CHICAGO (AFP) - It was an oft-repeated mantra of the hotly-contested US midterm elections: "Every vote counts."

That turned out to be true for a number of close races on Nov 6, but perhaps nowhere more so than in Kentucky.

Democrat Jim Glenn is poised to win a seat in the state's legislature by one vote after a final tally was announced on Thursday (Nov 15), besting incumbent Republican DJ Johnson.

There were 12,637 votes cast in the district, which hugs the Ohio River along the northern border of the Midwestern state.

The vote totals were double-checked in each voting precinct and the result was the same: 6,318 votes for Mr Johnson and 6,319 votes for Mr Glenn.

"I was happy that the public got a chance to see that every vote counts," Mr Glenn told TV station WEHT.

Mr Johnson is considering whether to request a full recount of every vote, instead of the more cursory re-canvassing of each voting location's totals that was just completed.

"At this point, we're still in the process, step one," he told WEHT.

If the final tally stands, the Kentucky district will be one of more than 300 across the country where Democrats gained state legislative seats in often tight races.

A US Senate contest in Florida was still undecided on Friday, with a hand recount underway.

Elsewhere in Georgia, Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams said she will not win her race to lead the state, as she sharply criticised her Republican rival Brian Kemp and accused him of voter suppression.