What Difference Can ONE Vote Make?

I am going to share this week some legislative information about an issue very near and dear to my heart. It concerns the subject of abortion, and while I am not a one-issue candidate, I believe a politician's views on the right to life are critical, as those views influence many of the decisions that need to be made by a legislator. On April 27, 2009, HF 1362, amendment 522 was offered by State Representative Fritz, who serves Faribault for the DFL(26B). This amendment would have discontinued taxpayer funding for abortion in Minnesota. There was discussion from Democrats and Republicans alike, with speakers reminding their peers that many, many Minnesotans are outraged by the practice of abortion and the killing of our pre-born children. Rep. Gottwald (R-15A-St. Cloud) pleaded with members to vote "yes", as the majority of Minnesotans do NOT want their tax dollars funding the ending of human life. Rep. Liebling (D-Dist. 30A Rochester) urged members to vote "no" on the amendment, citing fear of court challenges. Can we find no better reason than that to direct our tax dollars away from destructive practices such as abortion? And is it really ok to force Minnesotans that respect and value the life of the pre-born child to spend their tax dollars destroying that life?

The vote was taken, and it ended in a tie-66 aye's and 66 no's, which meant that the amendment had failed. I have thought often since that day about the fact that if just ONE more pro-life representative were in the House, we would have had a huge victory for the taxpayers in Minnesota and would have presumably saved the lives of many pre-born children. In our area of District 56, both representatives from A and B voted against this amendment. Had Lee Bohlsen or myself been sitting in those seats, this amendment would have passed.

In doing my research for this post, I found that there were nearly 100 tie votes this year in the Minnesota House. We will be looking at some of those votes in future posts to show the people once again the difference that ONE vote can make.