VOTE, DAMMIT!!!

Posted on by under Election 2020, Election 2022, Free Press Issues, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary, voting rights

Today, the Wisconsin State Supreme Court barred the use of ballot drop boxes and ruled voters could not give their completed absentee ballots to others to return on their behalf.  This is but one of the many new voter suppression moves by the states, especially those that are considered ‘red’ states, but the utter gall of it disgusts me.  Who does it hurt?  Blue collar working people, poor people, elderly and young people, Black people … all those categories that are more likely to vote for a Democrat come election day.  Hell, they might just as well have said that only registered Republicans will be allowed to vote!  Or … why even have an election … why not just let the damn Supreme Court decide who will make the laws?  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

These voter restriction laws are designed with one purpose in mind … to keep people from the polls.  Their efforts can only work if we let them, if we are too lazy or too apathetic to go the extra mile to ensure our voices are heard.  In 2020, we saw the highest percentage of voter turnout in over a century … a whopping 60%!  If that figure doesn’t disgust you, then you aren’t paying attention.  Jonathan Capehart, writing for The Washington Post, sums it up nicely and his final paragraph says it all …

Vote, dang it! It’s your one superpower in our democracy.

Jonathan Capehart, 8 July 2022

Okay, America. Now that the celebration of your 246th birthday is over, you’ve got some work to do. Or, at least the “you” who are Democrats do. Y’all are experts at hair-on-fire complaining and savior hunting, all while ignoring the power of your own vote and growling at anyone who reminds you of it.

There has been story after story after story about how Democrats are mad at President Biden for fill-in-the-blank deficiency. (My colleague Dana Milbank recently did his usual excellent job of cataloging the absurdity of it all.) I’m not saying the White House is perfect or isn’t in need of some messaging improvements. What I am saying is enough with the self-defeating backbiting. Neither Biden nor the party — or the country, for that matter — can afford the consequences.

The mewling and moaning seem to have begun in earnest late last month after Biden’s remarks on the Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion. “Voters need to make their voices heard,” Biden said. “This fall, we must elect more senators and representatives who will codify a woman’s right to choose into federal law once again, elect more state leaders to protect this right at the local level.”

This “Schoolhouse Rock!” statement of fact was greeted with derision and cries of “Is that the best you’ve got?” The maddening, all-too-typical shortsightedness makes me want to grow my hair out — so I could tear my hair out.

Biden is a president elected by the people, not a king ruling from on high. He needs a House and Senate that will send him legislation he can sign into law. If Biden is to do all the ambitious things today’s complainers (rightly) want, they need to give him a bigger Democratic majority in Congress than the wafer-thin one that exists now.

But here’s what most irksome: Those complainers will claim demoralization because of what they see as Biden’s legislative impotence, and then stay home in November. And if this abdication ends up rolling out the red carpet for Republicans, said complainers will blame Democrats for the ensuing mayhem of the GOP demolishing even more rights.

Before you turn the comments and my mentions into a dumpster fire of invective, let’s walk down memory lane to that time Democrats lost the House and then the Senate in successive midterm elections.

A wave of hope-and-change put President Barack Obama in the White House in the 2008 election. In the 2010 midterms, 26 million fewer Democrats voted for House candidates than in 2008. Tea party-powered Republicans claimed the House majority by gaining 63 seats; the GOP vote fell off, too, as is common in midterms for both parties — but not nearly as sharply.

Yes, Obama won reelection in 2012. But by the time of the 2014 midterms, he was begging the coalition that sent him back to the White House to show up at the polls. Nope. Not only did the GOP increase its House majority to the largest since World War II, but Democrats lost their Senate majority. About 15 million fewer Democrats cast ballots for Senate candidates in 2014 than in 2008 — compared with only about 6 million fewer Republicans.

Democrats are facing a few structural and historical headwinds. The president’s party almost always loses seats in the midterms of its first term; the one exception since World War II is 2002, after the 9/11 attacks. Voter suppression efforts in the states are focused on African Americans and other key Democratic constituencies. Gerrymandering is a problem, of course, and the Senate is built in a way that disadvantages Democrats. Unfair as it may be, voter participation is the one power individuals can wield against those headwinds.

And let me be clear that I understand the urgency of doing something right now to safeguard the lives and health of women and girls post-Roe. But it is imperative we do everything possible to try to prevent what could be a Republican wave and the conservative revanchism that would undoubtedly attend it.

During an interview about her documentary “Aftershock” on Black maternal mortality, I decided to ask Tonya Lewis Lee what she would tell the increasingly vocal “why should we vote again?” crowd now that the right to abortion has been stripped away. She was unequivocal. “Voting matters. You need to vote again and again and again,” Lee said. “Voting is everything.”

Indeed, it is. You can either spend your time griping about nothing getting done or you can vote to help elect people who will do what the American people need. To argue that voting is a waste of time or useless is to participate in your own powerlessness.

84 thoughts on “VOTE, DAMMIT!!!”

  1. Wow! Reading this thread, I realize once again that I live in the lap of luxury when it comes to voting here in Oregon. All our voting is by mail…for our last local election, my husband and I were in our jammies on a weekend morning filling the ballots out, taking our time to research the candidates and debating each other about voting yes or no on this or that ballot measure. Such a civilized way to vote…I don’t understand why the entire country can’t just do it this way. (Well, I do understand why, actually, and the reasons make me very grumpy.)

    The sad part is that even in Oregon voter turnout can get really low in local and midterm elections, even with the ease of mail-in voting! I wish people would understand the importance of voting in all the elections, not just the presidential ones.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ah yes … Oregon is one state who has the very best voting procedures. It is what every state should be doing — making it EASIER, not harder, for people to vote. It is our only voice in the government we support … why on earth should we have to jump through 20 hoops just to exercise that constitutional right? As for the voter apathy and low turnout rates nationwide … I think it is complacency. The people of this nation have never known the trauma of living under a truly authoritarian government, and whether a Democrat or Republican was in office, things have tended not to be too devastating. Until Donald Trump, that is. I have had people tell me to “chill out” and that “it will all work out fine in the long run, it always does.” I think they are wearing rose-coloured glasses and do not realize the potential dangers if the wrong person is elected, hence if it’s inconvenient, they just simply don’t bother to vote. I would love to see our system more like that of New Zealand such as described by Barry in his comment!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Agreed about New Zealand! Yeah, I think “It can’t happen here” syndrome is alive and well in the States, like this place is somehow so special that authoritarianism is impossible. Nobody ever thinks this kind of horror will happen where they are, until it does.

        I love our vote-by-mail system in Oregon, and it’s just one of the things making me determined to fight like hell to keep the state Blue. We cannot take that or anything else for granted.

        Like

  2. Jill, thanks so much for this post. Jonathan Capehart’s message is superb. I hadn’t read it, and I’m so glad you’re spreading it.

    I firmly believe better days are ahead for us if we can overcome the twin voter immobilizers of apathy and despair.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank YOU, Annie! Yes, I thought he was spot on and made the point far better than I could have.

      I’m glad to hear you believe that better days are ahead … I often have doubts, but it doesn’t keep me from trying!

      Like

  3. Jill, our voting problem has always been “not enough people voting.” We should be doing everything in our power to get people to vote. Yet, we have one party who long ago decided that keeping people from voting for the other side by restricting access is a strategy. Of course, it is no different than what was done in the Jim Crow south. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

    • Did you happen to see Barry’s comment about voting in New Zealand? They have the easiest system I’ve ever heard of, and voter fraud is almost nil. Our system should be more along those lines! The restrictive system we have that is getting even more so is a result of one party in particular knowing they haven’t done the work to earn votes, so their next best hope is to cheat by keeping voters silent. Makes me think of a good title for a book or story: “What if they had an election and nobody came?”

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jill, voting is too political in our country. One party wants to control it because of diminishing demographics. So, when one group is against solving the problem of too few people voting, we are destined to continue to be a below-first class democracy. Dems are not perfect and have gamed the system as well, but Republicans have made cheating an art form. As one Republican defined the “laser like precision” of gerrymandering and voting restrictions in NC, he said the changes were “designed to kick Democrats’ butts.” That should not be the mission. Of course, New Zealand and Australia do it better than we do, as it is not hard to do so. Keith

        Liked by 1 person

        • It is, and that is so wrong! Voting is literally the only way we are guaranteed to have a voice in our country, in how it’s run and by whom. It is a constitutional guarantee. When are We the People going to rise up and say we’ve had ENOUGH? Yes, the Republicans have chipped and chopped, for they have no platform, their only goal being power and wealth, but we still have a voice … we need to turn up the volume, I think!

          Like

  4. Slogans for these times:
    ‘If you don’t care to vote, one day they will come for you,’
    ‘Not bothering to vote helps those you least want to run the nation,’
    ‘Saying ‘I wish I had’ won’t cut it five years down the line’
    ‘Not caring to vote insults the memories of the1,076,245 American casualties of WWII, and their families,’
    ‘Voting means you’ll probably be disappointed, but at least you’ll get the chance next time,’
    ‘You may be content not voting, but the next generations will curse you,’
    ‘Fashionable cynicism only helps the fanatics to get in,’
    ‘Yeah we know. The choices are lousy. So vote for the least worst. It might be better next time,’
    (And one not for public consumption but just for cantankerous old firebrands like you an’ me Jill)….
    ‘Get off your complacent butt, you apathetic klutz!!!’

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Hello Jill. I don’t disagree with you that we need to vote, as many who can, for all the Democratic candidates. But not all Democratic candidates are equal. Such as the one in Texas championed by Pelosi that is anti-choice and voted 80% time in line with the Republicans. There was a viable pro-choice candidate who only lost by a few hundred votes even with all the support the establishment gave to the incumbent. Is it too much to ask that the Democratic party give the public a reason to vote for them beyond that we are not the other party? Yes the other party is bad, but dang what are the Democrats going to do for us if we do turn out and vote them in. We did that in Georgia to get the Senate control yet … Manchin and Sinema! So everything the people wanted is denied. More years of the people getting worse off while corporations do better. So with over a month’s heads up that the anti-Roe ruling was coming it took this long for the administration to come up with an executive order? Right now the people need their leaders to have fire in their belly and in their speeches, they need inspiration. But we are not getting that, instead we are getting fund raising letters from Pelosi.

    Yes we need to vote the republicans out and more democrats in, but dang could the democrats in office at least give it some effort to inspire the people and let us know how they will finally help us instead of the big money donors? Hugs

    Liked by 4 people

    • ‘Tis true that not all Democrats are angels, either, and back in the day, I have voted for Republicans who I felt were better candidates than the Democrat at the time. But I will tell you that today, having looked and listened to the Republicans all across the spectrum for several years now, I could not bring myself to vote for any one of them except, perhaps, Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger. No way any Democrat could possibly be as racist, as autocratic, as bigoted as any Republican. The thing that I think the Democratic Party needs is some cohesion. All this back-biting and disunity is helping nobody and nothing. The press isn’t giving Biden a fair shake, but neither are the members of his own party. For example … he was blamed for rising gas prices, even by Democrats. Today, gas prices have been falling steadily for about 10 days, but has anybody even mentioned that perhaps Biden’s plans are bearing fruit? And the June employment numbers were great, but have you heard any kudos for the president? The press and the members of the Democratic Party may be to blame if the Republicans take majorities in either or both chambers of Congress in November. And I will be fighting mad if that happens. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Hugs

      Liked by 3 people

      • Hello Jill. I will fight hard to promote and get Democrats elected. I agree with all you said. But dang it would be nice to see some energy and animation from our party and its leaders. To see some fire in their bellies, some “follow me as we charge up the hill” type thing. That is all I am asking. Right now I am not sure our party is doing more than fund raising. I want a party that will inspire the people, who will energize the youth. You have more fire and passion in your writings than I ever see in Pelosi or Schumer. Yes Biden gets a bad rap, and it is unfair, but he should understand the need to have the other people in the administration stand up and do the talking for him. Hugs

        Liked by 2 people

        • I do agree with you on wishing to see some real energy and enthusiasm from the Democrats! It’s almost as if they’re accepting defeat … and that will not do! The first step in winning at anything is believing that you CAN! And I blame the press as much as anyone … they keep predicting gloom and doom for the Democrats, and half the people are just throwing their hands up saying, “Oh woe, oh woe, oh thrice times woe” (I got that quote from Roger, go figure!). Thanks Scottie — the fire and passion just come naturally for me. I just wish I could tone it down when I go to bed at night! Hugs

          Liked by 2 people

    • Scottie: What you refer to is reality. Cuellar is the only Democrat who could win in that conservative Republican largely Hispanic district. He votes with the Democrats far more than with the Republicans. His progressive opponent has lost three times. Pelosi is a very savvy vote counter. She can’t afford to lose a seat she knows the Dems can retain, thereby handing the gavel to Kevin McCarthy or worse.
      With younger, more progressive Hispanics, we can hope things will change. But we’re not there now.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Hello Annie. I am not so sure of that. Jessica Cisneros polled well, had a lot of support in the district, and she also is Hispanic. I see this as a case of the establishment protecting an incumbent rather than allowing an open primary so the people can decide. Pelosi has put in place a system of protecting the incumbents she wants that support her and to primary those she doesn’t even when the ones she works against win their races. She had in a place a ban on any operative or group that helped challenge an incumbent until she challenged a progressive incumbent that won anyway. In that case the rule did not get applied because she wanted the challenger not the incumbent. Again, I see this as protecting the incumbent that supported her views over the progressive that might have not been so supportive of her authority. Hugs

        Liked by 1 person

        • But they’re not her views, Scottie. Pelosi is a devout Catholic who’s been fervently pro-choice for as long as I can remember. She’s been denied Communion in her home district. I respect your opinion; I just think the issues don’t fit neatly into “progressives vs corrupt,” and I share Jill’s concerns about Democrats’ internal battles when this is an “all hands on deck” moment if ever there was one.

          Liked by 3 people

  6. Pingback: VOTE DAMMIT !!! |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  9. what they need to do is keep polling places open longer so that people can show up in person, with identification to vote. Tell me again how that is racist? mail in ballots and dropboxes are just situations waiting for fraud. I could sign 100 voter applications, mark who I want the candidate be, put them in the mail and, pow, that’s 99 unauthorized votes cast. See the problem? Why is it so hard for people to go to the polls in person/ If they had more places to vote and kept them open longer, this wouldn’t be an issue and it would solve the problems. but you don’t really want the problem solved, you just want it solved the way you want it, not the way that would really work. That’s really the issue. I haven’t said one thing that is disrespectful or condescending so there’s no reason not to publish my comment, unless you don’t want to admit that i may have a point in all of this.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Your point, Scott, is simple at best. More polling stations, longer hours, yes those things would help. But to say mail-in ballots and drop boxes are situarions waiting for fraud is assinine. Sixty charges of fraudulent votes were investigated in 2021, and I believe 1 (One) ballot was found to be questionable. Fraudulent votes is a wild goose chase, a fool’s false flag. The voting system is more secure than most people think, or want to believe. Mail-in ballots and drop boxes WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN INVENTED IF THEY WERE NOT NEEDED! The fact that they are needed mostly by seniors, the handicapped, the poor, the disabled is why they were invented in the first place, and why they are needed even more today! Gerrymandered preceints are designed to keep certain people from voting. Everyone who wants to vote should be allowed to vote. That is the main idea behind democracy. ANYTHING THAT HINDERS A VOTER FROM VOTING IS ANTI-DEMOCRATIC! And anyone who supports keeping voters from voting is a bigot or a racist, or a complete and utter fool!

      Liked by 3 people

        • No, people should not have to present ID to prove who they are because people are presumed inncent until proven guilty, or, in language you may understand, Scott, if I tell you my name is rawgod, then I am rawgod until you prove I am not. Your way of thinking assumes people are dishonest. People are not inherently dishonest, Scott.
          I have no idea what you have against mail-in ballots or drop boxes, Scott, they have been around for years, and there has been no problem with them. Then poor Dumpy comes along, loses an election he had no chance of winniñg, and his poor ego cannot take the loss — a loss he predicted himself.
          No, Scott, just because a liar pretends he didn’t lose, that does not mean the process is untrustworthy. Have you ever challenged elections prior to the 2020 election, Scott? Or are you just pissed off the Republicans lost the last election? Suddenly everyone is whinin
          g about cheating, when the biggest cheaters are the Republicans themselves.
          Tell me, Scott, what kind of people legislate that people standing in lines for hours cannot be helped out by giving them liquids to drink? Assholes, that’s who. Republican assholes!

          Liked by 2 people

          • the democrats challenged the 2000 election if you’ll remember and people are dishonest by nature. consider how much stealing there is, piracy, crime and just chaos in general. it’s called the principle of entropy which states that’s it easier to destroy than it is to build. It’s a universal axiom. Rawgod, do you object to people having to show identification to get on a flight or purchase alcohol or to get a drivers license? Are those people considrred guilty before proven innocent because they have to identify themselves to do these things. Honestly, your logic is lacking in this area, you might want to educate yourself a bit more in the applications of the principles of logic when presenting an argument on the matter.

            Liked by 2 people

            • The election process requires in person voters to produce ID,and there is nothing erong with that. Having nevernused drop boxes or msil-in votes myself, as I have not voted in 50 yesrs, I do not know whst rewuirements are in place for non-in-person voting, but I am pretty sure the reqirements sre much higher than in-person voting.

              Liked by 2 people

              • For the past 15 years or so, I have utilized drop boxes and postal voting. I am asked to write on my ballot either my driver’s license number or the last four digits of my social security number as ID.

                Liked by 1 person

                • I guess those things can be forged, if the proper information can be obtained somehow. But, really, who wants to vote twice or more unless they are Republicans, who lie, cheat, and steal every chance they get.

                  Liked by 2 people

                  • We should worry more about the fact that people are being robbed of their right to have a voice in the government that up to 25% of their income goes to support than the off chance that one or two people might try to cast an extra ballot, which is doubtful at best.

                    Like

                    • Exactly. But that is the false flag, isn’t it? And the MAGAts are running with it. Gives them a reason to steal people’s right to vote.
                      That is one place Canada has it all over the USA. No Canadian citizen is denied the vote, even those in prison (though I am not sure about people in solitary confinement, but I think they can.) Having to register to vote is just another wsy of blocking a vote.

                      Liked by 1 person

                    • Yes, they are running with it and our only hope of stopping them are either passage of the two voting rights laws, which the Republicans in the Senate refuse to even talk about, or the Supreme Court, and we both know how that would likely end up.

                      In my book, Canada has it all over the US in EVERY aspect, not just voting rights.

                      Like

            • I wasn’t finished yet. Just hit the send button by accident.
              I also dispute your view of society. I have no idea what your experience is, but my experience is that most people are honest, but you don’t hear about them — unless you read Jill’s Good People posts, which I know you do. But distinctly, what you hear on the news is about the other side of honesty, about criminals and abusers and frauds and cheats. I can see where this can colour your perceptions, but you are wrong if you think this describes normal society. I cannot quote you numbers, I have no knowledge such statistics even exist, but if you were to add up all the numbers of people conviced of crimes or other indecencies, and looked at that number as a percentage of the citizens of your nation, it would be under 10% as a generous guess. If society were as bad as you make it out to be, 65% or more of Americans would be in jail or prison, and s further 25% would be employed to staff those jails and prisons. That would leave about 10% of people actually living normal lives. That is certainly not happening.
              I feel sorry for you, Scott. Why bother being alive if you have such a low opinion of your fellow human beings? It’s bad enough assuming 1 person in 10 cannot be trusted, to assume 6.5 people out of 10 cannot be trusted, that would mean over 215 MILLION people are untrustworthy in the USA alone, and 5 BILLION people world-wide. Pull yourself together, man. There would be no civilization! Life is not that bad.

              Liked by 2 people

            • the democrats challenged the 2000 election

              The ability to challenge a close election is built into the procedures. The Democrats did follow the standard procedure. And then Al Gore did concede.

              That is very unlike what happened after the 2020 election.

              Liked by 3 people

              • The keyword here being “close election”. The 2000 — Gore won just 1/2 of a percentage point of the popular votes, while Bush won only 1 electoral vote over the 270 needed. That was CLOSE! In 2020, Biden won by more than 7 million votes … that isn’t even remotely close!

                Liked by 2 people

        • Requesting ID is one thing, Scott, but in many states, two forms of state-issued ID are required. Heck, I don’t even have that! And college ID’s are no longer accepted in many states, nor are Medicare cards … how hard should it have to be to fulfill the requirements? Voting is a constitutional right — it shouldn’t be such a hassle that many just throw up their hands and say “to heck with it.”

          Liked by 1 person

          • I agree with you that one form if identification should be sufficient, after all, to do a lot of other things that require identification only requires one so voting shouldn’t be any different in this regard. i also agree that the requirement to provide two forms of identification is just a way to make it more difficult and that shouldn’t be the case. Like I said, my eyes have been opened so-to-speak on the issue and that’s always a good thing to be educated.

            Liked by 3 people

        • I don’t live in America and where I live we’ve had universal franchise more than a generation longer than the US. What’s more we generally have voter turnout percentages from the low nineties to the high seventies. There are several factors at play:
          * ease of voter registration. The law requires that everyone over the age 18 register on the electoral roll. However if you haven’t registered, you can do so when you go to vote. It only takes a few minutes.
          * no queueing. Polling places are set up everywhere including churches, mosques, schools, community centres, shopping malls etc. I’ve voted every three years in every nation and local election since 1972 in four different electorates (voting districts) and I’ve never had to wait for more than five minutes, and those occasions were at peak times. .
          * polling day is always on a Saturday as fewer people work on that day. Polling booths are open from 7am to 7pm on polling day and most are open every day in the two weeks prior to polling day
          * you can vote outside of the electorate you’re registered in
          * voter ID is not required, but bringing in the ID that is mailed out to every registered voter at the commencement of each election cycle will cut about a minute off the voting process.
          * it’s a simple process to register for postal voting and telephone voting and the vote(s) can be cast any time in the month prior to polling day. It’s also possible to nominate someone to vote on your behalf if your disability is such that you can not vote in person

          Voter fraud is extremely rare and there never has been a coordinated attempt of voter fraud. Ease of voting takes priority over everything else as that is seen as absolutely vital for democracy.

          Additionally gerrymandering does not occur as electoral boundaries are determined by an independent non political commission consisting of a high Court judge, the head of the Statistics Department, a number of other civil servants whose roles I don’t recall at this moment, and one person representing the governing political parties and one person representing the opposition parties.

          Restrictions around voting that’s seen in some American states is unfathomable to us. The only restriction here is that it is an offense to display political party advertising of any type (including insignia, badges etc) on polling day.

          Liked by 4 people

          • I do love your system there in New Zealand … I wish we modeled ours after yours. I especially like the required registration and that an ID is mailed to everyone. That you have very little voter fraud is proof that all the restrictions we are seeing here are unnecessary and only a means of keeping certain people away from the polls, of making voting so difficult for some that they simply give up. Thanks, Barry, for sharing how well it can work!!!

            Liked by 2 people

    • Hello Scott. Your reasoning would be sound if there was not an active attempt to deny voting on the part of the Republican party where they are in charge. I won’t go into the fact that the only attempt at fraud with ballot harvesting happened by a Republican operative and the rules in place caught it, requiring the entire election to be redone. I would rather explain how what you suggested simply doesn’t work in southern red states. I live in Florida. I am disabled. I used to live in an area where the Republicans in charge tried to restrict voting causing long lines, short advance voting days, small voting polling stations with few machines, small staff, everything requiring more time and longer waits. It is designed to make busy people and those unable to stand in those lines simply walk away and not vote. Why should people in the US be required to stand in line for over 8 hours and take time off work that they won’t be paid for just because they are poor or black? Or if they do ask for the time off will be fired for doing so? So my spouse and I showed up at our polling place and because there was no parking my spouse dropped me off and went to park the car. Then he found me and we stood in line. At some point I was in tears, I had not brought a walker or a chair and with my damaged back, hips, bones, and muscles including the nerve damage I have I couldn’t stand any longer and we were going to leave. My spouse and I complained to a poll worker as we left the line and that person sent us to the election supervisors’ headquarters for a mail in ballot. We both had to go in, please remember I had stood all that time and was beyond pain, because there were not enough days to get them mailed to us left in the voting. Lucky for us we took those ballots home where we filled them out and my spouse was able to return both of them to the appropriate drop box so I did not have to go. Think of that my spouse took both our ballots back. We had only that day to do our voting because my spouse worked 12 hour shifts in a large hospital ICU.

      Contrast that to where we now live in Florida, a majority white area. Our new voting place is a large center with lots of parking including a lot of disabled parking, there is never a wait line outside, inside the room with the many machines is huge with 30 or more machines including tables for people like me to sit at. Our longest wait in line has been about 15 minutes and I always get someone willing to walk me right through the sign in and to a chair /table setup. Someone is always near and helps me to the place to leave my ballot. At every step I have assistance.

      Scott the only difference is in the first situation I was in a majority people of color district, and in the second I am now in a majority very white district.

      The problem is poor people cannot take the time off to get to the polls even with early voting ones if they are during workdays and they won’t spend 8 hours of their only day off standing in a line to vote. What about people with children and no childcare available, do they take the children with them to stand in line 8 to 10 hours like in the last Georgia election? Restricting the polling places to make them harder to get to and making the lines longer is common for minority areas in red states as is reducing the number of voting machines. By denying voter drop boxes and not allowing other people to bring the ballot in to the proper place also reduces the number of people who can vote as many seniors cannot go in person to deliver their ballot. In the first example I told you I couldn’t have taken the ballot back in, I was done, and if my spouse had not been able to return my ballot, I wouldn’t have been able to vote in that election. The point Scott is the attempt at voter suppression are very real and well calculated to make as many people as possible not be able to vote or their vote does not get counted. In a democracy the idea is that the people vote for their government, but in situations of voter suppression the government is choosing their voters. Be well. Hugs

      Liked by 5 people

      • Scottie, thank you for your reply. Reading all of your comments is opening my eyes on the issue and it’s horrible that you were in so much pain after waiting that long to cast a vote. i guess the one thing that you haven’t mentioned, and if you did and I missed it, i’m sorry, but there’s still the issue with voter id. i still think it’s crucial for people to be able to provide that either in person or, if filling out and mailing or dropping off a form, in some way so that the counters who count the votes can have the proof that people are who they say they claim to be.
        I haven’t voted by mail before so if what i’m suggesting is already in place and it hasn’t been mentioned, again, I apologize for the oversight.
        I think it’s terrible that in some communities polling place hours are shortened and those other tactics which make people have to wait longer than they should to vote.
        Thank you all again for your comments to my response, I’m still catching up so I may be responding to more.

        Liked by 3 people

        • I’m glad they were able to give you some food for thought, Scott. It’s not always as cut and dried as you’ve been led to believe. Thanks for taking the time to think about what we’ve all said here.

          Liked by 2 people

        • Hello Scott. With Jill’s indulgence for our conversation, I will share what I know about the issues. I think the issue with voter ID is not that ID should be shown or used for verification of identity if needed but the steps some states take to make getting those ID difficult. The thing to remember is that the political operatives that push these ideas do so for the purpose of making it harder for the other side to vote while trying to make it easier for their side to vote. So on IDs it comes down to what kind of identification does my side have that the other side doesn’t or that can be made hard for the other side to get. Depending where one lives, they may not have a state ID and to get one may require a drive to another town or part of the county that has an open state agency to get the required ID and then have to spend a day in very uncomfortable chairs waiting to be called. Again the powers that be have in the past moved the offices to get the ID, and they understaff it to make it harder. As Jill mentioned a person who cannot afford to take time off work or who has family to take care of cannot do so. Also forms needed to get those required IDs can be hard to get. For example I needed to renew my driver’s license this year. There was a problem, when I got married in 2015 I took my spouse’s last name. The new card issued to me had a mistake in my middle name I did not catch. I use a shortened form of my middle name instead of the long form and I had signed and filled everything out with that with out thinking. Here is the problem, my driver’s license has the full middle name. I couldn’t renew it because it doesn’t match my social security information, I needed a birth certificate to verify my birth name but the state wouldn’t give it to me due to again the name the government had was different than my driver’s license. It took months working with the Social Security agency to fix it and during that time I was without a license to drive. So for me the issue is not being required to produce identification but that the state makes it hard for some people to get it. Best wishes. Hugs

          Liked by 3 people

          • Scottie, I wasn’t aware of those issues but I can see how that all makes sense. I think it’s just more prooff that government makes our lives much more difficult than they need to be with the inefficencies and in a lot of cases, the incompetence of the people who work in those agencies. Being on disability myself, I am all too aware of how terrible it is to deal with the social security administration. Thank you for your perspective on the identification. You’re right, if getting the ID is made difficult, it can’t be any easider from there if that makes sense.

            Liked by 3 people

      • This is quite an educational thread, great discourse! Has anyone checked out Filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s “2000 Mules” documentary? I hear the Repugs will be using it to promote Trump for 2024. Any validity to this election-fraud theory or just more right wing conspiracy?

        Like

    • Let me tell you the story of one woman, a single mother of 3, working two jobs. She received her requested mail ballot just one week before the election. With the delays in the USPS thanks to its head, Louis DeJoy, she’s afraid that her ballot may not arrive in time, so she’s going to use one of the drop boxes … but oops, they’ve all been taken away. Okay, so she’ll go vote before work … but her local polling place has been shut down and now she has to go to the other side of town to vote. Okay, so she gets up super early, takes a bus to the polling place, but … there is already a line of 100 or more people … no way she will be able to vote without being very late to work, and she cannot afford to lose this job! So, she’ll come back after work … but by the time she gets there at 6:00 p.m., the line is even longer than before, her kids need to be picked up from the sitters, and the polling place closes in one hour. Frustrated, she returns home without voting. I have other stories like hers … true stories. The election commission only mails out one ballot per registered voter, so how is it you think one person can cast “99 votes”? The ballots are numbered. They are checked. Because of car and health problems, I rely on my daughter to take my ballot to the nearest drop box … I’m not doing anything illegal or trying to cheat … I’m simply trying to do my duty, to use my voice, my constitutional right AND responsibility.

      Liked by 3 people

        • Personal experience helps, my friend. It’s just like anything else … people who have never had to worry about where their next meal is coming from, don’t understand what it means to go to bed hungry. People who’ve never been blind cannot possibly understand the hurdles and challenges faced by a blind person. And people who’ve always had time, transportation, and plenty of identification cannot understand how those of us not so blessed struggle just getting to vote. Hugs

          Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.