
2007		Australian federal	Division of McEwen	0.02794%	31	48,339	Liberal Fran Bailey defeated Labor Rob Mitchell following a recount and court challenge.[223][224]
1891		Canadian federal	Wentworth South	0.02821%	1	1,773	Conservative Franklin Carpenter defeated Liberal James T. Russell.[225]
1914		United States House of Representatives	New York's 1st District	0.02822%	10	17,726	Initial election returns handed Republican Frederick C. Hicks, a 15 vote win over Representative Lathrop Brown, a Democrat. A review of ballots by the New York Supreme Court took more than a year and when it was completed the lead was cut to four votes, 17,726 to 17,722.[143][226] A review by the Court of Appeals changed the plurality to 10 votes. Hicks was issued a certificate of election on December 21, 1915 – more than 13 months after he election, making this one of the longest in the history of the House. Brown contested the election, arguing that there were errors made by the inspectors (and that some precinct workers were drunk on election day), but the House found that they could not review the ballots unless the returns had been discredited, which they had not.[227]
1970		Rhode Island House of Representatives	District 26	0.0284%	1	1,760	After recounts, Democrat John F. Hagan beat the Republican nominee Benedetto A. Cerilli.[1][228]
1997		United Kingdom general	Torbay	0.0285%	12	21,094	Liberal Democrat candidate Adrian Sanders gained the seat from the sitting Conservative MP Rupert Allason.[229]
1887		Canadian federal	Haldimand	0.02865%	1	1,746	Conservative Walter Humphries Montague defeated Liberal incumbent Charles Wesley Colter.[49]
1896		Canadian federal	Selkirk	0.02920%	1	1,713	Liberal John Alexander MacDonell defeated Conservative Hugh Armstrong.[50]
1979		Virginia Senate	District 37	0.0293%	9	15,379	Madison Marye (D) defeated Edwin E. Stone (R) by 20 votes and a December 4, 1979 narrowed the margin to 9.[230]
1935		Canadian federal	Vancouver—Burrard	0.0294%	6	10,215	Liberal Gerald Grattan McGeer defeated Co-operative Commonwealth candidate Arnold Alexander Webster by 6 votes.[231]
2016		Philippine House of Representatives	Northern Samar's 1st District	0.02951%	47	80,157	Liberal incumbent Raul Daza defeated Nacionalista Harlin Abayon in a rematch of the 2013 election where Abayon won by 52 votes. Daza won against Abayon's protest in the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.[232]
2020		Vanuatuan general election	Banks	0.0300%	1	1,091	Danny Silas defeated Jack Wona by 1 vote.
2004		Philippine Senate	At-large	0.0301%	10,685	10,635,270	The Philippine Senate is elected via multiple non-transferable vote. The 12th placed candidate, Rodolfo Biazon of the Lakas, edged out partymate Robert Barbers to win out the last Senate seat.
1912		United States presidential	California	0.0307%	174	283,610	Former President Theodore Roosevelt, running on the Republican and Progressive ballot lines in California (Republican President William Howard Taft was not on the ballot in the state, although he did receive 3,914 write-in votes), narrowly edged out Democrat Woodrow Wilson in California, but Wilson won a landslide in the Electoral College due to divided Republican opposition.[233]
1998		New Hampshire Senate	District 16	0.0318%	5	7,867	Patricia Krueger (R) defeated Stephen DeStefano (D) by 16 votes. Following a recount that was narrowed to 7. DeStefano appealed the recount but the count was only changed by 2 votes.[234]
1945		United Kingdom general	Manchester, Rusholme	0.0324%	10	15,408	Labour Party candidate (unofficial) Hugh Lester Hutchinson defeated Conservative Party incumbent Frederick William Cundiff 15,408–15,398.[235]
1976		United States House of Representatives Democratic Primary	Massachusetts's 1st District	0.0330%	13	19,694	Edward McColgan beat Edward O'Brien and then lost the general election.[236]
1917		Australian House of Representatives	Macquarie	0.0331%	9	13,566	Samuel Nicholls defeated the sitting member Ernest Carr by nine votes.[79]
1935		Canadian federal	Souris	0.0333%	3	4,504	Liberal-Progressive George William McDonald defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent Errick French Willis.[231]
2011		New Zealand general	Waitakere	0.0334%	9	13,465	National incumbent Paula Bennett retained her seat over Labour challenger Carmel Sepuloni after a judicial recount was requested by Bennett. The original official result had Sepuloni winning with a margin of 11 votes.[237][238]
1929		United Kingdom general	Birmingham Ladywood	0.0335%	11	16,447	Labour Party candidate Wilfred Whiteley defeated Conservative Party candidate Geoffrey Lloyd 16,447–16,436.[239]
2011		Scottish Parliament	Glasgow Anniesland	0.0339%	7	10,329	Incumbent Labour MSP Bill Butler was defeated by Bill Kidd of the Scottish National Party (SNP).[240]
1964		United Kingdom general	Preston North	0.0340%	14	20,566	Conservative Party incumbent Julian Amery defeated Labour Party challenger Russell Kerr 20,566–20,552.[206]
2016		Jamaican general	Saint Mary South Eastern	0.0341%	5	7,324	People's National Party incumbent Winston Green defeated Jamaica Labour Party challenger Norman Alexander Dunn 7,324–7,319.[241]
2006		United States House of Representatives	Connecticut's 2nd District	0.0342%	83	121,248	Democratic challenger Joe Courtney was up 167 votes on Republican incumbent Rob Simmons after the initial vote.[242] On the recount, Courtney remained the victor by 83 votes: 121,248–121,165.[243]
1955		Virginia House of Delegates	District 55	0.0346%	2	2,891	John A. Mackenzie (D) defeated William J. Moody (D)[244]
2020		United States House of Representatives	New York's 22nd District	0.0349%	109	156,098	Republican Claudia Tenney, after a lengthy set of recounts and court cases, defeated Anthony Brindisi by 109 votes in a race that wasn't decided until early February. When the polls initially closed, Tenney held a large 28,422-vote lead based on the in-person vote. But as mail-in ballots poured in, her lead dwindled to 12 votes. As the courts reviewed ballots the lead grew and shrank until a judge ruled the race over and that Tenney should be certified. With appeals still pending, Brindisi conceded and dropped all legal challenges on February 8, 2021.[245]
2015		Córdoba Legislature	Pocho Department	0.03546%	1	1,106	Hugo Cuello (Union for Córdoba) won the seat for the Pocho Department by 1,106 votes against Raúl Recalde (Together for Córdoba) 1,105 votes.
1978		New Hampshire Senate Republican Primary	District 14	0.03560%	3	4,215	Incumbent Thomas J. Claveau (D) defeated Phyllis Keeney (R).[246]
1922		United States House of Representatives	Illinois' 6th District	0.03564%	42	58,928	Democrat James R. Buckley defeated incumbent Republican John J. Gorman by 42 votes. Gorman contested the election on the basis that there were many errors, mistakes, and irregularities and a recount would show he had won. However Gorman failed to submit his evidence within the 30 days required and therefore had no standing. In a rematch in 1924, Gorman regained his seat.[247]
1964		United States Senate	Nevada	0.03565%	48	67,336	Democratic incumbent Howard Cannon defeated Republican Paul Laxalt.[248]
2013		Philippine House of Representatives	Northern Samar's 1st District	0.03569%	52	72,857	Nacionalista Harlin Abayon defeated Liberal incumbent Raul Daza. Daza won on a recount by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and replaced Abayon, but Abayon won an appeal in the Supreme Court. Abayon was still not seated in the last day of the 16th Congress.[249]
1945		Canadian federal	Colchester—Hants	0.0357%	8	11,141	Progressive Conservative Frank Stanfield defeated Liberal incumbent Gordon Timlin Purdy.[250]
1982		Maine House of Representatives	District 69	0.03606%	1	1,387	Unofficial counts said it was tied, but all subsequent counts were 1,387–1,386[1] Winner was Walter R. Sherburne.
1916		United States House of Representatives	North Carolina's 10th District	0.03611%	13	18,008	When ballots were originally canvassed, James J. Britt held a scant 13 vote lead over challenger Zebulon Weaver. However, Buncombe County decided to accept 90 unmarked ballots (ballots that were printed as either Republican or Democratic ballots) and those ballots gave Weaver an 8 vote lead. Weaver was certified and provisionally seated while Britt contested the election. The House found in his favor, but by the time he was sworn in there was only 4 days remaining in his term.[251]
1990		Ohio general	Ohio Attorney General	0.03672%	1,234	1,680,698	Democratic candidate Lee Fisher defeated Republican Paul Pfeifer after a six-week recount, earning him the ironic nickname "Landslide Lee".[252]
2000		Canadian federal	Champlain	0.03674%	15	20,423	Bloc Québécois candidate Marcel Gagnon narrowly edged out Liberal Julie Boulet.[253]
1859		United States House of Representatives	Tennessee's 9th District	0.0371%	7	9,437	Emerson Etheridge defeated Democrat John DeWitt Clinton Atkins, 9,437–9,430.[254][255]
1922		United Kingdom general	Manchester, Clayton	0.0372%	11	14,800	Conservative Party candidate William Henry Flanagan defeated Labour Party candidate John Edward Sutton, 14,800–14,789.[256] Sutton had beaten Flanagan in the by-election earlier that year.
2018		Victoria Legislative Assembly	Electoral district of Ripon	0.03745%	15	20,035	Incumbent Louise Staley of the Liberal Party defeated Sarah de Santis of the Labor Party [257]
2018		Alaska House of Representatives	District 1	0.03755%	1	2,663	Republican nominee Bart LeBon defeated Democrat Kathryn Dodge 2,663-2,662 following a recount and a state supreme court challenge.[258][259] Dodge challenged the findings of the Division of Elections on three ballots, two that were counted and one that was not, but the Supreme Court upheld the count and Dodge conceded. The race decided control of the Alaska House of Representatives, technically giving Republicans a majority, but due to defections created a 20–20 tie instead of Democratic control.[260] After weeks of deadlock, Bryce Edgmon (who originally won his seat with a coin toss) switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Independent and was re-elected Speaker and several committees were set up with bipartisan leadership.
1951		United Kingdom general	Belfast West	0.03769%	25	33,174	Irish Labour candidate Jack Beattie defeated UUP incumbent Thomas Teevan, 33,174–33,149.[261]
1968		Canadian federal	Comox—Alberni	0.03771%	9	11,939	Liberal Richard Durante defeated New Democratic incumbent Thomas Speakman Barnett.[161] The result was later declared void and Durante lost the by-election to Barnett in 1969.
1935		United Kingdom general	Kingswinford	0.0382%	16	20,925	Labour Party challenger Arthur Henderson defeated Conservative Party incumbent Alan Livesey Stuart Todd, 20,925–20,909.[262]
1896		Canadian federal	York East	0.03841%	1	3,907	Independent Conservative incumbent William F. McLean defeated Liberal Henry R. Frankland.[50] F
2008		Canadian federal	Kitchener—Waterloo	0.0390%	17	21,830	Conservative Peter Braid defeated Liberal Andrew Telegdi after a recount.[263]
1828		United States House of Representatives	New York's 20th District	0.03917%	7	8,939	In 1828, the 20th district had two representatives and all candidates ran in one race. Jacksonian Silas Wright, Jr. finished in 3rd place, 7 votes behind Adams-supporter George Fisher. Wright contested the outcome and a House investigation found that 130 votes for Wright had not been returned for him because of mistakes by election officials. The House removed Fisher, who did not object to the outcome and resigned, and gave the seat to Wright. Wright in the meantime had been elected state comptroller and so he refused to qualify for the seat, which was later filled by a special election.[264][265]
1992		United Kingdom general	Vale of Glamorgan	0.03923%	19	24,220	Conservative Party challenger Walter Sweeney defeated Labour Party incumbent John William Patrick Smith, 24,220–24,201. Smith would beat Sweeney in 1997.[266]
2008		Alaska House of Representatives	District 7	0.0398%	4	5,024	Incumbent Republican Mike Kelly defeated Democratic challenger Karl Kassel, 5,024–5,020, following a recount.[267][268][269]
1990		Illinois House of Representatives	55th district	0.0406%	6	7,392	Initially, Rosemary Mulligan and Penny Pullen were certified as having 7,431–7,400 votes and Mulligan was declared the winner. The trial court ordered a recount that then had them tied at 7,387–7,387. The Illinois Compiled Statutes required that ties be resolved by lot.[270] Mulligan won the coin flip and was declared the winner by the trial court. Pullen then appealed, and the Illinois Supreme Court decided that the correct vote count was 7,392–7,386, with Pullen declared the winner. Two years later Mulligan took another swing at the seat, and defeated Pullen in a race so close it also required a recount.[271]
1991		Virginia House of Delegates	District 58	0.0408%	7	8,561	C. Timothy Lindstrom (D) was originally declared the winner, but later it was discovered that election officials in Greene County misread a "9" as a "0" and Peter Way (R) went on to win the election.[272][273]
2013		Virginia General	Virginia Attorney General	0.0411%	907	1,105,045	Democratic candidate Mark Herring defeated Republican candidate Mark Obenshain. The initial count was 1,103,777–1,103–612—a 165 or 0.01% margin. The recount was 1,105,045–1,104,138 — a 907 or 0.04% margin.
1994		Massachusetts Governor's Council Democratic Primary	4th District	0.0420%	26	30,989	Christopher A. Iannella, Jr. defeated John J. Kerrigan. Iannella won the general unopposed.[274]
1870		United States House of Representatives	South Carolina's At-large District (unrecognized)	0.0425%	61	71,803	South Carolina was readmitted to Congress in 1868, after passage of the 14th Amendment. That amendment ended the three-fifths rule effectively raising the population of states that once had slavery. As a result, South Carolina and other slave states tried to seat extra members of Congress. South Carolina choose two additional congress members during at-large election. In one of those, Johann Peter Martin Epping defeated Lucius W. Wimbush by 61 votes: 71,803–71,742. But the House refused to seat him and the other at-large winner. "A number of southern states upon readmission claimed that since their slaves were emancipated, they were entitled to larger delegations in the House. Epping's election falls in this category. The claims were rejected by the House."[275][276][277][278]
1995		Queensland Legislative Assembly	Mundingburra	0.04301%	16	18,600	General election saw return of Australian Labor Party MP Ken Davies over his Liberal Party rival, Frank Tanti, after distribution of preferences of minor candidates, by just 16 votes. However due to the non-arrival of some overseas military ballots, a Court of Disputed Returns required a fresh election, at which Tanti won. As this seat was the difference between a Labor Party majority and a Liberal Party supported by an Independent MP, the overturning of the result was a rare example of the fate of an entire government resting on a challenge to an ultra-close constituency.
2014		Parliament of South Australia	Fisher state by-election	0.04371%	9	10,299	By-election caused by the death of sitting independent MP Bob Such. The Australian Labor Party candidate Nat Cook beat the Liberal Party candidate, Heidi Harris, by 9 votes.[279]
1974		Canadian federal	Drummond	0.0447%	13	14,561	Liberal Yvon Pinard defeated Social Credit incumbent Jean-Marie Boisvert.[280]
1979		Canadian federal	Halifax	0.0453%	15	16,570	Progressive Conservative George Cooper defeated Liberal Brian Flemming.[281]
2006		Vermont Auditor of Accounts	Vermont Auditor of Accounts	0.0456%	102	111,770	The initial count gave the victory to Randy Brock (R) by 137 votes, but after a recount, Thomas M. Salmon (D) was declared the winner by just 102 votes. The final tally gave Salmon 111,770 votes and Republican Brock 111,668.[282]
1922		United Kingdom general	Portsmouth, Central	0.0457%	7	7,666	In this four-way race, Conservative Party candidate Frank Privett defeated National Liberal candidate T. Fisher 7,666–7,659.[283]
2005		British Columbia general	Vancouver-Burrard	0.0458%	11	12,009[284]	On election night, Tim Stevenson of the British Columbia New Democratic Party had the lead over Lorne Mayencourt of the British Columbia Liberal Party, but Mayencourt had a 17-vote lead after a recount. When the absentee ballots were counted later, Maynecourt widened his lead by 1 vote.[285] Following an additional recount ordered by the courts, Maynecourt retained an 11-vote lead and was declared the winner.[286] Stevenson sued, arguing that 71 absentee ballots had improperly certified and thus uncounted and that a new election was needed, but then dropped the suit to run for a seat on the city council.[287]
1960		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 5th District	0.0461%	99	107,357	In the official count after election day, Republican George O. Chambers defeated Democrat J. Edward Roush by 3 votes and by 12 votes after the canvas. He was certified as the winner, but Roush contested the outcome and the Democratically-controlled House first decided that neither should be seated. After a review of the ballots, the House Committee determined that Roush had won the seat by 99 votes and on June 14, 1961 passed a resolution to seat him.[189]
2024		United Kingdom general	Basildon and Billericay	0.0464%	20	12,905	Before the election, Richard Holden, who was serving as the Chairman of the Conservative Party parachute to this constincuency but end up winning by mere 20 votes.[288]
1965		Philippine Senate	At-large	0.0469%	3,567	2,972,525	The Philippine Senate is elected via multiple non-transferable vote. The 8th placed candidate, Wenceslao Lagumbay of the Nacionalista Party, edged out Cesar Climaco of the Liberal Party to win out the last Senate seat.
1993		Canadian federal	Edmonton Northwest	0.0476%	12	12,599	Liberal candidate Anne McLellan narrowly edged out Reform candidate Richard Kayler.[289]
1853		United States House of Representatives	Georgia's 3rd District	0.0478%	5	5,232	Democrat David J. Bailey defeated Whig Robert P. Trippe 5232–5227.[290]
1972		Connecticut House of Representatives 65th district Democratic primary	Connecticut	0.0481%	1	2,079[291]	Representatives Addo Bonetti and John J. Miscikowski were both moved into the 65th district after legislative redistricting in 1972.[292] Bonetti was initially defeated in the primary by Miscikowski by one vote and a recount maintained Miscikowski's one vote victory.[291][293] However, Judge George Saden invalidated the primary and ordered a new one due to a Republican having mistakenly voted in the primary.[294] Bonetti defeated Miscikowski in the second primary and won in the general election against Republican nominee Edwin R. Chadwick.[295][296]
2017		United Kingdom general	Perth and North Perthshire	0.0482%	21	21,804	The incumbent Scottish National Party narrowly defeated Conservative candidate Ian Duncan.[297]
1945		United Kingdom general	Cheshire, Northwich	0.0486%	15	15,477	In this three-way race, Conservative Party candidate John Foster defeated Labour Party candidate Prof. Robert Chorley 15,477–15,473.[151]
1968		Canadian federal	Oshawa—Whitby	0.0493%	15	15,224	New Democrat Ed Broadbent defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent Michael Starr.[161]
2014		Ukrainian parliamentary	79th constituency (Vasylivka)	0.0495%	17	17,197	An independent representative of Zaporizhia Iron Ore Works Oleksandr Hryhorchuk initially defeated the pro-Party of Regions incumbent Volodymyr Bandurov by 138 votes. Bandurov contested the result and obtained a recount, and won with a margin of 17 votes following the recount. Hryhorchuk contested the recount as irregular.[298]
2016		Vermont House of Representatives	Windsor-Orange 1 District	0.0498%	1	1,004	This was the fourth matchup between incumbent Democrat Sarah Buxton and Republican David Ainsworth (their first matchup had also been decided by one vote). The initial tally had Buxton leading by 3 votes: 1,003–1,000. The first recount had them both tied at 1,000. The second recount then had Ainsworth win by one vote, 1,004–1,003. Buxton did not make any further appeals and this was the final result.[299][300]
1940		Kansas gubernatorial	Governor of Kansas	0.0505%	430	425,928	Burke came within 430 votes of beating Gov. Ratner for reelection.[301][302]
1854		United States House of Representatives	Pennsylvania's 5th District	0.0510%	8	7,842	Democrat John Cadwalader defeated anti-Nebraska Whig Jones 7,842–7,834.
2009		Party Leader (second ballot)	Action démocratique du Québec	0.0511%	2	1,957	After longtime leader Mario Dumont stepped down from the leadership of the party, an election was held. In a very close race, Gilles Taillon defeated his opponent Éric Caire, by just 2 votes.[303]
1833		United States House of Representatives	Indiana's 2nd District	0.0520%	2	1,921	In this 6-way race, Whig John Ewing defeated Democrat John W. Davis by 2 votes: 1921–1919.[304][305]
2020		Pennsylvania Senate	District 45	0.0521%	69	66,261	When this race was certified in early December, after numerous court battles, Democrat Jim Brewster had 69 votes more than Republican Nicole Ziccarelli. However a dispute over 311 absentee and mail-in ballots that were signed, but not dated lingered in the courts into January. Though Brewster was certified, Republicans in the state Senate blocked Brewster from taking his oath of office and removed the Democratic lieutenant governor from his role overseeing the proceedings.[306] A week later, after Ziccarelli lost her appeal, she conceded and Brewster was sworn in.[307]
1870		United States House of Representatives	Pennsylvania's 17th District	0.05324%	11	10,335	Democratic challenger Milton Speer defeated Republican incumbent Daniel J. Morrell by 11 votes: 10335–10324.[308][309][310] Morrell declined to contest the results, blaming the loss on the "base treachery and debauchery of professed Republicans."
1887		Canadian federal	Montmorency	0.05328%	1	939	Liberal Charles Langelier defeated Conservative P. V. Valin.[49]
2016		United States House of Representatives Republican Primary	Arizona's 5th District	0.0535%	27	85,595	On the night of the Republican Primary for the seat being vacated by Congressman Matt Salmon, State Senator Andy Biggs lead by a total of 16 votes against Republican challenger Christine Jones. After a recount that lead widened to 27 votes, and Jones conceded the election.[311]
2000		United States House of Representatives	Minnesota's 2ndd District	0.0537%	155	288,900	Republican Mark Kennedy won against DFL incumbent David Minge 138,957-138,802. [312]
1945		United Kingdom general	Caithness and Sutherland	0.0539%	6	5,564	In this very close three-way race where each candidate received 33% of the vote, Unionist Party candidate Eric Gandar Dower defeated Labour Party candidate Robert Ian Aonas MacInnes 5,564–5,558. The incumbent, Liberal Party leader Archibald Sinclair, had 5,503 votes.
1974		United Kingdom general	Peterborough	0.05407%	22	20,353	Conservative Party incumbent Sir Harmar Nicholls defeated Labour Party challenger Michael Ward 20,353–20,331. Ward had also lost to Nicholls in 1966 and 1970, but would win in Oct 1974.
1983		United Kingdom general	Hyndburn	0.05414%	21	19,405	Conservative Party candidate Ken Hargreaves defeated Labour Party candidate Arthur Davidson 19,405–19,384. This seat was created in 1983.[313]
1838		United States House of Representatives	New Jersey's at-large District	0.05455%	31	28,426	For much of its early history, New Jersey chose all of its Congressional delegation in an at-large election, with each voter getting to vote for however many candidates that there were seats and usually each party's slate of candidates would thus have similar numbers of votes. In 1838, New Jersey had six seats and so each voter could vote for six candidates. The voting for the parties was very close and at first it appeared that all 6 Whig candidates had been re-elected and their election was certified by the Whig governor who applied the states "broad seal" to them. The Democrats contested the election on the grounds that the votes of two townships were excluded and that if included would've swung the election and this became known as the "Broad Seal War". The House, which held a 2-seat majority without the NJ delegation, decided to seat one of the Whigs but leave the other 5 seats vacant. After the contest was investigated, and the excluded votes counted, 5 of the 6 Democrats were declared winners. They were seated in July 1840. In the end only 197 votes separated the Democrat's best finisher from the Whig's worst. Charles C. Stratton came in 7th, only 31 votes behind Democrat Joseph Kille a difference of only 0.05455%. John P. B. Maxwell missed out by 40 votes, or 0.0703%. The 6 Democrats averaged 28,429 votes and the Whigs 28,360 for an average advantage of only 69 votes or 0.12%.[314][315]
2014		United States House of Representatives	Tennessee's 4th District	0.05464%	38	69,548	Scandal-plagued Republican candidate Scott DesJarlais defeated candidate Jim Tracy.[316]
1986		United States House of Representatives	North Carolina's 6th District	0.05465%	79	144,579	Republican candidate Howard Coble defeated Democratic candidate Robin Britt.
1964		United Kingdom general	Ealing North	0.0561%	27	20,809	Labour Party challenger William Molloy defeated Conservative Party incumbent John Barter 20,809–20,782.[317]
2010		Vermont House of Representatives	Windsor-Orange 1 District	0.0567%	1	882	On the initial tally, challenger Democrat Sarah Buxton and incumbent Republican David Ainsworth had 882-881 votes. On a recount, they were tied, with one mailed-in military vote for Buxton rejected. Buxton appealed and the Superior Court ruled that vote valid, so that Buxton still won by one vote (881–880). Ainsworth then appealed but the House voted along party lines to uphold Buxton's one-vote victory.[125][318][319] Remarkably, their fourth matchup in 2016 would again be decided by one vote, but with the result reversed.
2012		United States presidential	Iowa Republican caucuses	0.0570%	34	29,839	Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum defeated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the statewide Republican caucuses, the closest GOP primary election in United States history.[320] Romney had been declared the winner by 8 votes on caucus night.
1930		Kansas gubernatorial	Governor of Kansas	0.0576%	251	217,171	Harry H. Woodring won a three-way race between himself (217,171 votes), Frank Haucke (216,920), and John R. Hinckley (183,278).[321]
1903		Australian House of Representatives	Riverina	0.0576%	5	4,341	Robert Blackwood defeated the sitting member John Chanter by five votes. The result was overturned and Chanter won a by-election by 363 votes.[79]
2014		Ukrainian parliamentary	22nd constituency (Lutsk)	0.0578%	28	24,245	Ihor Lapin (People's Front), defeated Iryna Konstankevych, an ally of the incumbent Ihor Palytsia who was a candidate on the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party list instead), 24,245–24,217.[322]
1959		United Kingdom general	Birmingham All Saints	0.05806%	20	17,235	Conservative Party challenger John Harold Hollingworth defeated Labour Party incumbent Denis Herbert Howell 17,235–17,215.[323]
2011		Canadian federal	Nipissing—Timiskaming	0.05812%	18	15,495	Conservative Jay Aspin defeated Liberal incumbent Anthony Rota.[324]
1870		United States House of Representatives	Pennsylvania's 16th District	0.0584%	15	12,859	Democratic challenger Benjamin F. Meyers defeated Republican incumbent John Cessna by 15 votes: 12,859–12,844.[325][326] Cessna contested the election and on January 18, 1872 the House Committee on Elections decided in favor of Meyers.[327][328] In a rematch later that year, Cessna reclaimed his seat.
1990		Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Primary	11th Essex	0.0599%	5	4,175	Edward J. Clancy Jr. defeated Thomas M. McGee.[329]
1972		Newfoundland general	Labrador South	0.06%	1	1,865	Josiah Harvey of the Liberal Party narrowly held onto his seat against Labrador Party candidate Michael Martin. A rematch was held later that year, in which Martin won the seat.[330]
2020		Ghanaian general	Sene West	0.0606%	16	13,116[331]	Incumbent Kwame Twumasi Ampofo of the National Democratic Congress narrowly won reelection against Joseph Kumah Mackey of the New Patriotic Party. The Electoral Commission took longer than expected to declare a winner, in part due to the closeness of the election and in part due to an incident in which a member of the NPP stole a ballot box which had to be inspected.[332] This result led to a hung parliament as a single independent prevented either party from reaching a majority of seats (although the lone independent decided to vote with the NPP).[333]
2012		Ukrainian parliamentary	184th constituency (Nova Kakhovka)	0.0607%	22	18,123	In a first-past-the-post race with 9 candidates, he Party of Regions candidate Mykola Dmytruk defeated an independent Ivan Vynnyk 18,123 (19.99%)–18,101 (19.96%). Vynnyk contested the result, stating that official counts from all polling places make him the winner with a margin of 177 votes and requested a new vote. The Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine declined, Vynnyk appealed to the European Court of Human Rights.[334]
2017		French legislative (2nd round)	Corrèze's 2nd constituency	0.06105%	23	18,849	Frédérique Meunier of The Republicans (LR) narrowly held onto his seat against ex-Socialist senator Patricia Bordas, invested by La République En Marche! (REM).[335]
2017		United Kingdom general	Kensington	0.06126%	20	16,333	Labour Emma Dent Coad defeated Conservative Victoria Borwick after 3 recounts over two days.
2016		New Hampshire Senate	District 7	0.06128%	17	13,880	The initial[336] count showed Republican Harold French with a 13-vote lead over Democrat Andrew Hosmer. Following a recount, that widened to 17 votes.[337]
1950		Michigan gubernatorial	Governor of Michigan	0.0614%	1,154	935,152	Incumbent Democratic G. Mennen Williams defeated Republican former Governor Harry Kelly.[338]
2018		Idaho Senate	District 15	0.0615%	11	8,947	The initial count showed Incumbent Republican Fred Martin ahead with a 6-vote lead over Democratic challenger Jim Bratnober. Following a recount, that widened to 11 votes.[339]
2018		Washington State Senate	District 42	0.06204%	45	36,291	Republican incumbent Doug Erickson defeated Democrat Pinky Vargas by 45 votes after a recount.[340]
2010		Illinois gubernatorial Republican Primary	Governor of Illinois	0.06209%	193	155,527	Bill Brady defeated Kirk Dillard.[341][342]
1998		South Dakota House of Representatives	District 12	0.06217%	4	3,219	In this remarkable rematch, four candidates Democrats John R. McIntyre and Robert Litz; and, Republicans Hal Wick and Judy Rost were contesting two seats. On the initial count, they had respectively 3,229 (25.84%), 2,250 (18.00%), 3,229 (25.84%), and 3,790 (30.32%) (12,498 total votes). As in 1996, Rost won the first seat, while McIntyre and Wick tied for the second seat. But on a recount, McIntyre was found to be ahead by 4 votes, with the final official tally being 3,219 (25.85%), 2,244 (18.02%), 3,215 (25.81%), 3,776 (30.32%) (12,454 total votes). The House then voted 36–33, this time to seat McIntyre.[27][343]
1892		United States presidential	California	0.06224%	147	269,609	Former President Grover Cleveland narrowly carried California over Republican President Benjamin Harrison and went on to reclaim the presidency in a rematch of the 1888 presidential elections, thus becoming both the 22nd and 24th president of the United States.[344]
1960		United States presidential	Hawaii	0.06226%	115	92,410	Just a year after becoming the fiftieth State, Hawaii surprised many political experts by voting for Democrat John F. Kennedy over Republican Richard Nixon, albeit by a very small margin.[345]
1970		Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Primary	6th Hampden	0.0625%	3	2,400	In a 3-way race, James L. Grimaldi topped Anthony M. Scibelli by 3 votes. Grimaldi would win the general, but then lose the 1972 primary to Scibelli. He'd win the seat in 14th Hampden twice and then lose the seat for 10th Hampden to Scibelli. Scibelli would serve from 1972 to 2000.[346]
1976		Massachusetts Senate Democratic Primary	2nd Essex and Middlesex	0.06262%	13	10,386	William X. Wall defeated James M. Shannon on his way to winning the seat.[347]
2013		Australian federal	Division of Fairfax	0.06264%	53	42,330	Clive Palmer (Palmer United Party) defeated Ted O'Brien of the Liberal National Party of Queensland following two recounts in a ranked choice voting runoff.[348]
2007		Philippine Senate	At-large	0.0628%	18,519	11,005,866	The Philippine Senate is elected via multiple non-transferable vote. The 12th placed candidate, Migz Zubiri of TEAM Unity, edged out Koko Pimentel of GO to win out the last Senate seat.[349] Pimentel later filed an electoral protest. Four years later, after recounts in the Senate Electoral Tribunal showed Pimentel taking the lead, Zubiri resigned;[350] Pimentel was then proclaimed senator-elect, with Pimentel having a 258,166-vote lead over Zubiri.[351]
1896		United States presidential	Kentucky	0.06352%	277	218,171	William McKinley was elected president twice by comfortable Electoral College majorities, but his only victory in a Southern state was his razor-thin win over William Jennings Bryan in Kentucky in his initial presidential run, becoming the first Republican ever to win Kentucky.[352] McKinley won Kentucky; however one Elector cast a vote for Bryan.
2012		New Mexico House of Representatives	District 37	0.0638%	8	6,267	Two weeks after the election was over, the vote was still tied and went to a recount, which Republican Terry McMillan won by 8 votes.[353] After another close loss in 2014, Democrat Joanne Ferrary defeated McMillan in 2016.[354]
2000		United States presidential	New Mexico	0.0639%	366	286,783	Since Florida's electoral votes decided George W. Bush's electoral college win over Al Gore, little attention was paid to the fact that New Mexico's outcome was even closer (in terms of raw vote) than the Florida result, this time with Gore coming out ahead.[355]
1916		United States presidential	New Hampshire	0.06400%	56	43,781	Although the 0.38% victory margin for President Woodrow Wilson in California—which gave Wilson the thirteen electoral votes he needed to win reelection over Republican Charles Evans Hughes—garnered most of the attention, Wilson's surprise 56-vote victory over Hughes in New Hampshire (the only Northeastern state that Hughes did not carry) was the closest contest in the election.[356]
1828		United States House of Representatives	Maine's 5th District	0.0642%	3	2,495	In the September 1828 election, Reuel Washburn and James Ripley had 2,495–2,180 votes. But Maine law required that the winner have an absolute majority of the votes, i.e. 2,498 votes and so Washburn was 3 short. A new election was held in December 1828 and Ripley won a majority. There was some further wrangling but eventually Ripley was declared elected.[45]
2004		Ohio Senate Republican Primary	14th District	0.06438%	22	17,098	Jean Schmidt won the first count by 62 votes, but Tom Niehaus prevailed in a recount and went on to win the general election.[252]
2016		New Mexico House of Representatives	29th District	0.0645%	9	6,976	Republican Dave Adkins recaptured his spot in the New Mexico House over challenger Ronnie Martinez. The original count had him ahead by just two votes.[357] But a recount widened that lead to 9.[358]
2016		Philippine House of Representatives	Leyte's 3rd District	0.06466%	56	43,333	NUP's Vicente Veloso won an open seat contest against Liberal Tingting Salvacion, daughter of term-limited Andres Salvacion.[359]
2018		Iowa House of Representatives	District 55	0.06503%	9	6,924	Republican Incumbent Michael Bergan won the initial vote count over Democrat Kayla Koether by 7 votes and the recount by 9.[360] Koether contested the election, arguing that 29 of 33 disputed absentee ballots were wrongly rejected. The ballots were received on time and the barcode proved they were mailed prior to the election, as required by law, but the barcode used on the disputed ballot differed from the postage stamp or “intelligent mail barcode" called for by the Iowa Code and administrative rules. After a district judge declined to decide if the ballots should be counted, Koether petitioned the Iowa House to settle the matter. On party-line votes in both the committee (3-2) and the Iowa House (53-42), legislators decided that the Iowa House did not have the legal authority to open and count the ballots.[361]
1961		Zanzibar general	Chake Chake	0.06502%	1	1,538	Khamis Masoud Khamis of the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) defeated Ahmad Abdulrahman Idarus of the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) by one vote in Chake Chake,[362] giving the ASP a 10–9 lead in what the Guinness Book of Records listed as the closest ever general election.[363][364] Three other MPs split, leaving the 22-member assembly deadlocked between two 11-member blocs.[363] Dissatisfaction with the electoral system precipitated the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution.[363]
2018		Minnesota House of Representatives	District 5A	0.06510%	11	8,454	Democratic-Farmer-Labor party candidate John Persell beat incumbent Republican Representative Matt Bliss by 11 votes after a recount that extended his margin by 3 votes.[365]
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