Election Eve...

There is no doubt that history is being made tomorrow and the people of America who will come out in record numbers to wait in line, sometimes for hours, to cast their vote and do their duty as US citizens. Here's some interesting data to put the election of our leaders into some different light.

In the 2000 Presidential Election, Bush won the electoral college vote, but not the popular vote. The overall population of America was right around 281 million people with approximately 168 million people who are 18 and over and that could vote. There were an estimated 118 million registered voters of which 101 million actually voted. Bush won the election with 47.9% of the popular vote (again, Gore won the total number of votes) which translates to approximately 48.6 million people voting for Bush in 2000.

That means that in the 2000 Presidential election, 28.8% of eligible voters elected Bush to his first term as President. That means 71.2% didn't.

In the 2004 Presidential election, our nation was slightly larger with an overall population of approximately 298 million people with a little over 190 million people of voting age. There were approximately 137 million registered voters with 122 million casting their ballots. Bush won this election over John Kerry by a better margin than Gore, although he bested Kerry with winning 51% of the vote.

That means that in 2004, 32.7% of eligible voters elected Bush to his second term. About one-in-three.

What this tells me is that the roughly 25% of eligible voters who haven't or will not register to vote and those who are registered but who choose not to vote have absolutely no bitching rights to the leadership of the country. They exercised their right to not vote - but by doing such they've allowed others to chose that path for them which, in turn, means no complaining.

What this also tells me is that in hotly contested elections, at best we have 33% approval rate from the get go for the newly elected president. 67% of the nation didn't want him there (or voted by their silence).

This election is poised to be the greatest turn out in the history of American voting. Somewhere around 130 million people are expected to vote and with Obama leading with a fairly wide margin in almost all polls, he has an excellent chance of pulling this off. That's if people don't get cocky and not vote.

In that lies the rub people just need to get out and vote. American polling stations are run by local governments. Precincts are designed to have enough machines for expected voter turn out, but in some cases, turn our is much more than expected (which makes me think that we've been far too lazy as voting citizens that our polling stations are underestimating their work by that much). People need to demand that they do their part.

And if you don't think your vote counts, then you're not looking at it properly. Your vote is one in a large chorus of people who are all voicing their opinion on the best for our collective nation at a single time. One solitary voice is meek, but a chorus of millions is deafening. And in this day and age, you need to be pretty loud to make things happen.

So, if you haven't done it yet by early voting or if you're thinking of skipping it - don't. Head down to your precinct and vote. Do it for yourself and know that you did something - plus, if your horse doesn't win, you have at least earned the right to complain.