Republished from
Lesbian Health News
Vol. 11, No. 4, July/August 2004, Page 3.



ONE VOTE!

We, the Citizens of the United States, are at a time of great change. We are at a nexus in the history of our nation, and the direction that we will take, as a nation, rests with each of us. Every four years we get the chance to overthrow the government and install a new one. This quatre-annual revolution is called a Presidential Election.

There is a story of grand parents teaching their children about how important it is to work together. Grandfather gave a single arrow to the youngest, weakest child and said, “Break it”, which the child easily did. Then Grandmother gave a bundle of arrows to the oldest, strongest child and said, “Break it.” Try as hard as hard can be, the oldest child could not break the bundle of arrows.

Your vote is an arrow. Alone, it’s admittedly weak, but bundled with other votes, it becomes a powerful force that changes nations. If you don’t vote, you weaken the bundle. Not voting is voting for the other guy. Your vote counts.

In the 2000 Presidential Election, the American People suffered a blow to their voting rights, to have the fair and impartial count of their votes because of the disenfranchisement of voters in the State of Florida. And, it lead to questions about the currently sitting President’s right to hold that office. The vote was questionably close, and the determination to put the Honourable George W. Bush into the Oval Office was made on the basis of less than five hundred votes. To insure that it doesn’t happen again, a clear majority of voters, for one side or the other has to be heard.

Do you think that your vote doesn’t count? It did count in the 2000 Presidential Election. It did count, even if you were one of those disenfranchised Florida voters whose vote was ignored, or was misrepresented on a faulty ballot. It counted if you didn’t vote for the sake of frustration or apathy. It counted in its absence! It would have changed the outcome of the election because more votes, one way or the other, could have weighed in and tipped the balance away from the questionable nature of the 2000 Election’s outcome. Your vote counts.

Casting your ballot is one of the fundamental rights that distinguishes the United States. During the Ohio Primary Election this year, I was working as the Presiding Election Judge for my ward and precinct. One voter, a newly naturalized American Citizen who had arrived from Cuba, told us of Cuban Citizens who were imprisoned, without trial, for simply suggesting that Fidel Castro hold an election to determine if the Cuban People want to continue to have him as the leader of the Cuban Nation. Merely suggesting to have an election brought summary imprisonment. This voter told us that the ability to cast a ballot meant so much to her that it was almost overwhelming. She was literally close to tears. We who are born here, we who have enjoyed our freedoms and take them for granted will not fully appreciate them unless we realize the struggle that the lack of them creates.

One vote can change the world:

  • One vote gave Oliver Cromwell control of England in 1645.
  • One vote caused Charles I of England to be executed in 1649.
  • One vote gave America the English language instead of German in 1776.
  • One vote elected Marcus Morton Governor of Massachusetts in 1839.
  • One vote brought Texas into the Union in 1845.
  • One vote saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment in 1868.
  • One vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic in 1875.
  • One vote - just ONE vote - gave Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency of the United States in 1876.
  • One vote gave Adolph Hitler leadership of the Nazi party in 1923.
  • One vote saved Selective Service – just 12 weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941.
  • John F. Kennedy won the Presidential Election by less than One vote per precinct in 1960.
  • And in 1977, the Mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan was elected by One vote.

If you don’t vote, don’t complain about the person who gets elected, because you elected them by not voting against them. If you don’t participate, then don’t complain about the choices of the people who do, because your lack of participation is a choice for the things that you don’t want.

Our collective voice brings balance to our culture when we ALL participate, even when an election doesn’t bring about the result that we, as individuals, desire. If you don’t think that politicians look closely at the numbers that are against them, then you’d be mistaken. The vote for the opposition sends a message to our elected officials that expresses the minority opinion as a relevant part of the greater constituency - a part that could bring about their defeat in the election that follows.

Your vote counts. Register to vote, and go vote in the next election.

Cheryl J. Mason-Middleton
24 May 2k4




Webpage built by Cheryl J. Mason-Middleton, BFA. This page was last modified on 08/25/04. Copyright © 1999-2009 Cheryl Janice Mason-Middleton.