If you needed a reason to believe your vote counts, the situation in Augusta Township provides a handy illustration of that cliché.

A hand recount this week of votes on a fire department millage resulted in a 401-400 passage of the tax, which had previously been counted by ballot-reading machines as a 401-401 tie. (Other local recounts occurred, but didn't result in a change in the election outcome.)

Local elections in particular are often determined by ultra-narrow margins. In the 3rd Ward Ypsilanti City Council primary, for example, Rod Johnson lost to Brian Robb by only nine votes.

In politics, for most of us attention is largely focused on national or state races. It's easier, because so much more information is available from the media, political parties and interest groups. You can talk to your sibling in California or friends in New York about the president. It's not so easy to keep their interest when you talk about the city council or township board.

That difference in interest is reflected in voter turnout. In Augusta Township's three precincts, turnout for the Aug. 8 election ranged between about 15 percent to 20 percent. Sadly, that's considered high. (Some precincts in Wash-tenaw County had less than 1 percent turnout. The highest by far was in Saline Township, with a 44 percent showing.)

And this was a primary election that, because of some contentious local races and issues, held more interest than most years.

Low turnout for local elections is ironic, given that in many ways the people who are elected locally have a more immediate, direct impact on our lives. To a great extent, they're the ones who decide what buildings get built, what local taxes are proposed - how the future of our community is shaped.

And unlike most candidates for national or state office, local candidates are usually easy to meet. You can get their opinions directly, find out what they think about local issues, talk to them without the filter of a staff member or PR machine.

Most of us don't do these things, of course. Many people can't even tell you who represents them at the local level. And that's too bad.

We're heading into the November elections, when many people will again decide not just who gets their vote, but whether they'll vote at all.

That should be an easy call.

Can your vote make a difference? Absolutely - but only if you show up at the polls.