people: "if biden and harris lose, this could be the last fair and free election in our lifetimes!!!"
me: *thinks about how felons can't vote, thinks about how the working class often have to choose between getting work that day or voting, thinks about how black people and indigenous people couldnt vote until 55 years ago, thinks about how gerrymandering is rendering low income/mostly minority districts virtually silent, thinks about how the electoral college is still in effect and has more power than the actual popular vote, thinks about how each state can set up their own arbitrary laws for voting, even at the federal level, thinks-*
me: yea. fair and free. yup.
Biden supports restoring voting rights for felons, Republicans are the ones who regularly try to close polling places in *working class* communities since they tend to vote Democratic, gerrymandering low income/minority districts is again, something that Republicans do at the state level to try to limit Democratic votes, and many Democrats, including Harris, have expressed their desire to get rid of the electoral college in favor of the popular vote, while the GOP wants to keep it since it favors them. If you agree these are all problems, then you also have to acknowledge which party is trying to solve them and which one is trying to make them worse. Democratic politicians can’t make Republicans go away on their own, you literally have to vote them out.
Also, yes, states run elections, and that’s both why they can make their own rules, and why it’s important to elect people at the state level who don’t try to make it difficult for low income and minority voters, and again, these tend to be Democrats.
It’s also kind of important to recognize that people are worried about the end of “free and fair” elections because the Trump administration is taking several specific steps to make them even *less* free and fair, so complaining about the lack of nuance or historical context to that argument is kind of missing the forest for the trees here
*thinks about how felons can't vote,
people: "if biden and harris lose, this could be the last fair and free election in our lifetimes!!!"
me: *thinks about how felons can't vote, thinks about how the working class often have to choose between getting work that day or voting, thinks about how black people and indigenous people couldnt vote until 55 years ago, thinks about how gerrymandering is rendering low income/mostly minority districts virtually silent, thinks about how the electoral college is still in effect and has more power than the actual popular vote, thinks about how each state can set up their own arbitrary laws for voting, even at the federal level, thinks-*
me: yea. fair and free. yup.
Biden supports restoring voting rights for felons, Republicans are the ones who regularly try to close polling places in *working class* communities since they tend to vote Democratic, gerrymandering low income/minority districts is again, something that Republicans do at the state level to try to limit Democratic votes, and many Democrats, including Harris, have expressed their desire to get rid of the electoral college in favor of the popular vote, while the GOP wants to keep it since it favors them. If you agree these are all problems, then you also have to acknowledge which party is trying to solve them and which one is trying to make them worse. Democratic politicians can’t make Republicans go away on their own, you literally have to vote them out.
Also, yes, states run elections, and that’s both why they can make their own rules, and why it’s important to elect people at the state level who don’t try to make it difficult for low income and minority voters, and again, these tend to be Democrats.
It’s also kind of important to recognize that people are worried about the end of “free and fair” elections because the Trump administration is taking several specific steps to make them even *less* free and fair, so complaining about the lack of nuance or historical context to that argument is kind of missing the forest for the trees here
OP, if you want me to take seriously your principled opposition to voting for Biden-Harris, then you need to persuade me of your alternative proposed action. If it’s your revolutionary group’s coupe planned for November second, email me your manifesto and maybe I’ll sign up. If it’s not something that’ll finish repairing the last four years’ damage before Election Day, I want to know why not both. I want to know why you think your plan will be easier to implement under four more years of Trump than under four years of Biden. If you persuade me of that, email me your manifesto and maybe I’ll sign up. However if all you’ve got is a list of complaints against Biden and Harris then you do you but, no matter how groundful your complaints may be, I don’t see the difference between you and a Russian psy op from 2016.
No, they can’t, unless they’re fortunate enough to get their rights restored, and that’s not fair. Who can change the laws? Elected officials.
thinks about how the working class often have to choose between getting work that day or voting,
That’s not fair either, and all election days, both state and federal, should be holidays. Who can make them so? Elected officials.
thinks about how black people and indigenous people couldnt vote until 55 years ago,
But they can now. They’re enfranchised today. Because people lobbied elected officials and won their right to vote.
thinks about how gerrymandering is rendering low income/mostly minority districts virtually silent,
It is and it needs to be fought. Who draws districts? Elected officials. Guess when they draw them -- next year. This year’s election outcomes will impact the shape of your congressional district for the next ten years.
thinks about how the electoral college is still in effect and has more power than the actual popular vote,
It is in effect but I’m not sure it has more power than the popular vote. Twice it has happened in my lifetime, and both times the popular vote was a squeaker either nationally (2000) or in a few key states (2016). Democrats win when voter turnout is high. And the Interstate Popular Vote Compact is almost a reality.
thinks about how each state can set up their own arbitrary laws for voting, even at the federal level, thinks-*
Who sets the voting laws? Elected officials.
If the prevailing attitude is that “nothing ever changes” or “voting never changes anything” then nothing ever will change. We’re effectively a right-wing nation because elections over the last few decades have trended to the right because when voter turnout is low, the right wins in this country, and voter turnout is low in presidential midterm years.
If you want the country to look the way you want it to, you have to participate. And yeah, “fair and free election” is a pretty ludicrous concept right now -- but that’s no reason to sit it out.
ALSO?
The Supreme Court just gutted a huge problem with the Electoral College. Here, I’ll screenshot my email. (My deadname is in the email because it’s my registered-voter name, but that’s the only thing I’ve edited out.)
It was a 9-0 vote. A UNANIMOUS VOTE. Even Gohmert and Kavanaugh—both Trump appointees—said faithless electors are not okay.
WE CANNOT LET THIS BE REVERSED BY A COUP. WE CAN’T.
Vote vote vote. Take everyone you know. IT MATTERS.
Holy shit. That last bit. That last bit just made my day. You know how long I’ve been writing letters about that shit!?!?
It’s fair to take issue with a lot of aspects of the US electoral system, but as you get closer to the election date it’s important to remember that IN 2016 THERE WAS AN ACTIVE PSY-OP PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA WITH THE EXPLICIT INTENT TO STIR UP VOTER APATHY.
Be SKEPTICAL of people who only offer up doubt without solutions. They could actually be paid to take advantage of your disillusionment.
Hey you know what state now allows felons to reclaim their voting rights? FLORIDA.* You know how that happened? PEOPLE VOTED FOR A BALLOT INITIATIVE IN THE 2018 MIDTERM ELECTION.
People ought to have an easier time voting? GOSH WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT IF PEOPLE COULD VOTE BY MAIL. WHICH THEY CAN. IN ALL 50 STATES. “I CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE POLLS ON ELECTION DAY” IS LITERALLY WHAT ABSENTEE VOTING IS FOR. And that is also being expanded all over the place! By elected officials and ballot intiatives! Multiple states had complete vote-by-mail elections in 2020 due to initiatives passed in 2018!
Gerrymandering? In the 2018 midterm election Michigan passed a ballot initiative that created a randomly-selected panel of 13 regular citizens (four Dems, four Republicans, five Independents) who will be responsible for drawing our congressional districts in 2021.
ELECTIONS MATTER. VOTING MATTERS. FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS ARE POSSIBLE IF WE JUST! KEEP! PUSHING!
And while we’re talking about your congressional districts, before they redraw them in 2021 we need to know how many people are in your area aka PLEASE FILL OUT YOUR CENSUS ASAP. Its not just counting voting age citizens, it’s counting everyone. So here’s my plea to fill out the census if you haven’t already https://www.census.gov
Census results determine not just how many reps your state gets in the House, but also allocation of federal funds for things like roads & bridges, education, housing, etc. Its another way to make your government pay attention to you.
