Op-ed rebuts 'my vote don't matter' claim
The gist
Two US opinion pieces argue voters should cast ballots even when a single vote seems powerless.
The pieces cite 2024 races decided by 187 votes and 61% of nonvoters doubting their impact.
How it unfolded
- 2024In the House, Democrat Adam Gray won his seat by 187 votes, or .09%, with more than 200,000 ballots cast; Derek Tran won by 653 votes in California, and other races were decided by margins from hundreds to 10,000 votes.
- 2024Republicans' three-seat House margin was decided by 0.005% of the 147.5 million votes cast, and 47 elections nationwide were decided by a single vote or ended in a tie.
- 2024Pew Research Center found 61% of Americans who did not vote in the presidential election were driven to some extent by a belief their individual vote could not make a difference; another survey found 28% of abstainers named 'My vote doesn't matter' among their top three reasons.