The closest Presidential election in history was the 1960 contest between John F.

Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.  In that election, Kennedy’s margin in the popular vote over
Nixon was 118,574.  Disregarding for the moment the complexity of the electoral college
system, it means that the probability that any one voter will influence the outcome of the 1960
election was 1/118,574 = .00000843355.  The probability is usually much, much smaller than
that.  In the 2000 Presidential election, if you happened to live in one of the four crucial counties
in Florida, your probability of affecting the outcome was much greater (though still very small),
but then you’d have to multiply that probability by a very small probability that you’d happen to
find yourself voting in such a crucial county, and the end product is even smaller than .
00000843355 (except that, in that particular Presidential election, the loser received more
popular votes than the winner – the complexity of the electoral college system).
Any way you slice it, voting is irrational.  One person’s vote is never going to make any
difference in a large national election.  If your favorite candidate is going to win, she’s going to
win even if you don’t vote for her.  If your favorite candidate is going to lose, he’s going to lose
even if you vote for him.  The inescapable conclusion is that, contrary to popular belief and the
government propaganda, your vote does not count.  So why do millions of people expend their
own time, energy, and money to cast a vote that will not make any difference in the electoral
outcome?