This Sedgwick County race shows the danger of celebrating too soon

Think your vote doesn’t count?

Observe the race between Michael O’Donnell and Sarah Lopez — which is tighter than the migraine we’re all suffering this week — and you’ll see the power of each and every ballot.

When O’Donnell pulled ahead on election night by 576 votes, the incumbent Sedgwick County commissioner trumpeted the news on Twitter with praying, clapping and laughing emojis.

By Thursday, that lead had dwindled to a mere 32 votes, and O’Donnell deleted the tweet.

(We saved a screenshot because we’ve learned that O’Donnell sometimes does things and regrets them later.)

Mail ballots are leaning heavily in Lopez’s favor. And while it’s unclear how many mail and provisional ballots remain to be counted, there are enough to swing the race in either direction.

It’s a microcosm of what’s happening nationwide, as election workers count an avalanche of ballots that demonstrates how much Americans cherish their civic duty.

And it’s encouraging, given the passel of forces working against voters this year. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, economic woes and other difficulties, people across the political spectrum voted in what could be record numbers.

For Sedgwick County’s District 2, later-arriving ballots could mean the difference between a Lopez victory — she would be the second woman, the second Democrat and the only person of color on what has been a heavily white, male, conservative commission — and the election of an as-yet-unnamed Republican.

If O’Donnell wins the election and subsequently resigns, as he promised last week, a panel of Republican precinct committee men and women would choose his replacement. Before all the votes have even been counted, at least five local Republicans are jockeying for the seat.

Who knows what will happen? We’ll have to be patient and let democracy proceed.

But make no mistake: The Wichita-area turnout and the competitiveness of this race show that people care about who represents them and demand a voice in selecting those people.

And it shows, once again, that every vote matters.

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 10:32 AM.