"My vote doesn't really count."
How many times have you heard that? About a million times?
The idea that each of us has ONE vote is completely misleading.
The truth is, we as citizens really do hold the most power of anyone. The power of our vote is immense, and when I show you these numbers, you will be as blown away by them as I am.
"Only you know how you vote."
The "Secret Ballot" protects you from the influence of anyone else. This gives you the power to use your own mind and not be intimidated by all the noise out there trying to tell you how to think. Every vote decides just about every facet of life in the United States of America, from Washington, D.C., to your local City Commission. Your vote decides everything.
Nobody has to know how you vote.
You don't have to put up a yard sign. You don't have to discuss candidates. You don't have to argue politics at Thanksgiving. You don't have to tell your friends. You don't have to tell a political party. You don't have to tell me.
Come join me in discovering "Your Voting Power."
The citizen's vote is private. Its consequences are public.
Private Citizen > Secret Ballot > My Votes > Elected Representatives and Offices > Public Decisions > My Life.
You don't have "One" vote; you have many votes.
For 2026 in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky, a midterm election...
I don't have 1 vote, but 22 votes!
Here is a breakdown of all of the votes I can cast, and oh yes, we will also vote on a Kentucky constitutional amendment.
To remind you, those who serve in the local government, state government, and national government all have a direct effect on your life. Laws, ordinances, variances, policies, judicial appointments, law enforcement, school issues, community issues, and a lot more things get decided by people who are in those positions because they were elected to them. They are our employees. WE are the boss, not them.
This year, here is what I can vote for:
- US Senator (Statewide)
- US House of Representatives (District)
- KY Senator (District)
- KY House of Representatives (District)
- Circuit Court Judge
- District Judge (State/District)
- Property Value Administrator
- County Judge Executive (Like the Mayor of the whole county)
- County Attorney (Law enforcement - Public protection)
- County Clerk
- Sheriff
- Jailer
- Coronor
- Surveyor County
- Magistrate
- Constable
- County School Board
- BG School Board
- Bowling Green City Commissioner 1 (Max of 4 votes, but you don't have to vote for 4. Vote just for who you want.)
- Bowling Green City Commissioner 2
- Bowling Green City Commissioner 3
- Bowling Green City Commissioner 4
Now that is a lot of voting to do on one day of the year. That is a lot to understand. In fact, I'm betting a lot of people don't have a clue about what they do for us.
Here is the consequence of your 'little vote'. Plus, remember, this doesn't even include the Governor or Presidential races...
And Congress is only the top of the tree.
A state legislature adds perhaps hundreds or thousands more recorded decisions. A county fiscal court may vote dozens or hundreds of times annually. A city commission does likewise. School boards and other elected bodies add still more.
So if your question is really:
"After citizens elect their representatives, approximately how many subsequent votes do those representatives cast on their behalf?"
the answer is potentially enormous.
You cast ONE vote for a representative.
That representative may cast hundreds or thousands of votes during the term you elected them to serve.
In other words, your electoral vote isn't simply one decision. It helps determine who will exercise a stream of governmental voting power for the next several years.
Here is a breakdown...
I am a Bowling Green voter.
I cast:
ONE VOTE
for my city commissioner.
But that person participates in:
300+ governmental votes every year.
I cast:
ONE VOTE
for my county magistrate.
That person participates in perhaps:
300–500 governmental decisions annually.
I cast:
ONE VOTE
for my Kentucky representative.
That person participates in:
hundreds of legislative decisions.
I cast:
ONE VOTE
for my U.S. representative.
In 2025 that officeholder faced:
362 recorded House votes.
I cast:
ONE VOTE EACH
for my two U.S. senators.
In 2025, each Senate seat faced:
659 recorded Senate votes.
And we haven't even included school boards, judges, constitutional amendments, referenda, special districts, primaries, party nominations, committee voting, or many administrative bodies.
The officials a Bowling Green citizen helps elect collectively participate in well over 1,000—and plausibly several thousand—governmental voting decisions in an ordinary year.
Over four years, you're easily talking about thousands upon thousands of exercises of governmental voting authority downstream from the relatively small number of electoral votes the citizen personally casts.
Now how do you feel about your vote? You should see it in a completely different light.
Do you really want all of these decisions to be made without your say-so? I don't think so.
You are free
Nobody needs to know how you vote.
You are powerful.
You possess many votes, not one.
Your choices multiply.
The people you elect make hundreds of subsequent decisions.
You are protected.
Your ballot is secret.
The consequences aren't private.
Government's decisions affect everyone.
Your vote is private. Your voting power is enormous. And whether you exercise it is entirely up to you.