# What's the record for closest election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537 "2004-11-18T20:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/1 "2004-11-18T20:49:27Z")
The Washington Governors race between Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire is extremly close. At one point, the lead Rossi had was only 19 votes out of some 3 million. Now its 261 lead, pending a recount (of course). So the margin of victory is about 1/100th of a percent! This leads me to think, what’s the closest election result in history involving a large number of voters (over a million)? What’s the largest election that was decided by a single vote? What happens if there is an _exact tie_? Recount after recount shows this. Let’s say 531,267 for Candidate A, and 531,267 for candidate B? No amount of recounts can budge this figure. What do they do? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/2 "2004-11-18T20:56:57Z")
The answers for the UK are [here](http://news.bbc.co.uk/vote2001/hi/english/voting_system/newsid_1171000/1171887.stm): There’s been two cases of seats being won by a margin of three votes. And in the event of a tie: > [@](#): > > In the unlikely event that recounts have failed to separate the two or more leading candidates, the returning officer is required by law to settle the matter immediately. > > He or she can use any random method such as tossing a coin, but the recommended way is to ask each candidate to write their name on a blank slip of paper and place it in a container. > > The returning officer then pulls out one of the slips and allocates one extra vote to that candidate, making them the winner by a single vote. (I don’t think you’re going to get many answers where you’re dealing with over a million votes - I’m confident in saying that most electoral systems divide the elctorate up into smaller groupings than that) ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/3 "2004-11-18T21:14:40Z")
I KNOW there have been smaller races that have tied (winner is indeed chosen randomly) from snopes In 1839, Marcus “Landslide” Morton was indeed elected governor of Massachusetts by one vote. Of the 102,066 votes cast by the good people of that state, he received exactly 51,034. Had his count been 51,033, the election would have been thrown into the Legislature, where he probably would not have won. Brian ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/4 "2004-11-18T21:58:14Z")
\ Honorable(?) mention should go to the story of LBJ’s 1948 Democratic nomination for the US Senate. In those days in Texas, the equivalent of general election. For nearly a week after the primary election, “Landslide Lyndon” trailed the sitting Gov. by about 100 votes with 100% of all precincts reporting. Out of the blue, an additional precinct was then discovered, showing the vote as 202-1 in Lyndon’s favor, giving him the nomination by 87 votes statewide. \ ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/5 "2004-11-18T22:11:20Z")
Well, the[election of 1800](http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/1800.asp) Which featured Adams-Charles Pinckney, Jefferson-Aaron Burr is a pretty good candidate. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/6 "2004-11-18T22:20:05Z")
I have seen several cases (usually on the local level) where the vote was exactly tied after recounts. Usually the contest was decided by flipping a coin, but I remember at least one account where rock-paper-scissors was employed. Sorry, no cites. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/7 "2004-11-18T22:24:33Z")
There were at least two Florida races this last time around that ended up tied after the recount. One was decided by a coin toss; the other one they cut cards. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/8 "2004-11-19T00:11:28Z")
Electoral ties have happened; I recall one on Long Island in the late 60s in a congressional race. They reran the election. IIRC, what was deemed the closest election was one time in Zanzibar when one party gained control of the legislation by one seat, after one of their representatives won his district by one vote. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/9 "2004-11-19T01:19:07Z")
In the 1974 New Hampshire U.S. Senate race, the result depended on who you asked: the Secretary of State gave Democrat John Durkin a 10-vote win, while the state ballot commission gave Republican Louis Wyman a 2-vote win. To settle this, they re-ran the election in September 1975, at which point Durkin won with 55% of the vote. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/10 "2004-11-19T01:30:09Z")
> [@aahala](#): > > \ > Honorable(?) mention should go to the story of LBJ’s 1948 Democratic nomination for the US Senate. In those days in Texas, the equivalent of general election. > > For nearly a week after the primary election, “Landslide Lyndon” trailed the sitting Gov. by about 100 votes with 100% of all precincts reporting. > > Out of the blue, an additional precinct was then discovered, showing the vote as 202-1 in Lyndon’s favor, giving him the nomination by 87 votes statewide. > > \ As I recall, those 203 people (by an incredible coincidence) voted in alphabetical order. In the recent mayoral race in Culver City, California, the election came out an exact tie. Stu Bubar (a former camp counselor of mine from childhood) was declared the winner by drawing a higher card than his opponent. Haj ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/11 "2004-11-19T01:57:17Z")
That election in Culver City was for the school board. Culver City does not elect a mayor separately. Like most cities in Califorina, Culver City just chooses its mayor from the members of its City Council. (The big cities don’t do this.) And the tiebreaker was not cards, but rather by picking marbles. The two tied candidates were given identical paper bags with nine marbles. Each bag had one white marble and eight colored marbles. Who ever pulled out the white one first would be the winner. It took four tries before Bubar won. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-record-for-closest-election/275537/12 "2004-11-19T03:16:16Z")
The 1962 Minnesota Governor’s race was decided by 91 votes. The recounts took five months.