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My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is (almost) over.
Tomorrow is Election Day.
Finally.
It feels like the midterm elections started on January 21, 2016, when this was the biggest news story in the land.
Ah, simpler times.
By all accounts, early voting has surged in the run-up to tomorrow, with more than 30 million votes cast thus far in the 34 states that allow it. Nearly twice as many as in 2014. What this will mean for final turnout numbers remains to be seen since we don't know how many of these early voters are people who didn't vote four years ago. Or who did, but on election day vs. early this time around.
During my time as executive director of MassVOTE, we prioritized policies like early voting and election day registration. Reforms that make voting fit more easily into the lives of most Americans, especially those with employment and/or child care responsibilities that make it difficult to get to the polls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Did you know that Congress designated this day on the calendar as our national Election Day in 1845? The History Channel explains:
[M]ost citizens worked as farmers and lived far from their polling place. Since people often traveled at least a day to vote, lawmakers needed to allow a two-day window for Election Day. Weekends were impractical, since most people spent Sundays in church, and Wednesday was market day for farmers ... Farm culture also explains why Election Day always falls in November ... after the harvest was complete, but before the arrival of harsh winter weather.
As of 2017, there are 2.05 million farms in the U.S. And farmers have cars and trucks now.
Regardless of when you decide to vote, however, please do. I know you've heard this before, but your vote -- your single vote -- really does matter. All but one election in our country is decided by the popular vote and we have seen quite a few local elections decided by a single vote. Most of those races have come in low turnout elections, adding even more weight to every single vote cast. Some races have even ended in a tie, including these memorable ones:
Virginia House of Delegates (2017): The initial vote count had Republican David Yancey up by 13 votes. After including provisional ballots, the lead was cut down to 10. After a recount, Democrat Shelly Simmonds took the lead by one vote. A three-judge panel declared that a previously excluded ballot should be counted, which then tied the election. Per the rules in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the election was decided by drawing a name from a bowl. I kid you not. Yancey's name was drawn, which gave Republicans control of the House.
Mississippi House of Representatives (2015): Democrat Blaine Eaton and Republican Mark Tullos finished tied, but Eaton won by drawing the long straw. They literally drew straws. Democracy! Tullos, however, appealed to the State legislature to review the results. They did, eventually declaring Tullos the winner.
Wyoming House of Representatives (1994): Republican Randall Luthi and independent Larry Call finished tied. The winner was decided not via a recount or another election, but, you guessed it, through the drawing of a ping pong ball out of the Governor's cowboy hat. On live television. Luthi won.
Seriously, people? Bowls, straws and ping pong balls?!?
I digress.
Yay, democracy! And, yay, voting! I will be voting tomorrow morning at my nearby senior center where the ladies have a bake sale every election. Yes, voting can be delicious too. Did you vote already? If not, where will you be voting tomorrow?
We are almost there, my friends. Unless we have more ties. Or machines are hacked or we end up jumping right into the Presidential campaign on November 7. Ugh ... I think I'll need to buy two brownies tomorrow.
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