Last chances to register to vote

GOSHEN-The last chance to register for the Nov. 2 elections will be Saturday, Oct. 9. The Orange County Board of Elections will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. at its offices at 25 Court Lane in Goshen to accept walk-in registrations. Voters also may mail in registration forms, but they have to be postmarked by Friday, Oct. 8. The form (shown in the graphic on this page) also is available online at Orange County's Web site (http://www.co.orange.ny.us/). For additional information, call the board at (845) 291-2444. The power of one vote A great deal of emphasis has been placed on registering voters this year, particularly in light of how close the 2000 presidential election was. Out of nearly six million votes cast in the state of Florida, George W. Bush won that state's electoral votes - and therefore the presidency - by 537 votes. If you were so inclined to do an Internet search using Google.com on one-vote elections, you'd find the following single-vote elections from a variety of sources ranging from the League of Women voters to the Iowa Secretary of State: In 1765, the Virginia Assembly adopted Patrick Henry's anti-stamp resolution, an act that began the fight for independence, by one vote. One vote admitted California (1850), Oregon (1850), Washington (1889) and Idaho (1980) into the Union. One vote sealed the deal to purchase Alaska from Russia in 1867. The active-service component of the Selective Service Act of 1940 was extended by a margin of one vote in 1941. One vote per precinct would have elected Richard Nixon, rather than John Kennedy, president in 1960. Eight years later, Hubert Humphrey lost and Nixon won the presidential election by a margin of fewer than three votes per precinct.