What would you say was the most important event in any democracy/republic that was settled by a victory of just one vote from the public at large. (i.e Joe Average decided to get out of bed and vote, and his contribution made a noticiable difference)
I’d put this in GQ, but the ‘most important’ may be too subjective.
Well, not exactly the public at large, but the first thought that came to mind was President Andrew Johnson’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
Another that was “not by the public at large” – I believe that when Tennessee voted to give women the right to vote, that passed the Constitutional Amendment. If I am correct, the vote in the Tennessee legislature had a one vote margin.
Of course, the 2000 US presidential election was resolved with a 5/4 SCOTUS vote, but again, this was not decided by the public at large.
I won Junior class president by only 2 votes.
I lost my race for fifth-grade class president by one vote - my own. It was an open ballot, I was just trying to be a nice guy! :smack:
Congress approved expansion of the draft before WW2 by a single vote, IIRC. Vice President Gore broke a tie in the Senate to approve the Clinton budget in '93. I don’t know of any major issues before the general public which were decided by just a single vote - the larger the electorate, the less likely it is that the question will come down to just a single vote.
Let’s try to stay on topic here!
There’s an oft repeated legend that Hitler was elected by one vote. Any truth to the story?
heh. As put in the Daily Show’s America: The Book: “Chief Justice William Rehnquist was lucky enough to get to vote for George W. Bush twice. The second time counted more.”
No. The vote was 533 for Hitler, 1 against.
I wonder what happened to the one dissenter.
some other “one vote” myths debunked there as well.
No. The confusion probably came from this event, as related in Wikipedia:
You are not alone. The prime ministerial career of John Gorton was ended by his own vote to break a tie in the Liberal Party caucus.