and last night is clear proof.
Across the State and Nation, people went to the polls on various candidates and issues. Some races were decided by thousands, some by hundreds, some by dozens, and one local one was decided by one.
Voters in Virginia elected a Republican by a 300,000 vote margin, and voters in New Jersey elected another Republican by a 100,000 vote margin. Doug Hoffman, the man many Republicans broke party loyalty to side with (and then got mad when the Republican in the race broke party loyalty and endorsed the Democrat) lost to the Democrat by 4,000 votes.
Chris Pike won his Albany City Commission Ward 3 race by 250 votes while Kellie Weeks, a good friend of mine who was running for Gainesville School Board, lost her race by just under 150 votes. Obviously, I lost my own race last night by 50 votes.
Last night, Douglas County (just west of Atlanta on I-20) passed a SPLOST by a margin of 50.21% – 49.79%. 55,000 people voted for President in Douglas County last year. Only 8,000 voted on a tax increase last night. It passed by a 32 vote margin. Across the State in Pooler, GA – just outside Savannah – my friend Jay Melvin lost his race by a mere 36 votes. Jay lost his last race by just a SINGLE vote.
And in Smithville Ward 4, no one elected the winner, the incumbent who was running unopposed and yet got ZERO votes!
So yes, voting absolutely matters. There is an election every year on the first Tuesday in November, and we need to show up every single time. Local leaders have a MUCH more direct impact on our lives than Washington or even Atlanta, and we need to participate in those elections just as much – if not more – than we participate in State and National elections.
