Think Georgia is Close? Maryland was Decided by 4 Votes in 1832 Presidential Election

By Soo Kim On 11/6/20 at 5:45 AM EST

News 2020 Election Georgia Joe Biden Donald Trump

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has taken the lead in Georgia over President Donald Trump with just under 1,000 votes.

At the time of writing, Biden was reported to have a 917-vote lead based on 99 percent of expected votes counted, according to data compiled by Reuters.

The president and former vice president have been running a tight race in the key battleground state. But it's unlikely to be as nerve-wracking as a state race 188 years ago.

The closest state race in presidential election history took place in Maryland back in 1832. The state was lost by incumbent Democratic President Andrew Jackson who had just four votes less than his National Republican opponent Henry Clay. The final polls showed Jackson 19,156 votes, while Clay had 19,160 votes.

Jackson won the 1832 election with 219 electoral votes and 687,502 popular votes, defeating Clay who had 49 electoral votes and 530,189 popular votes.

The fate of the 2020 election hangs on a handful of states where votes are still being counted including Georgia, where Trump previously had a narrow lead.

Over 100,000 votes are still yet to be counted in four other states, which include Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Pennsylvania, according to data compiled by Edison Research for The New York Times.

As of Friday, Biden was reported to be leading Trump in electoral votes, of which 270 are required to win the election.

At the time of writing, Biden had 253 electoral votes while Trump had 214, according to data from the National Election Pool/Edison Research. Georgia has 16 electoral votes and the winner in the state claims them all.

Biden and Trump have also been running a close race in Pennsylvania, the tipping point state that's likely to make or break the election.

At the time of writing, Trump was reported to be leading in Pennsylvania with 49.5 percent (3,286,171) of the vote, while Biden had 49.2 percent (3,267,942), according to Reuters.

However, Biden may not need the vote in Pennsylvania to secure an election win.

The most "plausible path" for Biden is "Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan...then he wouldn't have to have Pennsylvania," GOP pollster Daron Shaw told the Fox News Decision Desk on Wednesday.

Biden has claimed Michigan and Wisconsin and currently has a narrow lead of 49.4 percent (604,251) of the vote in Nevada, while Trump 48.5 percent (592,813) of the vote in the state, based on 89 percent of expected votes counted, according to Reuters.