Rock the Vote! part 2

I remembered some more thoughts I had while filling out my ballot last night.

This happens every time I fill out a ballot: I wonder how much it really matters what I vote or even that I vote at all.

I tend to go back and forth on this for a while. I think about all the people in my city. Then I think about all the people in my county. Then I think about all the people in my state. Then I think about all the people in my country. In all of these regions, I am a speck. My opinion is this tiny little voice among thousands of voices. What difference can this little speck make?

Then I remember an exercise we did in history class in middle school. We were studying whatever time period that was before women and black people could vote. Well, it just happened to be time to elect a class president, but the teacher had us do it in a bit of a different way. She/he* took out a shuffled deck of cards and passed one card out to each of us. The two candidates for class president sat at the front of the classroom and we all went up and put our card in front of whichever candidate we wanted to vote for. I was the last student to put my card down. The teacher then tallied up the votes and announced the winner. Then the teacher said, "But if this was [insert time period we were studying here], the result would be different. If your card was an even number, you represent a man. If your card was an odd number, you represent a woman and you can't vote." So the teacher removed all of the odd-numbered cards from each candidate's pile. The teacher continued, "Also, if your card was red, you represent a white person. If your card was black, you represent a black person and you can't vote." And the teacher removed the black cards from each pile. The teacher tallied it up again and the candidate I voted for won by one vote—my vote of the 8 of hearts.

That time, my vote made the difference. Why shouldn't it now?

Of course, then I remember learning something about electoral colleges or something like that and thinking that they made my voting pointless. At this point in the thought process I tell myself to shut up and just fill out the damn ballot just in case it does count for anything.


*(honestly I don't remember what teacher this was; this was about when I really stopped caring about my schooling)