WAHOO!

Kloppenberg declares victory over Prosser with a razor-thin margin of 206 votes.

It may not seem like such a big victory for JoAnne Kloppenberg, considering the tiny majority with which she won, but there is much to celebrate today. For one thing, there was some serious voter turnout for yesterday's election. Some precincts ran out of ballots and had to order more. The vote-counting was a nail biter to the end. I've got a raging headache from it all, to be honest, though I tried not to stay glued to the computer too much following updates last night and today. For another thing, Kloppenberg was running against a well-established incumbent. Normally Prosser would have won the race by a landslide for no other reason than the fact that he's already held the position for more than a decade (he was appointed in the late 1990s, then elected in 2001).

Maybe it's the bit of unexpected sunshine this afternoon, or maybe it's the first crocus we found blooming in the front yard today, but my despair of the past few days is turning hopeful.



When people show up in droves at the polls to exercise their democratic rights (I would go so far as to say "responsibility" but let's not go there for now) and be engaged in the election process, I am encouraged. Voting DOES matter. Elections DO have consequences.



And considering the unexpected dramatic turns and political finagling over the last few months...well, I expect things will continue to stay very, very interesting.