The Power of One Vote

In 2019 I had just moved to Boston and was voting in my first local City Council election. I went to forums and candidate events to make sure I knew who shared my values. In Boston you vote for a district councilor and then vote for your top four choices for the four at-large city-wide seats. That year there were over 40 folks running for city council — so the choice was a difficult one. I cast my ballot with pride and then sat back waiting for the results. On election night, the fourth- and fifth-place finishers in the at-large race were so close it went to a recount. Weeks later and after thousands of volunteer hours of people hand-recounting every ballot, Julia Mejia won that seat by ONE single vote: 22,492–22,491. That is tens of thousands of people who know that their vote mattered, and I was one of them. I had voted in that election, so it felt like I had personally swayed the outcome! <a href="https://bthechange.com/the-power-of-one-vote-aaf57d8e6a70">Read More</a>