r/politics • u/slaysia • Dec 19 '17

Democrat wins Va. House seat in recount by single vote; creating 50-50 tie in legislature

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/democrat-wins-va-house-seat-in-recount-by-single-vote-creating-50-50-tie-in-legislature/2017/12/19/3ff227ae-e43e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?utm_term=.82f2b85b50fa
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u/ShortFuse Dec 19 '17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results

Yes.

63

u/dbbk United Kingdom Dec 19 '17

I love this one from the UK's Horwich Church Ward By-Election;

Labour candidate Richard Silvester and Lib Dem candidate Gordon Stone each had 384 votes (after two recounts). The returning officer then ruled the contest would be decided on the turn of a card.

Stone's queen of clubs beat Silvester's jack of spades. (A total of 1,191 votes were cast including the final vote cast by the draw of the card. Two were spoilt or unmarked.)

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u/[deleted] Dec 19 '17 edited Dec 07 '19

[deleted]

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u/BaconAllDay2 Dec 20 '17

You don't admit you didn't vote! You take that to the grave.

3

u/commoncross Dec 19 '17

My MP was elected by 2 votes at the last General Election (this time the Lib Dems lost).

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u/VStarffin Dec 19 '17

To be clear, I wasn't asking if any election has ever been decided by one vote. I was asking if a full legislative chamber has ever been tipped by one vote.

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u/beaverteeth92 Dec 19 '17

The 1972 New Hampshire Senate race came down to two votes at a recount.

3

u/Apurimac_ Dec 20 '17

That one is genuinely insane. Today's vote was ~22k total votes, that election was ten times that amount, with multiple recounts and manual ballots.