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Representative John Lewis, beloved icon in the fight for voting rights

Right to Vote

You are here: Home / Archives for Right to Vote

Let’s Celebrate Today: It Didn’t Have To Be This Way

by WaterGirl|  October 31, 20206:00 pm| 178 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, This Fight Is For Everything

Think about where we were the day after 2016, and what has happened since.

Let's Celebrate Today: It Didn't Have To Be This Way

I listened to Pod Save America last night, and it was inspiring.

Are they worried?  Sure.  But they are also hopeful, and they are experiencing the same hope one minute, anxiety and worry the next minute swings that we are.

They talked about what has them hopeful, and I want to share what they said, because I think it’s important.

Tommy

There could be a big surge of voters for Trump on election day, but a vote banked is a vote banked.  Florida is at 72 or 75% of their total votes for 2016.  Of those votes, a quarter of them are people who didn’t vote in Florida in 2016.  Data nerds have been able to figure out that Biden has a 9 point advantage among those people, so Dems are voting early.  Among new voters there are suggestions that Dems are dong well there.  All of it could change, but it is hopeful.

Dan

We do not know what’s gonna happen.  Donald Trump could still win this election.  But if you think about where we were the day after the election in 2016, and what has happened since… It didn’t have to be this way.  

There was an alternative scenario where people just checked out and said fuck this, if politics is this broken that this guy can be elected with fewer votes, then I’m out.

The exact opposite thing happened.

We have had the incredible privilege to see people become engaged like never before.  It started with the women’s march and the amount of activism, with so many people putting so much on the line and giving so much of themselves to try to take this country back, to try to fix what happened in 2016.  It’s very inspiring and it’s very hopeful in the long run.

And the fact that people kept doing it.  This is not a time when people have extra money or extra energy, and people are struggling in this pandemic, and they are still working their assess off.

Jon Lovett

I was thinking about what we were worried about in the beginning, in the early days of 2017, and we had a lot of conversation about whether our institutions would hold up, and the jury is still out on that.

And we had a lot of conversations about what Trump could do and a lot of fear that we would have a crisis, and the crisis that we feared, happened, and it cost us dearly.

At the same time we had the women’s march and the protest against the muslim ban, there was this fear that this coalition would be exhausted and that the kind of powerlessness and disenfranchisement that comes in facing an improv authoritarian like Trump would exhaust people.

Worried that maybe by the time we got to 2018 or 2020 that people would have given up or run out of steam.  Or the stakes and the fear and the anxiety and just disagreement would create a rift that would drive inside of the democratic coalition.  That happens when you face an authoritarian.  That happens when you face right-wing nationalists.

We head into this election with an incredibly united coalition that runs all the way from the right of our party to AOC and Bernie and the Lincoln Project.  And everyone has behaved.  It’s an extraordinary thing.  We will decide what we think of the Lincoln Project come Wednesday.  It’s a messy coalition, but in the background everyone is aware that Donald Trump is the real threat.

What our party has done is extraordinary. That’s an extraordinary moment in history.  That’s never happened before. We never faced a threat like this before, and we never responded like this before.  So a lot of the uncertainty comes from that.  But I think we should be incredibly hopeful about what we built and what we did together.  Because it didn’t have to go this way.

Listen to the podcast.  They started talking about this stuff around the 53 minute mark.

Let’s Celebrate Today: It Didn’t Have To Be This WayPost + Comments (178)

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin: Do You Want Your Vote To Be Counted? Drop Off Your Ballot, Don’t Mail It

by WaterGirl|  October 28, 202012:09 pm| 121 Comments

This post is in: Early Voting 2020, Open Threads, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, This Fight Is For Everything

Word from organizers in Wisconsin:

Wisconsin Voting:  Want your vote to be counted?  Return your absentee ballot, but don’t use the mail.  Or vote in person.  

It’s too late to mail your ballot and be sure it will be counted.

Make sure your vote will be counted.  Drop. It. Off.

Wisconsin drop box locations


Word on the street from Pennsylvania:

Pennsylvania Voting:  Want your vote to be counted?  Use a drop box, or turn you ballot in at your county board of election office.  

With the recent ruling, it’s too late to mail your ballot and be sure it will be counted.

Make sure your vote will be counted.  Drop. It. Off.

The upshot of this Supreme Court order: Pennsylvania voters, if you haven’t voted yet, do not vote by mail — vote some other way.

CNN: Some Pennsylvania counties will count mail-in ballots last

Official PA website: Location for PA drop boxes, drop off sites, as well as satellite county election offices, and early voting locations

You can also vote in person on election day, but if you requested a mail-in ballot, you must bring your ENTIRE mail-in ballot with you, both envelopes.  Everything.  If you don’t bring everything with to vote in person in PA on Nov 3, you wlll be given a provisional ballot.

 

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin: Do You Want Your Vote To Be Counted? Drop Off Your Ballot, Don’t Mail ItPost + Comments (121)

Let’s Get To Work – Beto for Inspiration (Live Interview) & Lawyers Needed

by WaterGirl|  October 26, 202012:29 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Politics, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, This Fight Is For Everything

I’ll be adding some Action opportunities below, but want to get this up in case you want to watch live.

h/t Yutsano for the Beto heads up

Powered by People Phone Bank Needs Your Help Every Night This Week

If you haven’t watched the Beto video yet, I would urge you to do it.  What they are doing is so inspirational.  And they are asking for our help in fighting for our democracy.

Join the phone banking – going on every night this week – and help people make a plan to vote and help get their questions answered.  Beto asks us to piitch in and fight for our democracy.

PoweredbyPeople

Lawyers Needed

via Vote Save America

We are making a final push to recruit volunteer lawyers who can plug in with the Biden and Democratic voter protection efforts to count every vote and prepare for any possible recount effort.

Enter We The Action’s Election 2020 Task Force. They are focused on recruiting volunteer lawyers from around the country and connecting them directly to organizations working to protect the right to vote and the integrity of our election process in the areas of greatest need.

Can you volunteer to be one of those few, good lawyers? (Or forward this to a lawyer in your life?)
VOLUNTEER

We The Action will provide the information and links to specific projects through a digest of opportunities — from staffing remote voter hotlines, to serving as poll workers and observers, to curing mail-in ballots, and, if needed, supporting recount efforts. Fingers crossed we don’t get to that point, but if we do, we’ll be ready! Thanks to you. You can sign up directly with projects you select, and you’ll be notified about urgent needs via text or email, which can be filtered by location and languages you speak.

Here’s the truth we know you can handle (SORRY NOT SORRY): The stakes of this election could not be higher and the challenges facing voters mount every day. We The Action is committed to doing its part to quickly and efficiently mobilize thousands of lawyers to protect the integrity of our election and our right to vote. Please be one of them. It’s the biggest way to make a meaningful difference in this election. TBH, it’s this or join JAG.

Thanks for your help on the frontlines of the fight to count every vote.

Let’s Get To Work – Beto for Inspiration (Live Interview) & Lawyers NeededPost + Comments (45)

Early Voting In Person Oct 19: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, *FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NE, NM, NV, OH, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WY. Later This Week: FL, NY, WI, WV.

by WaterGirl|  October 19, 20209:10 am| 119 Comments

This post is in: Early Voting 2020, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, This Fight Is For Everything

4 hands holding up the letters that spelll vote.

*FL = only some counties in Florida start on 10/19, others start on 10/24

Broward County:  22 early voting  locations

Miami-Dade County:  33 early voting locations

Monroe County:  5 early voting locations

Hillsborough County:  26 early voting locations

Palm Beach County:  18 early voting locations

Manatee County: 6 early voting locations

Seminole County: 8 early voting locations

*check with your county if it is not on this list

Guide to fast and safe early voting for president in Florida

Early Voting starts later this week for These States:

Wisconsin:  Oct 20

West Virginia: Oct 21 – Oct 31

Florida early voting:  October 24 – 31  (Oct 19 in some places!)

New York: Oct 24 – Nov 1

show full post on front page

Coming Soon!

Maryland:  Oct 26

…..

Early Voting Has Already Started!

Alaska:  Oct 19

Arizona

Arkansas:  Oct 19, 2020 – Nov 2

*California

Colorado:  Oct 19

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas: Oct 14 – November 2

Kentucky:  Oct 13

Louisiana:  Oct 16 – Oct 27

Maine

Massachusetts:  Oct 17

Michigan

Minnesota

Montana – October 2 to October 30 at county Board of Election offices

Nebraska:  Oct 5 – Nov 2

Nevada: October 17 – 30

New Mexico

North Carolina:  Oct 15 – 31

Ohio starts on October 6

Rhode Island:  Oct 14

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee:  Oct 14 – 29

Texas: Oct 13 – Oct 30

Vermont

Virginia

Wyoming

Always check your state and county websites for specific information about voting times and voting locations.

…..

* Voting absentee in person (a bit of an oxymoron) started on September 9 in Alabama

…..

NO EARLY VOTING

Missouri does not offer an early voting period. If you will be unable to vote in person on Election Day, you can request an absentee ballot/mail-in ballot by mail or by visiting your local election office – beginning on Sept 22.

Mississippi does not offer early voting. In Mississippi, the only “early” votes are absentee ballots that are available beginning 45 days before an election, but only for specific excused reasons including the voters knowing that they’ll be out of their home county on Election Day or disability or voters past age 65. College students and members of the armed forces can often vote absentee ballots.

Remember, if you vote – in person or drop it off or put it in the mail – stop by and post a comment in the I Voted post.  It’s in the sidebar on computers and in the hamburger menu on mobile.

If you know the first date for early voting, and your state isn’t on one of these lists yet, please let me know in the comments.

 

Early Voting In Person Oct 19: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, *FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, NE, NM, NV, OH, RI, SC, SD, TX, VT, VA, WY. Later This Week: FL, NY, WI, WV.Post + Comments (119)

Open Thread: Hamilton Cast Getting Out The Vote

by TaMara (HFG)|  October 17, 20206:52 pm| 99 Comments

This post is in: Biden-Harris 2020, Duck Blogging, Early Voting 2020, Election 2020, Open Threads, Right to Vote, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It

So we just got a disturbing alert from the city:

Longmont Fire, Police and Community Health and Resilience Longmont residents: if you received an evacuation order they are removing residents from west of 75th, east of Hwy 36, south of Hwy 66, and north of Neva Road.

We are fine – except for air quality, this is about a mile two miles, I just saw the map, outside of town on the west. But we do have an evacuation plan, including the ducks, if the air gets too bad. You can about chew the air right now.

Speaking of the ducks, my duck sitter is the best:

 

@cressiemae##ducktales ##duckfriends ##ducky ##duckcrossing ##animalsdoingthings♬ DuckTales Theme Song – Kids Pups Superstars & Various Artists

She’s a professional dancer, check out her other videos if you need some beauty today.

Open thread

Open Thread: Hamilton Cast Getting Out The VotePost + Comments (99)

I Voted – Once You Have Voted, Add Your Nym and Your Method Here

by WaterGirl|  October 15, 202012:48 pm| 555 Comments

This post is in: Early Voting 2020, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, This Fight Is For Everything

Originally posted:

by WaterGirl|  September 18, 202012:48 pm

Published again with a later date so people can continue to comment through Nov 3.

…..

Once you have voted – in person, by mail, drop box, whatever – please add a comment with your name and your voting method.

It’s like a sticker, only better.

I Voted – If yo

We will keep this as a running thread in the sidebar, so please only comment in this thread if you have already voted in some fashion.  (never mind!)

Add your nyms and your voting methods below, please.

Once you have voted, you get this sticker in your comment:

i voted sticker

I Voted – Once You Have Voted, Add Your Nym and Your Method HerePost + Comments (555)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Twenty More Days

by Anne Laurie|  October 14, 20206:51 am| 159 Comments

This post is in: Biden-Harris 2020, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Repubs in Disarray!, Voter Suppression

VIDEO: 'We win Florida and it's all over.'

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden encourages his supporters to vote during a drive-in rally in Miramar, Florida pic.twitter.com/B55EQiYhSM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 14, 2020

If anyone’s looking for a way to support the voters waiting in those endless lines…

Night has fallen, but voting lines continue in Marietta, Georgia. The @WCKitchen team just finished serving dinner. They met someone walking out who arrived at 8am — he waited 12 hours to vote today. We must do better! Until then, #ChefsForThePolls will try to keep everyone fed. pic.twitter.com/RcnG8BFSWW

— Nate Mook (@natemook) October 13, 2020


Donate here: Chefs for the Polls

show full post on front page

no one has been able to articulate the “somehow” without conjuring up a hilariously imaginary version of the president which does not and cannot exist https://t.co/9jKlSoB3IX

— kilgore trout, kiss me mr. president (@KT_So_It_Goes) October 13, 2020

four years ago, trump's pitch to voters was "what do you have to lose?" now the question has been answered, and tbh that is really the only analysis of the election that matters

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) October 14, 2020

we focus grouped grouped “make america great again”, “keep america great”, and “he’s going to kill himself” with independents & women, and you’ll never guess the winning slogan

— kilgore trout, acting president (@KT_So_It_Goes) October 11, 2020

Opinion: The Trump Show is facing cancellation.

It feels as if it’s already over. https://t.co/X6u7JrW6nf

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 13, 2020

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Twenty More DaysPost + Comments (159)

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