Your vote does matter.
Really.
Just turn back the pages of history and you’ll find many examples where one vote has determined the winner of an election.
The Lima region saw it six months ago in the May 5 primary election when Randy Manns and Tom Taylor each ended the night with 205 votes in the Kenton mayoral race. The outcome wasn’t decided until two weeks later when three provisional ballots were counted, giving Manns a 207-206 victory.
During the last three elections, Secretary of State John Husted said 70 issues and races in Ohio have been decided by one vote or tied.
“When voters stay home they allow other to make decisions for them,” Husted said. “Whether it is a statewide or local issue, every ballot question has an impact on our lives and it is important that every voice is heard.”
If it’s not one vote making a difference, it can be a handful.
In 2010, Wal-Mart narrowly won the right to sell beer on Sundays as Perry Township voters passed a local option by a mere six votes, 144-138.
You could count the difference in votes on one hand when Jesse Lowe was elected to Lima City Council in 2009. He beat Kyle Lewis in the 3rd Ward, 370-365.
In 2007, the voting ended for mayor of Harrod with Shannon Rumer and Norman Sweeney each holding down 76 votes. Also in 2007, Daniel Lambert became mayor of Buckland when he garnered 60 votes, one more than Thomas Byce.
Thirty years ago, Lima saw one of the biggest upsets in the city’s history when Mayor Harry Moyer lost his job to Gene Joseph by four votes. People were shocked as many expected Moyer would coast to a win.
History is also filled with close votes on the national level.
For example, President Andrew Johnson was acquitted 35 to 19 on all three counts in his Senate impeachment trial in 1868, one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority for conviction.
President Harry S. Truman described it best: “It’s not the hand that signs the laws that holds the destiny of America. It’s the hand that casts the ballot.”
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