NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm doing a project for my teacher. She wants a slide show with a bunch of different things. One of the things she wants is a slide with a bunch of times that one vote has mattered. For example she wants something like "In 1940 Hitler was elected by less than 4 votes" (I know that's not true). I've looked everywhere (yes I googled and yahoo and even ask.com) can anybody give me help please?

Legislatures are definitely the best place to look into. Important bills going through that were hung votes, that sort of thing.

Also, the Simpsons, episode called "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken"

I've seen elections decided by a dozen votes, possibly less. Of course, those were things like school board and city council..

Rutherford Hayes won by one electoral vote.

Didn't Andrew Jackson also escaped impeachment by one vote?

I'm doing a project for my teacher

tell her to do her own damn job and stop exploiting you :p

I seem to recall in the last state to vote for the 19th amendment, it came down to one man. He was set to vote no, but got a note (as opposed to a mote...) from his mother asking him to vote yes, and he did so. He later said something to the effect that a fellow can't say no to his mother.

Okay, here's what I found...

The last required 36th state to ratify was Tennessee, who barely ratified the amendment on August 18, 1920. The Tennessee vote to ratify hinged on one vote, the vote of a 24-year-old state legislator by the name of Harry Burn. He had originally voted against ratification. He changed his vote after his mother urged him to do so. Even after his vote, anti-suffrage rallies were held and anti-suffrage state legislators left the state so that a legislative quorum could not achieved. The Tennessee ratification was achieved and the required 36 states met the constitutional requirement.

Quoted from http://okok.essortment.com/womenssuffrage_rnim.htm

I'm doing a project for my teacher. She wants a slide show with a bunch of different things. One of the things she wants is a slide with a bunch of times that one vote has mattered. For example she wants something like "In 1940 Hitler was elected by less than 4 votes" (I know that's not true). I've looked everywhere (yes I googled and yahoo and even ask.com) can anybody give me help please?

At minor levels, there have been very near elections... in some places, if they are a dead-tie, or within two votes, the election is decided by a game of chance:

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A dead woman won re-election to a school board in rural Alaska after her opponent lost a coin flip meant to break an electoral tie."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15489757/

At minor levels, there have been very near elections... in some places, if they are a dead-tie, or within two votes, the election is decided by a game of chance:

"ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A dead woman won re-election to a school board in rural Alaska after her opponent lost a coin flip meant to break an electoral tie."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15489757/

Alaska, eh? :)

Didn't Andrew Jackson also escaped impeachment by one vote?

Andrew Johnson--Lincoln's successor.

Andrew Johnson--Lincoln's successor.

Hmm, I know one president back in the early days escaped impeachment by one vote.

Andrew Johnson--Lincoln's successor.

And he was impeached. He just wasn't convicted.

I seem to recall in the last state to vote for the 19th amendment, it came down to one man. He was set to vote no, but got a note (as opposed to a mote...) from his mother asking him to vote yes, and he did so. He later said something to the effect that a fellow can't say no to his mother.

Okay, here's what I found...

The last required 36th state to ratify was Tennessee, who barely ratified the amendment on August 18, 1920. The Tennessee vote to ratify hinged on one vote, the vote of a 24-year-old state legislator by the name of Harry Burn. He had originally voted against ratification. He changed his vote after his mother urged him to do so. Even after his vote, anti-suffrage rallies were held and anti-suffrage state legislators left the state so that a legislative quorum could not achieved. The Tennessee ratification was achieved and the required 36 states met the constitutional requirement.

Quoted from http://okok.essortment.com/womenssuffrage_rnim.htm


thats a great one espectualy since she wants me to add pictures of women sufferage (19th amd) one of the civil war amendments (15th) and the pics of the 26th amendment (which is kinda hard). I really do apperciate all the help from everyone

Down here in New Zealand, prostitution became legal by one vote (Muslim MP Ashraf Choudhary abstained, making the Prostitution Reform Bill pass by a 60-59 majority). We once had a government that survived thanks to the votes of 100 people in two electorates, and the same government fell because one of their members, Marilyn Waring, looked like she was about to cross the floor.

Then of course, with the Supreme Court Case, Bush v. Gore, the recounts were deemed unconstitutional by one vote.

LOok into socal elections. A lot of times those are decided by a vote.

the andrew jackson one is a good one too. wasn't there another election decided by one vote other than bush v gore?

It happens.

In 1840, John Janney was Chairman of the Whig Party Convention in Virginia. This convention nominated William Henry Harrison for President. John Janney and John Tyler were the nominees for Vice President. When the vote of the convention was a tie, Janney as Chairman did the honourable thing and voted for Tyler. Harrison won the election but died soon after, and John Tyler became President. John Janney lost the presidency by one vote... his own

can anybody give me help please?

In 1999, in India, the Vajpayee govt was defeated by one vote in a no-confidence motion. After a cost of 1000s of crores, the very same govt was elected again.

Down here in New Zealand, prostitution became legal by one vote (Muslim MP Ashraf Choudhary abstained, making the Prostitution Reform Bill pass by a 60-59 majority). We once had a government that survived thanks to the votes of 100 people in two electorates, and the same government fell because one of their members, Marilyn Waring, looked like she was about to cross the floor.

Then of course, with the Supreme Court Case, Bush v. Gore, the recounts were deemed unconstitutional by one vote.
Good examples. Another from New Zealand = Alamein Kopu brought down a government when she left the party she was a Member or Parliament for but refused to leave Parliament; the incident resulted in significant electoral law reform.

Blair had one of his education Bills defeated by 1 vote I think... If he had bothered to turn up and vote hiself it would have passed or something like that sorry I cant be anymore help...

Cheeky answer - When it's a dictatorship?

not a election thing, but still a case of 'one vote mattering' occurred during the Cuban missile crisis.
During the blockade, US forces detected a USSR submarine. They started depth-charging it. Unbeknownst to the US ship, this sub was carrying Nuclear missiles.
The Captain of the sub had a decision to make:
Would he take this attack as the signal that all-out war had broken out and so launch his nukes, or would he surface and surrender?

As they were underwater, they had no contact with Moscow, so had no idea what was going on above.

To launch the nukes, there needed to be unanimous vote amongst the top brass on board. Out of them, all (including the captain) agreed to launch - except one. He faced the others saying he would not be responsible for the start of WWIII.
And because of him, we didn't have WWIII.
poor sod was totally villified when he got home

Tell her that the day one vote will matter more than ever before is the day that said one vote won't be allowed.

Good examples. Another from New Zealand = Alamein Kopu brought down a government when she left the party she was a Member or Parliament for but refused to leave Parliament; the incident resulted in significant electoral law reform.

Errr? Alamein Kopu never brought down a government; she crossed the floor to prop up the Fourth National Government. It was not just Kopu either that caused the problems, it was the tight five as well.

Didn't Andrew Jackson also escaped impeachment by one vote?

Andrew Johnson--Lincoln's successor.

And he was impeached. He just wasn't convicted.

Yeah, there was a Senator from Kansas named Edmund Ross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_G._Ross) whose single vote prevented conviction.

A good source on that would be JFK's Profiles In Courage (http://www.amazon.com/Profiles-Courage-Perennial-Classics-Fitzgerald/dp/0060955449). Depending on your teacher, the mere citation of JFK could earn you huge schmooze points.

(Damn, I wish Al Gore had invented the Internet when I was in school. Homework would have been so much easier! ;) )

Back in 1800, everyone would cast two votes, with the highest vote-getter being president and second highest being VP. The Democratic-Republicans planned to have one person vote for Thomas Jefferson but not Aaron Burr, but due to a mistake, Jefferson and Burr tied for first place. The Federalists were loathe to see jefferson in office, so the US needed no less than 36 votes to determine who'd be president (Jefferson) and who'd be VP, and they didn't have a final result until February 17th, 1801!

Didn't London get stuffed with the olympics by one vote or something?

Good examples. Another from New Zealand = Alamein Kopu brought down a government when she left the party she was a Member or Parliament for but refused to leave Parliament; the incident resulted in significant electoral law reform.
ahhh...I think you're thinking of the 1984 election and Marilyn Waring.
After the 1981 election, National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. Labour and Social Cred were Left of Centre, but that still meant National (a right-wing party) had a two seat majority.
However, Marilyn Waring and Mike Minogue weren't too happy with the PM, Robert Muldoon, and threatened to withdraw their support.
It finally came to a head in late 83 (iirc) when Waring announced she would support a Labour anti-nuclear bill.
Having Waring vote against National would have now meant a tied Parliament.

In response Muldoon, very drunk at the time, announced a snap election.
National lost badly (losing 10 seats) and Labour came to power (gaining 13 seats) for the first time in 9 years.

Why he did this is open to conjecture. Waring was only threatening to vote against one specific bill, not defect. So National could have still theoretically governed.
General consensus is that Muldoon was hoping the snap election would reinforce his mandate to govern. whoops.

Rutherford Hayes won by one electoral vote.
Emphasis mine.

Blair had one of his education Bills defeated by 1 vote I think... If he had bothered to turn up and vote hiself it would have passed or something like that sorry I cant be anymore help...
Unfortunately not. Enough Labour MPs voted against it in order to defeat it had the Opposition voted against it, but being the good little Conservative PM he is, he managed to use Tory votes to get it through.

The United States Declaration of Independence is a good example. According to the legend, John Morton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Morton_%28politician%29) came into the meeting late, when everyone else had already voted without reaching a conclusion. His vote shifted the result in favor of the declaration.

As he was of Finnish origin, my high-school history teacher liked to say jokingly that independence was Finland's gift to America. :D

There is a list in this article

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/ideas/041102one.html

Tell her to fuck off and set some real homework.:)

There is also Elijah Harper and his defeat of Meech Lake:

In 1990, Harper achieved national fame by holding an eagle feather as he took his stand in the Manitoba legislature and refused to accept the Meech Lake Accord proposed by the federal government. The accord did not guarantee rights to Canada's Aboriginal peoples. Harper's refusal meant that the Manitoba assembly could not achieve the unanimous consent it needed to approve the Accord before a previously set deadline. As a result, Newfoundland premier Clyde Wells cancelled a proposed vote on the Accord in the Newfoundland legislature; thus the Accord failed to pass in both Manitoba and Newfoundland, and it did not become law. Harper also opposed the Charlottetown Accord in 1992, despite the fact that Assembly of First Nations Chief Ovide Mercredi supported it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Harper

And here is a radio interview with him about his one vote:
http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-73-1180-6773/politics_economy/meech_lake/

Tell her to fuck off and set some real homework.:)

I'm doing it as a favor for some voter sign up stuff.


I got some good onces just for FYI

1 vote gave oliver cronwell control of england

1 vote cost King Charles I his head (67 against 68 for)

In 1846 US senate approved Polk's request for a Delaration of war against Mexico

On November 8, 1923 members of the then recently formed revolutionary political party met to elect a leader in a Munich, Germany beer hall. By a marjority of 1 vote, they chose an ex-soldier named Adolph Hitler to become the NAZI party leader.

The draft (1941) passed by a one vote margin weeks before pearl harbor

1993 US senate approved a tax increase by 1 vote

oh and 1714 1 vote placed King George I on the throne of England and restored the monarchy

and Texas was admitted to the union as a state by one vote

ahhh...I think you're thinking of the 1984 election and Marilyn Waring.
After the 1981 election, National had 47 seats, Labour 43 and Social Credit 2. Labour and Social Cred were Left of Centre, but that still meant National (a right-wing party) had a two seat majority.
However, Marilyn Waring and Mike Minogue weren't too happy with the PM, Robert Muldoon, and threatened to withdraw their support.
It finally came to a head in late 83 (iirc) when Waring announced she would support a Labour anti-nuclear bill.
Having Waring vote against National would have now meant a tied Parliament.

In response Muldoon, very drunk at the time, announced a snap election.
National lost badly (losing 10 seats) and Labour came to power (gaining 13 seats) for the first time in 9 years.

Why he did this is open to conjecture. Waring was only threatening to vote against one specific bill, not defect. So National could have still theoretically governed.
General consensus is that Muldoon was hoping the snap election would reinforce his mandate to govern. whoops.

As a Kiwi myself, personally I think Muldoon was trying to pre-empt Waring. Waring may have stayed with National, however, she could have very easily pulled out and actually, there would not have been a tied Parliament; the opposition would have had a one vote majority (back then, the Speaker did not vote unless there was a tie). Also, I believe that no-one expected that the Labour Party could get policy ready within a month; certainly a film made about the snap election in the early 1990s suggested that Labour itself almost failed to get its policy out in time.

Also, I think that Muldoon ignored the threat of the New Zealand Party - in the 1984 election they took over 200,000 votes (had they all voted National, which would have been likely, National would have had a significant majority). Certainly the Labour victory of 1984 was necessary to save the nation's economy.

A few years ago, Fiddlebottoms held a referendum on whether he should punch some guy in the face. The referendum passed by one vote, and as a result Fiddlebottoms was suspended for 3 days.
Of course, Fiddlebottoms consituted the entirety of the electorate on that day, so that should probably be taken into account.

I believe the rotten boroughs of the UK were eamples of this. This is where a massively small number of people have tovote for an mp being of euqual power to mp's elsewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_borough