Every vote counts and that's a fact

Guest Column

Shannon Valdivia, Head of forensics
And Edward Packard, Elections Administrator, State of Alabama

The Advocate

Is your ballot still sitting on your coffee table stained with coffee or marked up with doodles? November 2 is fast approaching. Time is running out. Where’s your ballot? Where is your voice?

We have heard repeatedly that each and every vote makes a difference. It is true that your vote is important but many Oregonians think that it is wrong to suggest that each of their votes could be the one that decides any particular election.
It is true that in some places the vote of one person is the deciding factor in an election. For example, in Alabama in 1992, one vote was the margin of victory in a city council runoff in Selma. In 1996, Loretta Sanchez was elected to Congress from California by less than 4 votes per precinct. And in 1911, one vote per precinct passed women’s suffrage in California.

The Federal Elections Commission also provides another example of the power of one vote. In the 1960 presidential election, an additional one vote per precinct for Richard Nixon in just two of four key states (Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey or Texas) would have made him president instead of John F. Kennedy.

So in some instances, one vote can literally make all the difference. But even if it doesn’t swing an election, your vote is still powerful.

"Democracy" refers to "government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives." Even if we consider ourselves – more appropriately – a constitutional republic, we would believe we live in "a political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them."

In a representative government, we citizens come together and decide who will represent us. One of us is in charge of all of us.

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” We have a responsibility to persuade others to agree with us if we wish to move the levers of government. Or at least we should find like-minded people and join forces.

In America the foundation of government is comprised of the people. “We, the people.” The bedrock upon which America’s great experiment in democracy rests is the notion of government based on shared goals and concerted effort, not the power of one vote.

To speak of the power of one person’s vote in swaying an election one way or another is putting the proverbial cart before the horse.

Through the process of democracy, we develop the strategy to ensure that our candidate or issues win the day. And the more successful we are in developing that strategy, the less important it will be to consider whether any one person’s vote can empower – or frustrate – our efforts.