The phrase 'close to a tie' is a perfectly usable phrase in written English
You can use it to describe a situation when something is almost a draw, but one outcome won just barely. For example, "The final game was close to a tie, but the home team won by just one point."
The tally was as close to a tie as has ever been seen in the history of Presidential politics.
A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday night showed Sanders vaulted into the lead, with a slew of others show him pulling in close to a tie.
"If you build that into this, if you added the 18percentt share, we'd be up close to a tie for third, just below Providence".
Earlier that evening, the independent senator from Vermont had held Hillary Clinton tantalizingly close to a tie in the Iowa caucuses.
All the polls suggest that this election is very close to a tie but that may not be enough for Labor to win.
This is as close to a tie as we might ever see; Weaver and Detroit's Justin Verlander have nearly identical statistics, but Weaver's earned run average is just a bit better.
Beauchemin got credit for a power-play goal with 3 17 to play when the puck banked off Jonathan Ericsson's skate in front of Howard, but Anaheim never really got close to a tying goal late.
What we have in the state by state polls is as close to a tied race as possible.
Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking Wendelin Wiedeking headed for the exit on Thursday, holding a tidy $71.2 million payout as the luxury automaker drew closer to a tie-up with sister company Volkswagen.
The suitable tension setup is found to be close to a bow-tie like geometry while the axial shear is closer to a butterfly shape.
Quinn has trailed Rauner the entire year, though the contest has closed to a near tie.
