#1
Posted: 11/2/04 at 8:51am
This was in my hometown's local paper:
You think your one vote doesn't matter? That's not true. The entire course of a nation can turn on the power of one vote.
History is full of stories of single votes that changed everything. One of our favorites here in Montana was the 1990 Democratic primary for Carbon County attorney. Gary Spaeth lost by a tie vote and a coin toss. After the flip, Spaeth's brother told him he never made it to the polls. Spaeth will preach forever, he said afterward, "Every vote counts."
Another favorite: In 1844 in Switzerland County, Ind., ailing farmer Freeman Clark had his sons carry him from his bed to the county seat to vote for David Kelso, a Democrat, for state senator. Kelso was a lawyer who had once defended Clark on a murder charge and won an acquittal. Clark voted, then died on the way home. Kelso won by one vote. When the new state Senate convened post-election, it had a majority of Democrats - by one.
In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for president in the Electoral College. That sent the election into the House of Representatives, where a one-vote margin elected Thomas Jefferson as the third U.S. president. In 1824, none of the four presidential candidates won a majority of the Electoral College votes. The vote again went to the House, where John Quincy Adams won by squeaking by Andrew Jackson by one vote.
Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon and Texas all won statehood by one-vote margins. And speaking of Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson became a U.S. senator by one vote in 1948. The rest of that story is history. John F. Kennedy became president in 1960 by beating Richard Nixon by less than one vote per precinct. Had a small number of voters stayed home, JFK might never have been president, and Nixon would have moved into the White House eight years earlier than he did.
www.missoulian.com
Also, the absentee ballot number for Montana is 11,000 and the previous record is 6,000. So I hope that's true across the board, because it seems to me that means more students are voting absentee, which is obviously good for the Democratic party.
You think your one vote doesn't matter? That's not true. The entire course of a nation can turn on the power of one vote.
History is full of stories of single votes that changed everything. One of our favorites here in Montana was the 1990 Democratic primary for Carbon County attorney. Gary Spaeth lost by a tie vote and a coin toss. After the flip, Spaeth's brother told him he never made it to the polls. Spaeth will preach forever, he said afterward, "Every vote counts."
Another favorite: In 1844 in Switzerland County, Ind., ailing farmer Freeman Clark had his sons carry him from his bed to the county seat to vote for David Kelso, a Democrat, for state senator. Kelso was a lawyer who had once defended Clark on a murder charge and won an acquittal. Clark voted, then died on the way home. Kelso won by one vote. When the new state Senate convened post-election, it had a majority of Democrats - by one.
In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied for president in the Electoral College. That sent the election into the House of Representatives, where a one-vote margin elected Thomas Jefferson as the third U.S. president. In 1824, none of the four presidential candidates won a majority of the Electoral College votes. The vote again went to the House, where John Quincy Adams won by squeaking by Andrew Jackson by one vote.
Idaho, Washington, California, Oregon and Texas all won statehood by one-vote margins. And speaking of Texas, Lyndon Baines Johnson became a U.S. senator by one vote in 1948. The rest of that story is history. John F. Kennedy became president in 1960 by beating Richard Nixon by less than one vote per precinct. Had a small number of voters stayed home, JFK might never have been president, and Nixon would have moved into the White House eight years earlier than he did.
www.missoulian.com
Also, the absentee ballot number for Montana is 11,000 and the previous record is 6,000. So I hope that's true across the board, because it seems to me that means more students are voting absentee, which is obviously good for the Democratic party.
Why do we play with fire?
Why do we run our fingers through the flame?
Why do we leave our hands on the stove, although we know we're in for some pain?
-tick...tick...BOOM!
