One voter in each precinct of the United States will determine the next president of the United States.
One vote . . . that's a big weapon you have there, Mister.
In 1948, just one additional vote in each precinct would have elected Dewey. In 1960, one vote in each precinct in Illinois would have elected
Nixon . . . one vote.
One morning in 1844, a grain miller from DeKalb County, Indiana, was walking toward his mill.
It was Election Day, but he had work to do and did not intend to vote.
Before he reached the mill, however, he was stopped by friends who persuaded him to go to the polls.
As it happened, the candidate for whom he voted won a seat in the state legislature-by a margin of one vote.
Now, when the Indiana Legislature convened, the man elected from DeKalb cast the deciding vote that sent Edward Allen Hennegan to the United States Senate.
Then, in the Senate, when the question of statehood for Texas came up, there was a tie vote.
But who do you suppose was presiding as president pro tempore?
Hennegan. He cast the deciding vote from the chair. So, Texas was admitted to the union because a miller in DeKalb County, Indiana, went 10 minutes out of his way to
cast . . . one vote.
More? Thomas Jefferson was elected president by one vote in the Electoral College. So was John Quincy Adams. One vote gave statehood to California, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington.
The Draft Act of World War II passed the House by one vote.
Almost 200 million Americans are eligible to vote this year.
Less than half will. Plato said it: "The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
So your vote is important. Historically, you use
it . . . or you lose it. Tell the world you no longer want to think and act for yourself, but don't figure you can relax and let George do it.
Because sometimes, George sells his vote for a bottle of cheap booze to the very men who stand for everything you are against.
If you're not sure for whom you should vote, turn to a newspaper you can trust.
Because everything we've won in 10 wars at the point of a gun can be taken away one vote at a time.
Edmund Burke said it another way: "All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in this world is for enough good men to do nothing."
Paul Harvey
Election Day History
Why the first Tuesday in November?
For much of our history, America was a predominantly agrarian society.
Law makers therefore took into account that November was perhaps the most convenient month for farmers and rural workers to be able to travel to the polls.
The fall harvest was over, (remember that spring was planting time and summer was taken up with working the fields and tending the crops) but in the majority of the nation the weather was still mild enough to permit travel over unimproved roads.
Why Tuesday?
Since most residents of rural America had to travel a significant distance to the county seat in order to vote, Monday was not considered reasonable since many people would need to begin travel on Sunday.
This would, of course, have conflicted with Church services and Sunday worship.
Why the first Tuesday after the first Monday?
Lawmakers wanted to prevent election day from falling on the first of November for two reasons.
First, November 1st is All Saints Day, a Holy Day for Roman Catholics.
Second, most merchants were in the habit of doing their books from the preceding month on the 1st.
Apparently, Congress was worried that the economic success or failure of the previous month might prove an undue influence on the vote!
