PLEASE check your ballot was counted if these apply to you, and everyone PLEASE share this information! We have til 5pm tomorrow (presumably EST), November 8, 2018!
These are both black candidates who were subject to racist attack ads during their campaigns! Also, Abrams’s opponent, Kemp, happens to also be the person in charge of elections and he withheld 53,000 voter registrations (mostly from black people) so he could win. Please, if you can do anything to help Abrams and Gillum win, do it, even if it’s just reblogging this post or reaching out to your Florida or Georgia friends to tell them about this.
i will literally never forget the senior year of my american politics degree. our professor did a show of hands for who was going to vote in the election and i was one of 4 people in a 60 person class that raised mine. “both candidate were bad” and it didn’t matter because we were in a blue state anyway, right? the day after the election, the little brother of a friend got called a racial epithet and beat up at school. it was the first incident of that kind in that school in years–the first of many since. my friend didn’t vote in that election. both candidates were bad, after all.
i think what she didn’t get, what most people don’t get is that voting isn’t about you. it isn’t. it’s about the society we’re trying to have here, the society you are a part of no matter how nihilistic you think you are. you’re never too good for kindness. this is the most basic test of that.
so i’m begging you: vote for people that don’t have a vote because they got illegally purged from voter rolls. vote for the environment. vote for kids that are going to have to deal with this stuff for the next 80 years. vote for the lgbt community. vote because it’s better than nothing. vote because if you don’t and then you turn around and complain about anything wrong with this country, you’ve given up your best shot at doing a goddamn thing about it. if nothing else, vote for spite. vote to scare them. here’s a post that has every piece of information you need to vote tomorrow. please do it. it’s not about you or about your single vote making a difference. it’s about caring enough for the weak and underrepresented in this society enough to do your best by them.
you have to at least try.
I know I’ve been pounding this drum nonstop for months now. And guess what? I’m tired of it too! But I’m frankly terrified and I have been for two years, so here I go again: bang bang bang, please help fix this nightmare!
What I will never understand when people say ‘my vote doesn’t matter’ is how they don’t see that no one single vote matters by itself. It’s the cumulative vote that matters–and the cumulative vote only gets that way when every single person votes. You’re not out there doing a solo project; you’re a part of something big. An important part.
No, you may not be Mulan–you may not be the ‘single grain of rice that tips the scales’ or the ‘one man’ who stands between victory and defeat. But your vote is still adding to the cumulative numbers we need. Your vote matters.
Please, please. Vote.
Yes, I’m gonna be on this all day.
Yes your vote matters. Also if you don’t vote you can’t bitch about how the election went
To reiterate many of the comments and reblogs, also look up and contact local and state Democratic Party offices as well as local progressive nonprofits in your area—MANY of them have volunteers just itching to drive you.
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!
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!
Particularly if you live in Texas, please vote, just for the schadenfreude. Can you even imagine if Texas goes blue. Can you even imagine Ted Cruz losing. I’m getting giddy just thinking about the conservative meltdown. There is literally zero path to the Presidency for Republicans that doesn’t include Texas. If they have to sweat bullets for the next forever thinking that Texas might be a left-leaning state… guys, this just sounds like a fun time.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 