Elections come and go, but one peculiar fact remains – your vote counts, but it doesn’t matter – to the outcome that is.

There it is, I said it.

Leagues of Women Voters, good-government advocates, and the civically virtuous, precious right-to-vote crowd will gasp in horror. But it’s true – your vote will be counted, but in nearly every election it won’t change the outcome.

Why? Because your vote doesn’t matter for any election decided by more than one vote. That’s an infinitely microscopic set of contests that few have ever experienced. And even if a contest ends in a tie, it will be broken by the flip of a coin. But please, write avenging letters to the editor telling how your vote decided the 7th grade class president contest or the All-Soiled Sewer District Commissioner position #3.

When election results are tight, lawsuits are filed, and votes challenged. Some ballots will be deemed eligible despite not clearly complying with existing voting laws. The real decisions as to which votes matter are made by judges hearing arguments over what improperly cast ballots should be tossed aside and which ones will be accepted.

So, why does every election, whether for school board or president find me completing a ballot and casting it as quickly as the laws of my state allow? For those who haven’t arrived at the stage where hypocrisy becomes practical, here’s how I’ve squared the circle. The sooner my ballot is cast, the more swiftly each piece of campaign mail can be recycled, with negative TV commercials and puff profiles ignored in their entirety.

Elections are like any social gathering – everyone comes to the party for a different reason. There are as many motivations, as voters. Partisans vote along party lines regardless of candidate competence hoping for impressive margins of victory and compelling mandates. Some are persuaded solely by race, sex, ethnicity, or attractive-sounding names or photos. Others carefully review voter pamphlets as if studying the Torah, determined to pick the best from the mediocre by scrutinizing vaguely written policy statements. A few do it to avoid being shamed by their politically active friends.

All the while, the ballots of the least-informed are counted equally against the voter who’s watched every debate, carefully studied each issue, and thoughtfully considered the consequence of their choices.

Knowing all of this, I never miss an election and always follow my own set of biases: Never vote for a candidate running unopposed; Always vote against the prohibitive favorite, if for no other reason than to check their ego; Vote No unless presented with a compelling reason to vote Yes, except for confusing referenda when a No vote means Yes.

Here’s the real vote that should concern you – the ones made every day. Rather than fret about elections whose outcomes you won’t change, why not focus on your most consequential votes – how you spend money. Every dollar spent is a vote for the products and services you want. Those votes are counted by the hour and create the economy and culture we collectively choose. They constitute the key decisions that really shape our lives.

Be the change you want to see by considering what you buy and how you buy it. Those votes matter.