Next Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. will be 12 of the most important hours in Wiscasset’s foreseeable future.

The arguments raised both for and against each of the Maine Department of Transportation’s downtown concepts, and for and against the third, do-nothing option, make sense. So do comments by some that, no matter which option comes out on top in the non-binding vote, they hope it’s by a wide margin. Unity, or something close to it, is reassuring.

But Lincoln County’s shire town has seen some very close votes in recent years. The single-digit differences have shown that every vote really does matter. It’s not just an idealistic notion. Sometimes it’s how Wiscasset does business, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Margins that close when hundreds of ballots are cast can seem so surprising, until it’s happened a number of times in the same town, over a short span. I think we’re there, in terms of close votes being less of a surprise now.

So would anyone be surprised if this one’s close, too, considering how divisive the debate has been at times? Wouldn’t it be something to go and vote and then learn that the option you picked prevailed by so little that if you and a few other, like-minded residents hadn’t voted, it would have gone the other way?

Or if you vote and it’s just as close but does go the other way, at least you’ll know you left it all on the field.

How American. How Wiscasset. Be part of the vote, whichever way it goes. As usual, we’ll be working to bringing you daytime election coverage and same-night results on our website at www.wiscassetnewspaper.com and on Facebook. Watch for the outcome of the MDOT vote, as well as selectmen and other elections, the school budget, and town budget including the school resource officer and the ambulance budget decisions. We hope you helped make them all.