One Vote.

Four years ago, on Election Eve, I shared a podcast I had heard called “One Vote”, by Radiolab - https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/one-vote. In an election that has become increasingly complex – facing a global pandemic, issues with mail-in ballots and the post office, and voter suppression across the country – I came back to this episode to remind myself of the power and privilege of each vote.

There’s a few different stories in the podcast, but the one that stuck with me most is about a polling station in Gujarat, my ancestral homeland. India has 900+ million registered voters and the Election Commission of India guidelines state that no voter should have to travel more than 2km to get to a polling station – they should be in walking distance. They have polling stations in the mountains, in the forest, and in the most remote areas of the country, including one in the Gir Forest that is set up for just one registered voter. The Gir Forest is home to an ancient Shiva temple where Mahant Bharatdas Darshandas, a priest, resides. Each election, a team is sent twelve miles into the Gir Forest to set up a polling station with a voting machine, amidst lions and other predators. They have to sleep overnight at the polling station and set up the station, where they wait for just one voter to arrive. When Darshandas arrives, they count his vote:

Government spent a lot in setting up the polling booth. People should come out and vote in large numbers. I never miss out a chance to exercise my vote. The election team especially came here for me and it shows that every vote matters. I am happy to tell you that this booth has a distinction of registering 100 per cent voter percentage.

It’s cliché for sure. The principle that every single vote counts is beautifully idealistic, but I can’t help find this story anything but endearing. No citizen, even in a country with close to 1 billion voters, should be denied a vote because they live to far from a polling station, don’t have the money to travel there, or don’t have the time to travel there. Even if that means… setting up a polling station for one person. As we here in the U.S. head into this deeply important election, I thought it was an important reminder that every single vote counts. And that we are lucky and privileged to be able to vote for our elected representatives – everyone from county court judge all the way up to the President.

-Reshma