You’ve probably heard it since grade school. "Every vote counts!"
Most of the time, it feels like a nice thing adults say to make you feel involved, kinda like telling a kid their drawing is going on the fridge. But then you look at the math. Millions of people voting. Huge geographic gaps. It feels impossible for a single person to actually tip the scales.
Except it isn’t.
If you’re wondering has an election ever been decided by one vote, the answer isn't just a simple "yes." It’s a "yes" that has happened more times than you’d probably guess, from tiny town councils to the literal fate of the U.S. Presidency. Sometimes, it’s even crazier—races that ended in a dead heat and had to be decided by drawing names out of a hat. No, really.
The High Stakes of the Single Ballot
Let’s talk about the big stuff first. You might think "one vote" only matters in a small town with more cows than people. Not quite.
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In 1876, the U.S. Presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden basically came down to a single vote in the Electoral Commission. Tilden actually won the popular vote. He was leading. But after a massive dispute over electoral votes in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, an 8-to-7 commission vote gave the presidency to Hayes. That 185 to 184 electoral finish is the closest in history.
Then there’s the story of how Texas became part of the U.S. in 1845. The Senate vote to annex Texas was incredibly tight. While the final tally was 27-25, history buffs often point to the fact that the margin was essentially a single vote swing away from failure.
And if you want to get really chilling? In 1923, Adolf Hitler was elected leader of the Nazi Party by—you guessed it—one single vote at a party gathering. That’s a heavy thought. One person stayed home, or one person changed their mind, and the 20th century looks completely different.
Local Battles: Where "One" is a Regular Number
National elections get the Netflix documentaries, but local elections are where the "one vote" phenomenon actually lives.
Take a look at what happened in North Carolina recently. In 2023, fifteen different local elections were decided by a single vote. Not five. Not ten. One. Seven others ended in a total tie. When things tie, the law usually requires "drawing lots." In one case, a candidate's name was pulled out of a cardboard box to decide who would sit on the town board.
- Wyoming, 1994: Randall Luthi and Larry Call tied for a State House seat with 1,941 votes each. They used a ping-pong ball in a cowboy hat to break the tie. Luthi won.
- Massachusetts, 2011: A town election in West Boylston for the Board of Selectmen ended in a tie. They literally flipped a coin.
- Vermont, 1977: Sydney Nixon (no relation to Richard) was seated as a state representative after a 570 to 569 win. Later, a recount showed he actually lost by one vote. He had to resign.
It happens way more than we realize because we usually only pay attention to the "Big Two" every four years. Honestly, if you live in a small town, your individual vote is statistically massive.
The 1974 New Hampshire Senate Chaos
The 1974 race for a U.S. Senate seat in New Hampshire is basically the Super Bowl of close elections. It pitted Louis Wyman against John Durkin.
First, Wyman won by 355 votes. Close, but not "one vote" territory. Durkin asked for a recount. That recount put Durkin ahead by 10 votes. Then Wyman asked for another review by the State Ballot Law Commission. That review put Wyman back on top by—drumroll—two votes.
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The Senate eventually had to declare the seat vacant because they couldn't figure out who actually won. They held a whole new special election months later, where Durkin finally won by a comfortable 27,000. But for eight months, the entire U.S. Senate was paralyzed over a margin smaller than the number of people in a typical Starbucks line.
Why Do These Ties Happen?
Usually, it's a mix of low turnout and sheer coincidence.
In a local school board race, only 500 people might show up. In that scenario, one person represents 0.2% of the entire electorate. That’s huge. In the 2000 Presidential election, George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes. While that’s more than one, it’s worth noting that nearly 6 million people voted. If you break that down by precinct, we are talking about a fraction of a vote per neighborhood.
Basically, the larger the pool, the less likely a "true" one-vote margin is, but the "effectively one vote" margin happens all the time.
What This Means for You Right Now
If you're skeptical about your impact, look at the 2026 election cycle. We are seeing more polarized districts and more third-party candidates than in previous decades. This splits the "pie" into smaller and smaller slices.
When the pie is split three or four ways, the "winning" slice doesn't need to be huge. It just needs to be one bite bigger than the next guy's.
How to make your "one vote" count more:
- Focus on the bottom of the ballot. Your vote for President is 1 in 160 million. Your vote for County Clerk might be 1 in 1,000. That’s where you have the most leverage.
- Don't ignore the "down-ballot" referendums. Often, taxes or school funding are decided by razor-thin margins. A 2010 school levy in Ohio failed by exactly one vote, resulting in a $2.5 million budget cut.
- Check your registration early. Many of these "one vote" stories involve people whose ballots were tossed because of simple clerical errors.
Next time someone tells you that your vote doesn't matter because of the "system" or the "electoral college," remind them about the guy in Wyoming who lost his seat because his name wasn't on the right ping-pong ball.
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Next Steps for You: Check your local election calendar for any upcoming municipal or special elections this year. Most people skip these, which means your single vote has even more statistical power than it does in a general election. You can verify your current registration status at Vote.gov to ensure you're ready for the next close call.