With probably one of the most consequential midterms in my lifetime coming up…yeah, I know we’ve said that before, but this time it’s really crucial…I thought it might be timely to pick out the most interesting facts about elections and voting. Frankly, some of these surprised me, and some did not. The whole world is watching the US right now because they cannot imagine how we’ve let ourselves get into this quagmire. I can hardly understand myself, but let’s take a look at the ten most interesting facts.

While our country celebrates our independence on the Fourth of July because that is when we won our independence in 1776, it wasn’t until 1788/1789 that we had our first presidential election. I state 1788/1789 because the elections were held between December 15, 1788 to January 7, 1789…so yes, you do the math…11+ years later, and not on one day in November.
While white women won the right to vote in 1920, black women had to wait until 1965. And if you don’t understand how we’re even more sexist than we are racist, black men won the right to vote in 1870 with the 15th Amendment, nearly 100 years before black women, and 50 years before white women. And it wasn’t just black women; First Nations, Asian Immigrants, and Hispanic women did not win the right to vote in 1920 because of citizenship status (a travesty for First Nations women), literacy tests, and poll taxes. While in 1924 First Nations women gained citizenship, as late as 1962, some states prevented them from voting on contrived grounds like literacy tests and residence on a reservation, which meant they weren’t residents of the state. First-generation Asian American women did not get the right to vote until 1952 with the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Finally, Hispanic women who could not pass literacy tests had to wait until 1975, with the extension of the Voting Rights Act. Granted, for people of color in these categories, it applied to both men and women, so racism prevailed over sexism.
The first time a president did not win the popular vote was in 1824, when John Quincy Adams prevailed over Andrew Jackson. But wait…there is more. Because on the first go-around Jackson got more electoral votes than Adams, but because there were four candidates with enough votes to skew the results and no clear majority, the decision was deferred to the House, who could only vote on the top three contenders. With Henry Clay out of the running, his votes shifted to Adams.
In 1845, a law was passed to establish that elections occur on the first Tuesday in November, mainly because many citizens were farmers, had a long way to travel to vote, and by early November, the harvesting season was mostly finished.
In 1971, the 26th Amendment reduced the voting age in the United States from 21 to 18 years of age. The first 18-year-olds voted in the 1972 elections. I still wasn’t old enough to vote in the 1972 election; I would have to wait until 1980, barely missing the presidential election in 1976. I did not vote for Reagan.
The first election to use a voting machine was in 1892.
Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital.
George Washington was the only president not tied to one political party.
The highest turnover rate in elections was not in 2020 with 66.6%, but in 1876, with 82.6 percent of eligible voters (of course, none of those voters were women or non-black men of color).
Finally, the United States is ranked 139th out of 172 countries in voter participation.

I hope these little facts were enlightening, especially number ten, because if we do not exercise our right to vote, we get what we get. Apathy will be one of the major factors in our downfall if we don’t all let our voices be heard, and not just in the presidential elections, but every election matters, including this very important midterm election. I won’t apologize for incorporating politics into my books. I have a voice, and I will use it along with my vote in every single election, because our voices matter. I know that because I often sneak politics into my novels, this may result in fewer sales, so be it. If you are so inclined to check out how I cleverly weave in my voice into engaging and fun romantic blend stories, feel free to click the links below.