*One Vote

In 1842, Indiana farmhand Henry Shoemaker promised Madison Marsh that he would vote for him in the race for state representative. When election day rolled around, Shoemaker was so busy at work that he almost forgot to vote. Luckily, he made it to the polls on time, and cast his vote. None of the tickets had all the candidates he wanted to vote for, however, and he took out his knife to cut out the appropriate names. However, the election inspector declared Shoemaker's ballot invalid.

Once the votes were tallied, the state representative's seat was tied. Shoemaker's ballot became subject of debate and hearings, and was finally counted, winning the race for Marsh by one vote.

A few months later, the newly elected Marsh and his fellow state legislators had to elect someone to be one of Indiana's U.S. senators. The first five votes amongst the legislators resulted in ties. Finally Marsh changed his vote on the sixth ballot, and elected Edward Hannegan to the U.S. Senate by one vote.

In 1846, the Senate was deeply divided over whether the United States should declare war on Mexico. The Senate vote was tied, but Senator Hannegan was not present. He was contacted and cast his vote for the war. The United States declared war on Mexico because of that one vote.

Posted by Jennifer at November 1, 2004 12:53 PM

Tweet