Today marks the date in 1920 that Tennessee became the 36th State to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. One vote in the Legislature made the difference, a young man everyone thought was on the other side, a young man with a telegram from his mother in his pocket, Representative Harry Burn, switched sides with a vote that broke a deadlock and changed history.
How much difference can YOUR one vote make? A lot. For another historic one-vote decision that made history, a young legislator from Peabody Massachusetts changed his vote and broke a tie vote that would have reinstated the death penalty in Massachusetts in 1997. Visiting the home of my youth, I was in the gallery that day to watch the brave
John P. Slattery from working class Peabody reverse course and vote not to reinstate. To this day, attempts to bring back the death penalty to Massachusetts have failed. (So far. Mitt Romney as governor tried to change the rules and a bill this year following the Marathon bombings was shelved after much bickering in the Legislature.)
Who's to say what would have happened if these courageous men hadn't bucked the tide that was sweeping through their respective States at the time?
As a campaign consultant, I have seen several close votes. I have seen elections where the vote change by few votes between election night and the time the final votes were counted from every last late vote-by-mail ballot, sometimes a full two weeks after Election Day. Your one vote could be one of these. Make it count.
Labor Day marks the beginning of campaign season. Even in these "off" years, there are elections for school boards, city councils and special districts (sewer, water, community service, etc.) Don't wait until the last minute. Save those flyers, read those editorials and attend those public forums. Your one vote just might make a historic difference in your town.
No comments:
Post a Comment