Ballotpedia: Sixty-five elections decided by 10 votes or fewer across the United States this year

THE WOODLANDS, TX – With mail-in voting already underway and early voting just right around the corner for the November general elections, coupled with the onslaught of robocalls, campaign texts, and mailbox-filling PAC cards, it’s easy to burn out early on the entire idea of voting. Some may also feel a sense of voter ennui, feeling that their vote won’t matter, so why bother?

Interestingly, this year alone, more than five dozen elections have already been decided by ten votes or less across the country. In the past six years alone, more than 600 elections have been similarly decided. Every year, Ballotpedia covers thousands of elections at all levels of government – from the halls of Congress to school boards in all parts of the country – and has the details on this firm reason to cast your vote no matter what the odds.

Here is what Ballotpedia has to say about this phenomenon:

Sixty-five elections nationwide have been decided by 10 votes or fewer so far this year. Thirty-nine of those were decided by five votes or fewer. Democrats won 24 of these elections, Republicans won 29, and nonpartisan or minor party candidates won 12. There were 21 elections decided by 10 votes or fewer in 2023 and 111 in 2022.

The race decided by 10 or fewer votes with the most votes cast was in Orange County, Florida. Nicole Wilson won a nonpartisan election to represent District 1 on the county commission over Austin Arthur by two votes out of 28,122 cast. The race with the fewest votes cast was the Libertarian primary for New Mexico House District 43, where Chris Luchini defeated Phillip Mach by five votes out of 31 cast.

Since 2018, 629 elections have been decided by 10 or fewer votes. Of those 629 elections, 372 were determined by fewer than five votes, including 91 decided by a single vote. Members of the Democratic Party won 129 elections decided by 10 or fewer votes, Republicans won 157, and nonpartisan or minor party candidates won 343.

Two hundred eighty-three of these were federal or state-level elections. Among these elections, the race with the fewest total votes was the 2020 Libertarian primary for Montana State Senate District 45, when Nolen Skime (L) defeated Terry Lucke (L) by two votes out of 20 total cast.The race with the most votes cast was the 2020 general election of Iowa's 2nd Congressional District, when Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) defeated Rita Hart (D) by six votes out of 393,922 total cast.

The remaining 346 elections were at the local level. The race with the fewest total votes was the 2022 election for Wilson Elementary School District in Arizona, which was decided by 14 votes. Maria Felix beat incumbent Hector Banda Lopez eight votes to six. The race with the most votes cast was the 2020 Democratic primary for Travis County Court at Law No. 4, when Dimple Malhotra (D) defeated Margaret Chen Kercher (D) by four votes out of 129,420 cast.
North Carolina has the most elections decided by fewer than 10 votes, with 273. Ballotpedia covered every election in North Carolina in 2019, resulting in a larger number of close elections identified. All other figures in this report come from Ballotpedia's regular coverage scope. The next highest states are New Hampshire (104), Vermont (37), and Texas and Utah (tied with 19 each).

For The Woodlands areas in both Montgomery and Harris counties, early voting starts October 21, less than two weeks away. Stay tuned to Woodlands Online for ongoing coverage of election season.

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