Every Single Vote is Important

Tim Reeves

The political messages in a presidential election year can be overwhelming. The news, commercials and advertisements and talk shows are full of election information — so much, sometimes, that voters can become tuned out and turned off. It can become easy for people to say "It doesn't matter. One vote doesn't matter anyway."

But that thought has never been less true than it is today. Every vote is important ... in any and every election.

More than 35 years ago, John Kennedy was elected in one of the closest presidential elections in history. Just a handful of votes, in a few key precincts in vital states, might have altered the outcome of the election and changed history. Kennedy actually defeated Richard Nixon by a margin of less than one-third vote per precinct across America.

In 1982, Jim Thompson was elected to his third of four terms as Illinois governor in one of the state's closest elections ever. Thompson defeated Adlai Stevenson by just 5,074 votes, out of more than 3,673,000 cast.

One or two representatives to the U.S. Congress gain their seats by less than a few dozen votes in nearly every election. Local and state elections are often even closer, sometimes being decided by a mere handful of votes. In recent years one of the closest Illinois General Assembly races occurred in the 35th House District in 1994, when just 16 votes decided the election. That race was one that helped turn the Illinois House from Democratic to Republican control.

Every vote is important. . . every vote counts. Be sure that your voice is heard on Tuesday, Nov.5. Get to the polls and vote. Better yet, call a neighbor who has difficulty getting to your local polling place and make plans to take them with you.

One last comment: at the bottom of this page you may have read that I serve as chairman of Illinois ACRE, the Action Committee for Rural Electrification. ACRE is a political action committee, or PAC. You've probably heard of such "special interest groups," perhaps in a negative way. Opponents of special interest groups or PACs often imply that they're a narrow-minded, selfish "club" that exists merely for a single reason . . . and tries to trample anyone who gets in its way.

You'll often hear about "special interest money" controlling elections through campaign contributions totaling millions of dollars. Many of these contributions come from a handful of rich donors, many of them shareholders in private business and industry that stands to benefit or suffer from legislative decision-making.

On the other end of the extreme is ACRE, with about 1,000 members in Illinois and about 15,000 nationally. ACRE has two levels of membership: $25 for regular members and $100 for Century Club members. The average contribution by an ACRE member is $31. This isn't "big money influence." Instead, ACRE is all about regular people, your friends and neighbors who generally work for or serve on the boards of electric co-ops, joining together to benefit rural consumers.

We think that ACRE is exactly what Congress had in mind in campaign reform legislation of 20-plus years ago, giving the okay to establish political action committees. ACRE is a perfect example of grassroots democracy at work, representing the interests of rural people.

The system isn't perfect, but it's the best one on Earth. But it's only effective if you get involved. Remember to vote on Tuesday, Nov.5.

Tim Reeves is the chairman of Illinois ACRE, the Action Committee for Rural Electrification, the political action arm of the Illinois electric cooperatives. He's also president and general manager of Southern Illinois Power Cooperative.

4 ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING OCTOBER 1996