Ask Dr. Dave

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Q&A

Q. More than 100 million people are going to cast ballots this November. Can one vote make a difference?

A. You betcha. American history is littered with examples of close elections, some of which changed the nation's future.

If Richard Nixon had gained 1 more vote per precinct in Illinois in 1960 he would have defeated John Kennedy. In 1948 Lyndon B. Johnson became a U.S. Senator by one vote. In 1994 Sam Gejdenson won re-election to his House seat in Connecticut by 21 votes out of 186,071 cast.

And how about this one for a close vote that changed history? In 1911 California women gained the right to vote in a referendum the victory margin of which was just one vote per voting precinct.

For those for whom the 2000 election was not forever seared into your memories, titanic fights about the right to vote and the right to have one's vote counted went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. George Bush won Florida's 25 electoral votes (see electoral college Q&A) and therefore the election by 547 out of some 6 million votes counted (even more votes were cast and not counted)!

Yes indeed, voting matters. And in any event, win, lose or draw (yes, there have been a number of ties in election history) you are carrying out one of the key obligations of citizenship. Democracies wither when people stop participating.

Posted 02/11/04