Sioux Falls just proved that one vote really does matter
Every election cycle, someone inevitably says, “My vote doesn’t matter” or “My vote doesn’t make a difference.”
Usually it’s while standing in line for coffee, scrolling social media, or explaining why they haven’t had time to look up who’s running for office. And honestly, I completely understand the frustration behind it. Most days it feels like decisions are made somewhere far away by people we’ll never meet, using acronyms we don’t understand, about issues we didn’t know existed until somebody started yelling about them on social media. It’s easy to feel disconnected.
The wild part is that we believe our choices matter everywhere else. We will drive across town because that one grocery store has tomatoes that are better than the closer store. We will spend 45 minutes reading reviews before buying a toaster. We will passionately defend our favorite pizza place as if we’ve been personally appointed to the marketing strike team.
But when it comes to decisions that shape our neighborhoods, schools, parks, streets, taxes, and communities, suddenly we become philosophers convinced that our individual actions have little to no actual impact on outcomes.
The reality is that a lot of us don’t think much about local government until something breaks. Then we become experts. The snow isn’t plowed fast enough? We have thoughts. The pool hours change? We have thoughts. The road construction unexpectedly closed that one intersection we use every day? We have a detailed five-point infrastructure plan that must be shared with the internet.
If social media has taught me anything, it’s that every community is filled with transportation engineers, budget analysts, safety experts, economic development specialists, and untapped meteorologists. It’s truly remarkable how talented we all become when mildly inconvenienced.
And despite all the noise, elections aren’t really decided by giant crowds of people marching in perfect agreement. They’re decided by everyday folks making ordinary decisions on a typical Tuesday. People who stop during lunch or on the way home from work. People who squeeze it in between soccer practice and dinner. People who don’t spend every waking hour thinking about politics.
Most of the people shaping the future of a community are probably more concerned about what they’re making for dinner than they are about political strategy. Some people probably find that frustrating, but I find it reassuring. Democracy was never intended to belong to the loudest people in the room. It belongs to the people who participate, even when they don’t think anyone is paying attention.
That’s probably why I struggle when I hear people dismiss the whole process. Government was never meant to be perfect. In many ways, it was designed to evolve as communities evolve. Not every candidate inspires confidence, and not every decision made by the government gets it right. But communities are built through thousands of small decisions made by people who choose to engage rather than sit on the sidelines. The same people who care about safe streets, well-funded schools, usable parks, sensible taxes, and whether the city finally fixes that pothole everyone complains about.
And for all our skepticism, frustration, and eye-rolling, we keep showing up. We keep sharing our opinions. We keep investing our time, energy, and attention into the places we call home. That tells me there is still something worth paying attention to. Because nobody likes getting caught in the rain without an umbrella, and nobody likes discovering that the one vote they were sure didn’t matter turned out to be the one that just might have changed it all.
Billy Mawhiney is a proud husband, father, and author in Sioux Falls who believes life is best lived around a dinner table, in a garden, or surrounded by people you care about. When he’s not chasing his next project, he can usually be found tending tomatoes, trying a new recipe, or cheering from the bleachers at a swim meet.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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