a lot of my friends have been noting that none of the “get out there and vote!” posts actually have any resources attached to them, so they’re great for motivation but if you don’t know how to vote they can really stress you out. so i compiled a list of resources that hopefully can help!
Here’s the most confusing bit! Figuring out who you’re voting for. Don’t know who’s running? Ballotpedia is a godsend. The page in the link looks very confusing, but all you have to do is click your state in each of the right-hand boxes. Those will take you to a page that will explain who from each party is running for the Senate and the House. Ballotpedia will also tell you if your state has same-day voter registration. If you’ve missed the cutoff to register, you might still be able to do it on election day, so check that on your state’s voting page!
Polling places can be crowded and the wait can be long to vote. Don’t freak out! Bring a book or some music/podcasts to listen to while you wait.
If you can’t make it on the day, you still have options! Find your state on this Ballotpedia page and click to learn more. The page it takes you to will have links and information on how to get an absentee ballot in your state. If you plan on absentee voting, hurry! The deadlines to apply and vote are usually sooner than the actual election day.
Most of all, remember: this election could swing the house and the senate, giving Democrats more control over new laws and legislation for years to come. You’re not a bad person if you can’t vote, but it’s a lot easier than you might think!
Let’s get out there and change the world!
Also, if you enter your address in Ballotpedia, it’ll be able to give you a specific list of all the races that’ll be on your ballot, including things like local and state legislative elections (state legislative elections are important not only because they affect life in your state, but also because the state legislatures will be redrawing the congressional districts in 2020, and we don’t want more gerrymandering).
That said, if it’s too overwhelming, the most important candidates to focus on are those running for the Senate and House of Representatives.
Also, if you’d like more info about the candidates, such as what their positions are, check out BallotReady!
Ben and Jerry’s isn’t making an empty advertising gesture. They company has supported Bernie Sanders, and made an ice cream flavor to raise awareness of global warming. They run progressive news stories on their websites and social media. They pay their workers a living wage. Even their brownies are sourced from a company that specializes in hiring people out of jail to help them get their lives back on track. They’re open supporters of socialism. I understand the idea of “no ethical consumption” but Ben and Jerry’s isn’t just adopting a political message for nothing.
As someone who’s reported alt-right harassment and rhetoric on various
social media sites and been told “there’s nothing here that violates our
TOS,” seeing what RPGnet is doing is a welcome breath of fresh air.
It’s what happened to Jews in Germany in 1938 when their passports were declared invalid. That is what is beginning to happen here, now, to Hispanic citizens along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Oh, is it bad to compare the GOP to Nazis? Well, if members of the GOP do not like being compared to Nazis, they should consider not behaving exactly like Nazis.
Hispanic U.S. citizens, some of whom were in the U.S. military, are not being allowed to renew their passports. This is reportedly happening to “hundreds, even thousands” of Latinos, according to a report in the Washington Post. They’re getting letters from the State Department saying it does not believe they are citizens. The government claims their citizenships are fraudulent. “I’ve had probably 20 people who have been sent to the detention center—U.S. citizens,” Jaime Diez, an attorney in Brownsville, told The Washington Post.
The Washington Post also reports on ICE officials coming to citizens’ homes and taking their passports away. This is an escalation from a few months ago, when Americans were detained by ICE officials just for speaking Spanish to one another.
The administration is currently launching an effort to take citizenship from people who they suspect of fraud in obtaining it. Fraud in these cases is exceedingly rare. The last time the government tried to strip people of their citizenship was, according to Columbia Professor Mae Ngai, during The Red Scare of the 1950s. As Ngai remarks, McCarthyism is not typically remembered as a good period in American history.
There is good reason to believe that this could portend still worse things to come for the U.S. Hispanic population, unless people begin to speak out loudly, and fast.
First, they came for the Hispanics and I did nothing.
Then they came for (fill in the blanks) and I did nothing.
Then, when they came for me, there was no one to do nothing.
GUYS.
SILENCE IS COMPLICITY.
IT WILL HAUNT NOT ONLY YOU BUT YOUR CHILDRENS CHILDREN.
DONT BE SILENT. PASS THIS AROUND. Let everyone know it’s happening!
KIDS! In the US and elsewhere… older generations will use you as a prop but will work against making the world better for you, again and again. GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!
Please! Voting is super important and a right we need to make sure we’re using! There’s even early voting going on now so you can get it out of the way before November 6th!
Yess. From one millenial to all the others, you have to accept that adults are useless. Whether because they cant do anything or choose to screw you over, they just cant help you anymore.
So we have to pick up the slack no matter how terrifying and tiring it may be. At least until hope people are in power
I think this is a good explanation of the socio-political concept of Privilege.
It doesn’t mean you or I have done anything wrong by being something. It simply means that, in most situations, being that thing doesn’t make our problems even worse.
Another good way I’ve seen it explained was that Privilege is something you don’t even notice, and never have to think about. You only recognize it when you DON’T have it.
As a white person, there are a lot of things I’ve never HAD to think about that my non-white friends do.
As a woman, there are many things I have had to think about or deal with, that my brother has never had to worry about.
Because I’m cis, there are so many things I take for granted. I never realized that I did, until I had transgender friends.
As a queer person, there’s issues I face that my straight friends never have.
Privilege isn’t a judgment on you as a person or a claim that you don’t have problems. We all have problems.
It’s simply about examining how social structures create specific problems for SOME people. Privilege is something that can change, depending on the situation or environment.
god this is a big ask but I really wish there were like….. a site where you could plug in your state/district/whatever and tick some boxes on issues you prioritize and then the site would give you a rundown of the potential candidates in your area and where they stand on those issues in like….. clean simple bullet points. gimme the cliffnotes, I literally do not have the time or energy to comb through god knows how many articles and shit to figure out who to support, just tell me what their stance is on X, Y, and Z, and that’s gonna have to be enough.
It goes through who’s on your ballot and explains things like that based on your address.
this is really great. it gives you bullet points on what each candidate has said and done on each issue.
very illuminating, frankly, seeing the candidate’s own words and actions. for instance, under ‘defense/veterans’ the republican candidates almost always say something about a well-funded military, and the democrats almost always say something about getting veterans the medical care they need. makes it pretty obvious that republicans don’t care about soldiers once they’re done with them.
This October, 2018, some 4000 Hondurans migrated from their country and are on their way to the United States on foot. After organising via social media, they parted from San Pedro Sula, passed Guatemala, are currently in Mexico, and will try to reach the US border, in hopes of starting a new life in America.
Among the majority of migrants, there’s children, babies, farmers, proffesionals, stay-at-home parents, and students. They scape the poverty and violence that sorrounds their country. With a homicide rate of 43 for every 100.000 inhabitants, making the country one of the most violents in the world. The high activity of gangs and drug traffickers, plus a poverty rate of 68% of the country’s population leave Hondurans desperate. One of the organizers of the caravan affirmed that they leave due to violence, and the high cost of basic goods, energy, and water.”
What did Donald Trump, in the name of the US government, say about this?
The president of the United States had already threatened Guatemala, Honduras and El salvador with stopping financial aid if they didn’t contain illegal immigration (source). He announced he’d make good on his threat this monday (oct. 22) (source) because “they were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S.”
According to him, most of the migrants are criminals and “unknown Middle Easterners” have started to mix in with them
(source). He claimed to have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this constituted a National Emergency. Those who have not asked for asylum in Mexico will not be allowed into the US. Trump also blamed democrats for the “pathetic [immigration] laws” that he’s been unable to change (source).
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 