Yes, your vote does matter
by David Atkins
Regardless of the Republican disenfranchisement shenanigans, the numbers in the Virginia Attorney General's race are amazing. As of the latest count, The Republican Obenshain is ahead by 17 votes out of more than 2.2 million cast. The Attorney General is an extremely powerful position with a wide range of prosecutorial discretion. Longer term, an Obenshein victory would give the Republicans another credible candidate for statewide office. And the decision could well come down to single digits.
In Seattle, the initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 at airport-related businesses is leading by a mere 43 votes with many more still left uncounted, even as self-proclaimed Socialist candidate Sawant will come within a hair's breadth either way of taking a spot on the Seattle city council.
Locally in the city of Ventura, with 250 presumbly Democratic-leaning provisionals left to count, just 43 votes separate Republican Jim Monahan from Democratic challenger Richard Francis--and fellow Democrat Lorrie Brown is just 17 votes behind him. The council is currently split between 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats and 1 conservative-leaning Declined-to-State. The future of affordable housing, local transit and smart growth in the city may well come down to single digits as well.
Democrats may not be perfect. But let no one tell you your vote doesn't matter, least of all fools like Russell Brand. Numerically speaking, your vote does matter. And at a policy level it matters, too.
Failure to cast a vote isn't a protest against the system. When Republicans win, no one notices or cares about the people who don't vote. They just literally don't have a voice. And if just a few dozen progressives who don't think their vote matters would take the few minutes to do it, many places all across America would benefit from far better leadership and public policies.
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