Sorry, Kathryn

If Kathryn Dodge had just shaken one more hand.

Or kissed one more baby.

It would have been a tie.

And she might have won in the run-off.

But she didn’t, so she lost a race for a seat in the Alaska State House by just one vote.

One single vote.

And some people say they don’t vote because it doesn’t matter. Well, it mattered last month when Democrat Kathryn Dodge pulled in 2,662 votes while her opponent Republican Bart LeBon pulled in 2,663 votes.

Getting beat by one vote when one person who was for you didn’t vote because they thought their vote didn’t matter is just the same as getting beat by 100 votes when 100 people who were for you didn’t vote because they thought their votes didn’t matter.

Or 1,000 people.

Or 100,000 people.

Look how close so many state and national elections were at the mid-terms. Needless to say, every vote counts.

I certainly hope Kathryn had time to vote herself. The only thing worse than getting beat by one vote is getting beat by one vote and not having voted for yourself to at least tie it up.

Initially the two were tied with 2,661 votes apiece but after a recount it was 2,662 for Kathryn and 2,663 for Bart. If I was Kathryn I would have checked to make sure Bart wasn’t standing with his foot on a ballot or two that might have fallen off the counting table.

Kathryn was quoted as saying, “People kept calling it close. I just didn’t know it was going to be squeaky.”

Losing by one vote is certainly squeaky.

Which actually meant two more votes came in for Bart than for Kathryn.

And since Bart is a Republican, there’s no question those two votes were sent in by the Russians.

EXPO deal 1