Virginia House of Delegates 94 was initially counted with a 10 vote difference. After a recount, that election was decided by one vote, 11,608 to 11,607.
Because the winner in the recount is different from the winner in the initial count, the partisan makeup of the Virginia House of Delegates changes from 51-49 based on the initial count to 50-50 based on the recount.
One year my mother didn’t make it to vote and said to me later that day that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. When the returns came in that evening, the woman she had most wanted to vote for in the city commission race lost by one vote. This candidate won in the next election cycle and later became our town’s mayor, but I’m sure she was heartbroken that evening.
Yes, we must all remember this story before upcoming elections and use it to entice those who don’t vote to do so. We had a local election in my area where the difference was just 7 votes.
One of the biggest problems with this country is that people don’t vote. I was watching the news the day of the Alabama Senate election and they mentioned expecting a larger than normal turnout of 25% of registered voters. That’s just sad. Politicians know they can get away with so much because hardly anyone votes.
I got started being active in politics with a local race where an elected official had done something personal and egregious related to a problem a member of my family had. I was mad, and took out my energy campaigning for their opponent. My guy won by 130 votes out of over 400,000 cast. I know that wouldn’t have have happened if I hadn’t gotten out there telling my story, writing letters, handing out fliers, and helping get out the vote on Election Day. The guy I helped elect went on to have a 20 year career with great results for the community, too. I’ve been active since – I caucus, door knock, donate, and help with get out the vote in Election Day.
So not only does your vote matter, but your attention and efforts before the election matter as well.
But now it is officially a tie… so they are going to flip a coin to determine the winner. One could argue that NONE of the votes counted! They could have flipped a coin at the start and skipped the election.