Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 12:01:53 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Re: Voting


On Fri, 21 May 2004, roger wrote:

> i would just make one pragmatic point:  if you are voting because you
> care about the outcome (and who doesn't?), then unless the election is
> decided by one vote, you might as well stay home.  political
> scientists have noted this for decades.  since NO election (even
> florida in 2000) at the national level is EVER decided by one vote,
> then your vote really doesn't affect the outcome. 

This is simply not true. On 18 January 1961, in Zanzibar (now part of 
Tanzania), the Afro-Shirazi Party won the general elections by a single 
seat, after the seat of Chake-Chake on Pemba Island was won by a single 
vote. 

There.  Had Chake-Chake not been elected, the world might indeed be an 
entirely different place.


carp