As it turns out, that civics or American government teacher from high school was finally correct.

For most of us, the old admonition to voters that “Every vote matters,” also had hollow ring to it. We knew after looking at vote totals, particularly in most national elections that margins of victory are typically quite wide.

Last week, however, the civics class warning was proven abundantly true in a simple run-off election for the Adams County Justice Court Judge position for the southern district.

Eileen Mary Maher was the victor with exactly one more vote than her opponent Danny Barber.

That’s right, a single vote made the difference in the election.

Maher was sworn into office later in the week and afterward Barber announced plans to contest the election to force a recount of the vote. With such a tight race, who can blame him?

Local elections leaders say the razor thin margin is historic, at least in recent years.

Voting is a privilege that most Americans enjoy without considering just how important the often-mundane task is. Voting is, however, the backbone of our nation’s system of government, the system created by a group of people who penned the preamble of the U.S. Constitution with, “We the people …”

If anyone ever wanted proof of how important a single vote is, look no further than last week’s election. It was a doozy, one for the record books, but mostly it was democracy in action and for that we are grateful.