How to Accidentally Get Elected to Public Office

Want to get involved in local politics? It may be easier than you think…

I received the email below yesterday from a friend of mine. It turns out he accidentally got himself elected to public office. I know what you’re thinking: “How does someone get themselves accidentally elected to public office?” Read his (very funny) email to find out…

(Note: I have changed or removed name and location information to preserve my friend’s anonymity)

Brilliant.

I think there are a few lessons we can all learn from my friend’s experience:

Be Wary of the Jokes You Make

Some things are funny in concept, but not so much in practice. And most actions have consequences. Quite often those consequences are small and inconsequential, but on occasion, they can have more serious ramifications. So yes, jokingly adding your name to a ballot could be funny, (though I never understood the appeal of a joke you never shared with anyone) but you never know, you just might win.

Perhaps I’m overly paranoid, but I like to run things through a quick risk/reward equation. The risk in this case? You might win, in which case you’ll have to serve on a position you don’t want or deal with the awkwardness of turning it down once you have won. The reward? You make yourself chuckle. I’m not saying which one outweighs the other. I just know which it would gave been for me…

In the grand scheme of things, this is not that big a deal. But thinking things through a little bit can save a lot of problem. I remember in high school I was at the mall and a friend of mine was joking going to hop over a low wall they had outside, but for whatever reasons he decided not to. Good thing, because when we walked over to the low wall we realized that it didn’t separate pavement from grass. No, it separated pavement from a one story drop to a parking lot below. Whoops!

You Never Know…

Ok, so my friend didn’t want the position, but he threw his name on the ballot and won. This could be a cautionary tale of not doing stupid things like that (which was my above point). However, look at it from the flip side – all he did was write his name in and he won the position. How many people never put their name on a ballot, never suit up for a competition, never submit an application for a job they want, just because they are so sure “there is no way this will work out for me”?

Have you ever wondered why a moron will get a promotion, or why a jerk will get the girl, or why an annoying irritant will rise to success? Because they are willing to throw their name in the hat, over and over and over! (For more on that, check out my Why Stupid People Succeed post)

You really never know. I’m going to sound very cliched here, but the only thing you know for sure is that if you don’t try you’ll never win. You’ll never get the job. You’ll never achieve your dreams.

Just as in the point above, you have to weigh your risk and reward. What is it going to cost you to take a shot? Usually what holds people back isn’t that the cost is too high, but rather that they feel they have no chance. If it’s something you don’t care about that much, or something that has a super high cost, by all means, take a pass. But if it’s something you really want, and the cost won’t kill you, take a chance. Pick up the phone, go on the audition, mail in the application, and, if it floats your boat, write your name on the ballot.

Little Actions Matter

Yes, the truly absurd part of this story is that my friend is the only one who voted for himself, and he won. Yes, he won the position of committeeman with just one vote. So yes, every vote counts!

(Of course, the fact that he won with one vote just writing himself in should give us all pause to reflect on a) how unappealing the position of Committeeman may be, and b) how fragile our political system truly is…now there’s a thought that will keep me up at night.)

The obvious lesson here is to vote! Your vote counts!

in a more general sense, use this as an example that little actions can make a difference. A ten minute walk isn’t a lot of exercise, but it is better than not walking at all. Writing 200 words a day on your novel may seem like a ridiculously small amount when you are talking about a 100,000 word book, but over time those words will add up. Don’t ignore the little actions; they matter!

I will be curious to see what my friend ends up doing. My advice was to look into it and, if he has the time, and if his job will allow it, and if the work won’t make him go crazy (it might if it was me) that he should do it. Sure, he got it on a lark, but now that he has the opportunity he may as well say, “yes, and” and give it a go. Who knows where it could lead – perhaps in 2020 you will see, Avish Parashar, Secretary of Smartassery!

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