»Æ¹Ï´«Ã½

If ever there was an election to prove that every vote counts, it was the May 3 Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office .

With more than $13 million at stake, of New Orleans voters overall decided that the office responsible for keeping pretrial detainees off the streets, fed, safe and secure should keep as much as 20% of the office budget for the next 10 years.

during the early voting period and those who voted Saturday, the decision came down to two votes.

Was it my family that put the vote over the top after attending a family Mass of Christian Burial and repast for Cousin Rachel before going to a crawfish boil? Was it my church member who picked up his family from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and rushed them to vote — just before the polls closed?

No matter who put the millage over the top, Sheriff Susan Hutson — and each of those who want to replace her — thank you.

Hutson thought the results would be in soon after polls closed at 8 p.m., since a low turnout was expected. Certainly by 9 p.m., the result would be clear. Then 10 p.m. came, and results were still not in.

"I felt confident," she told me, "but I never thought it would be by two votes at all."

There's something about millages in New Orleans.

in May 2015, an OPSO millage was approved by 51.7% of the vote. »Æ¹Ï´«Ã½ reports then said the measure "squeaked by."

If that was a squeak, what the heck happened Saturday?

Was it a screech, a scrape or a squeeze?

Whatever it was, it provided Hutson, her leadership team and a bunch of deputies some relief to know that a slim majority of voters have their back.

"I got so many texts this morning about couples who went to vote or I got somebody to vote," Hutson said. "If you did not think your vote counted, look at these last two elections," a reference to Saturday's election and the March 29 election when four proposed constitutional amendments were rejected by voters statewide.

The tax renewal can cover all kinds of budget needs. The passage means that a sheriff's deputy who makes about $18.45 an hour can expect a pay plan that, overall, would increase deputy salaries to at least $28 an hour. "We know we have to get to a living wage then have cost-of-living increases," Hutson said.

Two people, somewhere, decided the fate of this measure.

Or did they?

Of those who voted on Election Day, there were some clear divides. The roughly 20 Republican precincts voted against the millage. The precincts with a majority of White voters rejected the millage. The precincts with a majority of Black voters approved the millage.

But in each case, it wasn't by much.

It takes time to dig into and digest election results, but just for you, I asked Max Martin, director of research and impact at The Power Coalition for Equity & Justice, to tell me whether I was accurate in perceiving a Black-White voter split, of sorts.

Yes, he said, but.

With a look at Election Day only, precincts where Black voters outnumber White voters approved the millage by 52%. Precincts where White voters outnumber Black voters rejected the millage by 51%. That means Black and White voters had differing views about the ballot measure.

Who turns out makes a difference with any election, but especially with low turnout elections. On Election Day, predominantly White precinct voter turnout was 7.7%. Predominantly Black precinct voter turnout was 5.82%.

The election numbers are unofficial until the secretary of state makes them official under the .Ìý

We know there are some millage renewal haters out there. Just look at the vote. And we know there was at least one person or group of people who were hating on the millage renewal soooo much that they posted "No New Taxes" signs across parts of the city. Even a pastor representing a ministerial alliance opposed the millage because the request supposedly wasn't "based on financial facts."

With an election so close, just two or three of the 7,715 yes votes or two or three of the 7,713 no votes could've changed the result.

We all make choices. Register to vote or not. Vote or not.

Remember your individual power.

Every vote counts.