Published October 1986 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Your Vote Counts! How many times have you heard the following Election Day excuse? "I didn't vote. My one vote won't make a difference anyway.'' I have heard it more than once, and my response is invariably: "Your vote does and will make a difference.'' On November 4, West Virginians and all Americans will have another opportunity to exercise one of the greatest privileges of U.S. citizenship: the privilege of casting a ballot in a general election. West Virginians can be proud of the fact that we typically have a higher-than-average voter turn-out. In 1984, for instance, approximately 72 percent of West Virginia's registered voters turned out on Election Day, a figure that was nearly 20 percent higher than the national turn-out. But despite West Virginia's strong tradition of going to the polls, more than a quarter of West Virginia's voters decided to stay home on Election Day 1984, and nationwide, nearly 45 percent of all Americans decided to sit on the sidelines while ballots were cast. To these Americans, I offer the following: In our nation's history, at least four Presidential elections, those of Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy-- hinged on less than one vote per precinct in one or two key states. In the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon race, for instance, one Kennedy vote in each precinct in Illinois and New Jersey was enough to swing 43 electoral votes into the Kennedy column securing a victory for Kennedy in the Electoral College. Had those few Kennedy voters switched and voted for Nixon, the margin would have been enough to throw the election into the House of Representatives. Similar small margins determined the outcome of the Cleveland, Wilson, and Truman races. But beyond those demonstrations that a single vote does count is the fact that those people who do not vote give up the opportunity to exercise one of the most important privileges of a democratic society. Through the ballot box, American voters have the power to select who will govern them. Voters have the ultimate say over the make-up of the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, local and county governments, state houses, and the highest office in the land, the Presidency. That privilege, that responsibility, is too important to give up, and I hope all eligible West Virginians will take a few minutes to vote on November 4. October 22, 1986