- For the first time ever this late in the race, a black man and a white woman were on the ticket for the Democratic presidential nomination and, for the first time in recent memory, the Tar Heel State played a decisive role in that election;
- In the Democratic primary for the 5th Congressional District seat, only 521 votes separated winner Roy Carter from runner-up Diane Hamby (79,261 voters participated in that race);
- A mere 114 votes vaulted Grey Mills into office in the 95th District in the N.C. House and ended Rep. Karen Ray’s tenure in the General Assembly (7,112 voters cast ballots, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections); and
- Right here in Iredell, only 124 votes kept Fred Coggins from capturing the Democratic nomination for the board of commissioners races this fall (32,448 voters).
Now the principles of democracy have punched another hole in the proverbial get-out-and-vote ticket, and it comes in the form of provisional ballots.
Provisional ballots — given to voters who say they have registered but aren’t on the polling place’s list — aren’t factored into preliminary findings, like the numbers printed above.
And, in some close races, provisional ballots could mean the difference between winning and losing. For example, if Hamby could capture 1,647 votes on the 2,761 provisional ballots in her race — less than 60 percent — she’ll grab the Democratic nomination from Carter.
Relative to the 80,000 or so people who participated in that election, the 1,647 votes — about 2 percent — that could decide the race seems small.
Yet ask anyone whose name appears on the ballot, and they’ll tell you no vote goes unnoticed.
Hamby told the Winston-Salem Journal that if she falls short after the provisional ballots are tallied, she’ll likely ask for a recount.
“I truly believe we need to count all the votes,” Hamby said.
If this primary election has proven anything, it’s that all votes do count.
No comments:
Post a Comment