Please Exercise Your Right To Vote

This Election cycle is like nothing we have ever experienced. The budget problems extend from Washington DC to our city and the school system that employs us. I have heard to many of our members and people in general say that “their vote does not count”. I found this article published by the League of Women Voters that illustrates the error of that thinking and attitude.

Why Vote?

The Voting Power of ONE!

In 1998, 36.4% of voters went to the polls to cast their ballots. That's the lowest voter turnout since 1942! Two out of three Americans, 115 million eligible voters, simply stayed home and didn't vote at all. Many people explain their failure to vote by saying: "I'm just one person. My little old vote doesn't make a difference."

There's a lot of historical evidence to the contrary.

*In 1999, Leslie Byrne was elected to the Virginia Senate by 37 votes, less than one vote per precinct.

*Donald Sherwood was elected to the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania by a margin of 515 votes, less than one vote per precinct, making this election the closest House of Representatives race in 1998.

* A little closer to home -- Roger Johnson, the current Agriculture Commissioner in North Dakota, was elected to that position in 1996 by less than 1 vote per precinct. 

* Kent Conrad was elected to the US Senate from North Dakota in 1986 by less than 2 votes per precinct.

*John F. Kennedy's margin of victory over Richard Nixon in 1960 was less than one vote per precinct.

*One vote per precinct passed woman suffrage in California in 1911.

(information provided by The League of Women Voters, 1730 M St NW, Suite 1000, Washington,DC and ND Secretary of State)