Lessons from Sioux Falls Elections

This week, Sioux Falls made national news. Our mayoral runoff election came down to the wire, with just two ballots separating the candidates. The result is expected to trigger a recount and perhaps even legal challenges. One thing is certain: we likely will not know who our next mayor is for some time.
The Baal Shem Tov taught that everything a person sees or hears should serve as a lesson in our daily lives and in our service of G-d.
Watching this election unfold reminded me of a passage in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, one the Rebbe quoted perhaps more than any other: 
"A person should always see himself as equally balanced between merit and sin, and the entire world as equally balanced between merit and sin... If he performs one mitzvah, he tips his own balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit, bringing deliverance and salvation to himself and to others."
When we read these words, it sounds nice and inspiring, but it can sound almost too lofty. Does my thought, speech and action really make that much of a difference? Can one small deed really have an impact? Can my single mitzvah really affect the destiny of the world? 
This week's election reminds us that it can.
We clearly see the power of a single ballot, and no doubt many people who didn't vote are wishing they had. A single vote may not seem like much, yet it could have changed the course of an entire city. 
The Rambam tells us to view our own lives the same way. When you offer someone a kind word, you cannot know how deeply it will affect them. When you give tzedakah, you may never know whose life you have changed. And when you put on tefillin, light Shabbat candles, or perform any mitzvah, you may not realize it, but you are doing exactly what the Rambam describes: tipping your own balance, and that of the entire world, to the side of merit.