Basic Trope: An election is decided by a single vote or a similarly narrow margin.
- Straight: Alice runs against Bob for head of the Homeowners' Association, a group of one hundred and five people. When the votes are counted, Alice wins with fifty-three votes to Bob's fifty-two.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob compete in an election for mayor of Trope City, which has eight million, six hundred, seventy-five thousand, three hundred, and nine registered voters. Alice wins the election with four million, three hundred, thirty-seven thousand, six hundred, and fifty-five votes to Bob's four million, three hundred, thirty-seven thousand, six hundred, and fifty-four votes.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob volunteer to be the leader of a committee at work, which has eleven members. Alice wins with six votes to Bob's five.
- Justified: Alice and Bob are equally liked and most of the voters would be okay with seeing either of them win.
- Inverted: Alice runs against Bob for head of the Homeowners' Association. She wins with one hundred and three votes to Bob's two (and one was a pity vote from Alice herself).
- Subverted: When the votes are counted, it looks like Alice will win by one vote. Then it's discovered that the votes were miscounted and there was actually a fifteen vote gap.
- Double Subverted: Then it's discovered that the recount was miscounted. A second recount again gives Alice a victory by a single vote.
- Parodied: After Alice defeats Bob in the election with a single vote, everyone treats it like a landslide and that Alice is the most amazing person to ever run for office while Bob is a perpetual loser.
- Zig-Zagged: Votes for the Homeowners' Association come in nine at a time. Sometimes, Alice wins by one vote. Sometimes, Bob wins by one vote. Sometimes, it's not even close. Finally, Alice wins by one vote.
- Averted:
- The election is won by a substantial number of votes.
- There's no election.
- Enforced: The producers really want to ramp up the tension and the writers realize that the only way to do that is to have the election come down to the wire.
- Lampshaded: "One vote? Wow, that was a narrow victory."
- Invoked: Charlie hacks into the computer counting the votes changes the number so that Alice wins by only one.
- Exploited: When David sees how closely Bob lost, he uses this perceived popularity to encourage him to run for a different position.
- Defied: Charlie hacks into the computer counting the votes and gives Alice more votes so that the margin isn't just one.
- Discussed: "Now, remember to go out and vote. I remember another election for an important measure that failed by one vote, so yours does count."
- Conversed: "The political climate here is maybe equally balanced. I can see an election being very close, maybe even with one vote separating first from second."
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