YAAAY! It is only ONE CASE! So it isn't happening in other places! YAAAY!
What does a few votes matter anyway?
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.
[10] 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.
[11] Two years later Moss would lose re-election by 0.03% of the vote.
[12]
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.
[14]Following a recount, Yancey trailed
Democratic challenger Shelly Simmonds by one vote out of 23,215 cast.
[15][16] 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.
[17][15] The drawing of lots was later postponed after Simmonds asked a state court to reconsider the dispute ballot.
[18] 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.
[19] Had Simonds won instead, a 50–50 split would have prompted a power sharing arrangement between the two major parties.
[20] In 2019, the two met in a rematch in a redrawn district and Simmonds won.
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.
[21] Six months later, a special election was held where Durant beat Alicea by 56 votes.
[22]
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.
[27][28][29]Remarkably, two years later, McIntyre and Wick would again tie (at least on the initial count).
ETC. ETC. ETC.
