I don’t know if you remember what happened in one Virginia state legislative race last year.<\/p>\n
I’ll never forget it because it came down to a single vote. One vote, from one person. That one person marked his ballot so weirdly, it was up to a bunch of vote counters to determine whether the ballot should be tossed or counted — that is, whether the counters should interpret what that ballot was trying to say.<\/p>\n
The ballot should not have been counted and Shelly Simonds, the Democrat, should have won that election by a single vote. But the ballot was<\/em> counted, so the election was tied. And the winner was henceforth determined by…pulling a piece of paper out of a jar.<\/p>\n Simonds lost. So to speak.<\/p>\n She ran again and last week won decisively.<\/a><\/p>\n I want to believe every Virginian in that district remembered that ballot and said, “OMG! This year I have to get to the polls and vote because my vote could determine this election.”<\/p>\n So: one person, one vote. Because your one, single, lonely vote could determine the fate of democracy. I’m exaggerating, but only very slightly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t know if you remember what happened in one Virginia state legislative race last year. I’ll never forget it because it came down to a single vote. One vote, from one person. That one person marked his ballot so … Continue reading