If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that the gubernatorial election in Vermont is going to be a squeaker, and could well be decided by a margin less than one percentage point.
The last three times Vermont had an Election Day without a presidential race on the same ballot, turnout has averaged in the neighborhood of 235,000 voters – sometimes higher, sometimes lower. If that total holds this year, your individual vote will account for a more than .0004% of the election total. You and your significant other, then, could count for .0009%.
Sound like a middling amount? Take a look at this election result right in our own backyard:
1974, New Hampshire: The election for US Senator concludes with a margin of .0009% – that’s two votes.
Want more two vote margins?
In 1839, the election for Governor of Massachusetts was won by Marcus Morton – by two votes.
Got a couple grown kids or friends that may or may not vote as well? The 1974 election in Indiana’s 8th US. House District was decided by four votes.
Or maybe its just you – no partner, no friends, no nuthin. One vote doesn’t matter, right?
Going right back to our own backyard, elections in Quebec to their National Assembly in 1994 and 2003 were tied.
Anyway you slice it, this election could turn on every single vote. If that vote is yours, wouldn’t you rather it turned on the fact that you showed up, rather than the fact that you didn’t?
(Take the pledge at votegreengov.org)
If you are a registered voter in Vermont, there is a 700x greater likelihood that you WILL BE DEAD by November 2nd than there is that you will cast a deciding vote. The odds are even higher that you will die between now and then if you are hitchhiking and Jason Gibbs happens to stop and drive you home.
Still, why take the chance that you COULD have been that deciding vote but happened to die? Seriously, a vote is a terrible thing to waste.
Be a civic minded and forward looking engaged person. Vote early and then safely drive all your friends, the ones who did not vote early, to the polls on election day.
Don’t forget to wear your seat belt and always clear the breech when driving on a bumpy road.
But you’ve convinced me. If only there were a House candidate in Franklin-2 I could support…
is that how you say all those zeroes? Place value gets worse if we let outsiders in. The denominator gets bigger and your individual vote diminishes in power. That’s why we need a Pure bred VTers platform that keeps the flatlanders out!
whoa sorry there just lapsed into BFP comments-speak.
I have faith that it can. 🙂
the guy with the richest backers (Dubie) could win based soley on votes from people who make their decision entirely based on ads that lie! The latest one I saw is once again alleging that Shumlin tried to fix his speeding ticket, even though all of the evidence clearly indicates that he did no such thing. There seems to be no defense against lies. Is there nothing to prevent some mystery group called “Near Neighbors of Peter Shumlin” from making a huge media buy for election eve with a commercial claiming he keeps a brothel? Many perfectly reasonable people simply assume that anything that is carried by the media, including attack ads, must represent the truth. If the lie is launched close enough to the election that there is no time for rebuttal, it could make all the difference in the world. The implications for the future of our democracy are terrifying.
I’m dumbfounded by the lack of initiative in the mainstream media over Dubie’s campaign lies.