• SITE
• HOMES
• MOTORS
• CAREERS
• STUFF

We’ve had the perfect civics lesson in our Victoria school board election contest between Tami Keeling and Charlie Jaynes.

In this election, the result was 581 votes for Keeling and 581 votes for Jaynes. Just one vote would have made the difference. Even after the recount, the election results remain the same. So the Victoria school board of trustees will have to set a special election to settle who wins the trustee seat.

A tentative date is June 14 for the special election.

If the same number of people vote, it is possible that the same tie would be the result. But there is the possibility of some voters not voting a second time, and there is the possibility that some voters will change their minds. Then there is the possibility that there will be new voters in the six precincts the election is specifically for but only if the new voters registered to vote at least 30 days before the election date.

Regardless, one vote can change the outcome. And a one-vote determination has happened before.

According to the Web site http://www.eagleforum.org, and the book “Magnificent Destiny,” one vote in the U.S. Senate determined that Texas would be allowed to become a state in 1845.

Earlier in 1800, the result of the electoral-college vote was a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, so the election of the next president was determined in the House of Representatives with one vote more for Jefferson, who became our third president.

Some think that a special election to determine who wins the board position is costly at $10,000. That is a lot of money for an election, but, in the end result, an election is the democratic way of doing things, not a flip of a coin. The voters who voted for either candidate would feel cheated if a flip of a coin decided the election. The candidates, too, would feel cheated by a coin flip.

We have our democratic process, and it will work fine, even if it is a one-vote difference.