How Important is One Vote? Government & Politics 2007

A little Math to get us going. Try This 1.Pick a number between 1 and 10 2.Multiply that by 9 3.Take that number and add the two digits 4.Subtract by 5 5.Count to that corresponding letter in the alphabet I.e 3 is c 4 is d ect. 6.Pick a Country that starts with that letter 7.Pick an animal that starts with the last letter of that Country 8.Pick a color that starts with the last letter of that animal 9.What do you get?

What did you come up with? Denmark, Orange, Kangaroo?

What do you see?

Voting History Too often people do not vote because they do not realize how important voting is. Here is a brief timeline of voting events The 14th Amendment recognizes African Americans as citizens, giving them the right to vote. However, state officials continue attempts to deny this right African Americans were given the right to vote in the 15th Amendment. It prohibited any state or local government from denying that right The 19th Amendment was added to the Constitution, giving women across the nation the right to vote.

More Voting History The 24th Amendment declares that no person should be denied the right to vote because they cannot pay a "poll tax." An amendment to the Voting Rights Act bans the use of literacy tests, poll taxes and other obstacles designed to keep people from voting The voting age is lowered to 18.

Why don’t people vote? What age group do you believe has the worst voter turnout? College students, ages have the worst turnout, here are some common reasons why: Many young people see politics as largely irrelevant; Negative ads and mudslinging turn them off to politics; They do not want to spend free time helping political organizations; They think the last presidential election proved their votes don’t matter Why should we vote? Does my vote really mean anything?

YES!!! Of Course Your Vote Counts In fact, for every lopsided political victory, there’s a result that is incredibly close and competitive. For example… -The 2000 Presidential Election between Al Gore and George W. Bush was decided by 5 Electoral Votes. Gore actually won the popular election (48% to 47%), but Bush had 271 EC votes to Gore’s 266.

What about the 2004 Election? The 2004 Presidential Election was not quite as close, but John Kerry would have become president had he won what state? Ohio would of swung the electoral vote his way

If you think those were close… Both of those elections were close, but they have nothing on the following items, which were all decided by one and only one vote.

In 1645, Charles I… Of England was sentenced to be executed by one vote (68 to 67). Charles was a horrible ruler, trying to gain total control of England and Scotland. At the conclusion of a Civil War, Charles was charged with treason and was convicted.

Aaron Burr, in 1800… Ran for President of the United States against the likes of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Burr and Jefferson both received 73 electoral votes. Throwing his support for Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton led a movement that resulted in Jefferson being elected.

The Result of the Dual Hamilton shoots up into the air, Burr Shoots him in the head, problem solved Not Really, Burr is charged with Treason but is never convicted

In 1845, 1850, 1889, & 1890…

In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes… Ran against Samuel Tilden for President of the United States. Tilden won the popular election, but the electoral votes were highly contested. An electoral commission was formed to settle the matter and Hayes won the election 8 to 7. The man who cast the 8th vote…was himself elected to that position by a single vote.

1776 eine Stimme gab Amerika die englishe Sprache anstelle vom Deutschen… One vote in 1776 gave America the English language instead of German.

In 1923, the election for… The Nazi party was decided by one vote. The winner was Adolf Hitler. Hitler, as you know, basically started WWII and his anti-Semitic beliefs resulted in the mass murdering of more than 6 million Jews.

Selective Service (aka ‘The Draft’)… Was saved from being eliminated by one vote in 1941, weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. Today, it is a $250,000 fine and up to 5 years in prison for failing to register.

And finally… One vote per voting precinct throughout the country would have elected Richard Nixon as president in 1960 instead of John F. Kennedy.

So is one vote really that important? Does your vote really count? Can you think of examples where your vote doesn’t mean a thing? If voting has proven to be so important and so valuable, why doesn’t everyone vote?