I normally feel that way about every election: the Presidential cycles AND the Midterms. Every election matters because we need sane and effective leadership to keep our government running and to ensure our protections and rights.
This year, it feels like a war. Everything sitting atop landmines ready to go off.
All I can do from here is vote in the Florida and Congressional seats, and vote on state and county level referendums. It doesn't seem like much, just one vote, but when you add it to 65 million others, it SHOULD matter.
I felt queasy in the leadup to the 2016 elections because so much was at stake then - a choice between Hillary and a goddamned racist sexist con artist on the Russian payroll - and it horrifies me that I feel worse than that now.
Because back then there was a belief, a hope, that the elections wouldn't break down and that Hillary would get enough votes to win the Electoral College. She got the votes, but thanks to the broken nature of the EC - and serious evidence of foreign meddling and local suppression efforts - she didn't win that. So we got stuck with the walking toxic dump instead.
And this election cycle, for all the talk about the Blue Wave - where the Democrats are likely (but not guaranteed) to win control of the U.S. House, and flip a number of governorships and state legislatures of key battleground states - I keep seeing reports of voter suppression by Republicans across those same states and am terrified the same shit that hurt our elections in 2016 is gonna kill our voting rights in 2018 altogether.
Florida is one of those states facing the problem of voter suppression. It doesn't help I am surrounded by far too many MAGA morans to feel good about my state's chances of waking up from this trumpian nightmare we're all stuck in. The polls may tell me that the governor's race may prove historic with Andrew Gillum winning, I'm still not seeing good numbers on the key Senatorial race with Bill Nelson (GODDAMMIT FLORIDA, WHAT PART OF "RICK SCOTT IS A MEDICARE FRAUD" DO YOU KEEP IGNORING?). I can vote and hope that sanity prevails across the board, that Florida Dems claim all the key seats to end 20-plus years of corrupt Republican rule here... but Gods, I *hoped* last time...
This is it, everybody. To every friend I have, to every reader who skips through here, to every sane (relatively speaking, this IS Florida) person in the Sunshine State, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GET OUT THE VOTE THIS MIDTERMS AND VOTE DEMOCRATIC ACROSS THE BOARD.
You can Early Vote right now! Find the Early Vote center - each major town/city should have at least one polling place - and show up with your Voter ID card and photo ID and take care of it now if you're worried about the lines on Tuesday November 6. Early Voting ends Sunday November 4!
If you're voting on Election Day, remember you HAVE THE RIGHT during the day to take an hour from work to go vote! Plan ahead to make sure you do so on the way to work - map out the drive between your home (which should be near the precinct) and your workplace to make sure it's doable. The polls close at 7:00 PM but if you get there before closing YOU CAN STILL WAIT IN LINE TO VOTE. If you show up to vote with your IDs and everything and the polling place claims you're not registered, you HAVE THE RIGHT TO REQUEST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AND A RECEIPT SHOWING YOU VOTED (after that, get a lawyer and sue the State GOP for suppressing your right to vote).
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD VOTE THIS YEAR.
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD VOTE DEMOCRATIC.
Everything is at stake. EVERYTHING.
1 comment:
The polls are a real good way to give yourself a nervous breakdown during the lead up to an election this consequential, but I keep reading them anyway.
What else am I supposed to do? That is, other than every goddamn thing I can to get everyone I know to vote.
On that score, I have at least four people who weren't planning on voting who have promised me they will cast ballots, and I have provided them with all the information they need to early vote so they can't say they were just too busy on election day.
Now if I lived in Ohio or Florida I would probably feel better about the impact I was having, but then I keep reminding myself that this is not about me feeling good about it, it's about wrenching control of our government away from the Republicans before they break it past the point from which we can repair it.
-Doug in Oakland
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