Was there hope in Alabama?
Many Democrats raised hope last week in Alabama that Roy Moore could be defeated for a senate seat. But, they wondered, could it really happen? A Democrat had not won a senate seat in Alabama since 1992.
Roy Moore was not what one could call a “slam-dunk.” He came laden with accusations of sexual harassment, even pedophilia, to say nothing of a questionable political past. Would simply being a Republican be enough to win?
Was that where hope began?
Was there hope in Virginia?
Or did hope begin back in Virginia’s 2017 election when Democrats rallied and, surprisingly, captured the Governor’s, Lieutenant Governor’s, and the Attorney General seats? Add in the 100 House seats wherein the Democrats won big and people across the country took notice.
Another surprise recorded just yesterday (December 19) revealed that Shelly Simonds won the delegate seat in Virginia. She won by one vote after a vote recount. Now the Virginia House of Delegates is balanced 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans.
Hope demands action!
Some would call the political shift a call from anger generated at the grass roots level. Anger, yes, but the political results – the wins, if you will – were born out of a perspective of hope. It was like reading the childhood story of the Little Engine That Could. The story is all about a belief that the little train could climb the mountain with a chant of, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”
That’s hope. It’s belief coupled with action.
Voter turnout challenges expectations
How does that hope translate into election wins? The simple answer that surfaces among all the finger pointing over the losses and the “hurrahs!” over the wins, is simple voter turnout. The Virginia race had the highest voter turnout in 20 years. The Alabama Secretary of State had projected that voter turnout might be as high as 20% to 25%. Instead, 38% of registered voters cast their ballots for the special election.
Hope drove voter turnout to reach much higher levels than expected.
It’s interesting to note that something happened with the recent Virginia and Alabama elections. A surprise voter turnout in Virginia perhaps fueled the hope of Democratic voters in Alabama. Does that signal a wave of Democratic voter turnout for 2018? Has a fire been lit? Is a political tsunami on the way?
Of course it’s too soon to tell.
Remember, too, that hope swings both ways. Though President Obama used the phrase of “Keep Hope Alive” for his campaigns, it is a human perspective—not one owned by any political party. Just as Democrats were inspired to go to the polls in 2017, the little-train-that-could sentiment may well fuel the Republicans to regroup in 2018 and beat the current expectation. That Republican hope may also serve to drive up voter turnout.
Voter turnout could be raised on both sides of the political spectrum because of hopes being ignited.
Equal Voice Voting brings hope, increases voter turnout
Why do I mention all of this? Equal Voice Voting encourages voter turnout. If we are to use a voting mechanism that fairly picks our next president, we also need to encourage hope. We need to encourage voter turnout. And increased voter turnout fuels future hope.
- Equal Voice Voting makes every vote count!
- Equal Voice Voting makes all states matter!
No voter should be disenfranchised because of which state he or she lives in. Sadly, that’s not what we currently experience. In 2016, 46% of voters were not represented in the election results. Over 30% of registered voters failed to vote. That means almost 63% of registered voters did NOT matter in that election.
It’s a common statistic from one election to another. That is why:
That fact kills hope. That fact erodes voter turnout. That fact must be changed.
Share this with someone else. Get angry, if you must. Become hopeful and do something (don’t just wish). Call your legislators and let them know you prefer Equal Voice Voting to what we currently endure.
Then be sure to vote!