Forty years later, we see that such legal challenges are messy affairs but that they don't permanently impair the country. They were more patient than the politicians,'' Kohut adds. Most Americans, in fact, took the crash civics lesson in stride. There is no doubt that the average American knows a great deal more about the Electoral College, the courts, and federalism than they did a month ago,'' says A.E. ''Dick'' Howard, a University of Virginia law professor. We learned not only that every vote counts but that they can count in unexpected ways.
Individual votes can determine the winner in tight elections, and they can shape other institutions.
A vote for one candidate can determine who sits on the Supreme Court, which can decide who a future President will be. If your campaign message is directed mostly to hardcore supporters, don't be surprised if the rest of the nation tunes out. As political participation has declined, the two major parties have grown dependent on ideologically driven partisans. Especially in the final weeks of the campaign, both candidates felt they had to fire up the base to spur turnout. But little more than half of all registered voters bothered to show up.