Don’t vote straight tickets, don’t just select Democrat. Do each choice individually. People voting straight tickets in Texas caught the machines changing Beto votes to Cruz, while leaving the rest of the ticket Democrat.
Do individual votes, CHECK OVER YOUR BALLOT BEFORE YOU SUBMIT. Don’t exit out and try to start over, you aren’t allowed, your vote will be nulled. Get a poll worker to help you and have THEM document any machine errors, don’t take a pic of your ballot. Get a receipt of your vote. Ask poll workers how they are backing up votes. If you vote by mail, it’s critical to get your ballot in the mail asap. Thousands of votes aren’t counted because they’re stamped too late.
If you’re voting in person, go over every choice in the ballot carefully, and double check that the machine hasn’t changed your choice BEFORE you hit submit. Take your time, even if there’s a long line outside. Ask poll people for help if you have any questions. THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS.
Sometimes I have to ask really basic questions over and over and over before I understand stuff. I never forget, once it’s in my head, but some stuff takes clarifying and reclarifying and re-re-clarifying. I have learned to tell people that I’m not trying to be obtuse or difficult, that I have ADHD and I have to ask and re-ask. I don’t love sharing that with strangers, but it’s the most effective approach (I’ve tried a lot of different coping and learning methods over the years, including “I’d rather people think I’m stupid or sullen or contrary, I’ll be damned if I tell them that I process stuff differently”). But now I repeat back what they said to me, and they say, yup, that’s right, and then usually I say, I have ADHD, so I need to run this by you again to make sure I’m on the same page as you, and I ask some more questions, and 99% of the time they’re cool with it, and help me till I understand. A few people go from thinking I’m contrary to thinking I’m dumb, you can see it in their faces after I explain, but 1. Who cares, I need to understand, so they need to help me, and 2. I don’t think other people are dumb when they don’t notice all the things I see, from subtext to prediction to whatever. There are a lot of ways to be a person. I’m pretty secure with my level of intelligence, and I don’t look down on non-ADHD brains ffs, and 3. This is a small, but important aspect of disability and accessibility. If I told them I had dyslexia, people would be more patient with me re-stating and re-questioning. If I had other disabilities, they would be legally required to assist me or make the process accessible to me.
Everyone gets a seat at the table.
Everyone gets a vote.
Ask for help if you need it, is what I’m saying here.
More info here. TL;DR – voting in Texas is an absolute clusterfuck that suppresses voter turnout in just about every aspect.
Greetings friends! The midterms are so close, are you registered to vote?
You: I can’t vote, I’m an Ex-Offender
ARE YOU SURE?
I live in Vermont or Maine: You never lost your right to vote
I live in DC, Hawai’i, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland*, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, or Utah: You can vote upon your release from incarceration.
That’s cool but I don’t live in those states. I live in: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington (state), West Virginia.: You can vote once you have completed your sentence (parole and/or probation)
Wow! That’s really cool. But, um. I don’t live in those states. I live in:
Alabama: You cannot vote if you have been convicted of any felony listed here. Crimes of ‘moral turpitude’ including: Murder, Manslaughter, Kidnapping, Rape, Sodomy, Sexual Torture/Abuse
Arizona: First time offender? Complete your probation and payment of any fine or restitution and you can vote. Multiple Offender? You have to apply to a judge to vote.
Delaware You cannot vote if you have been convicted of murder, bribery or sexual offenses. If you have been pardoned or had your sentence completed, get your vote on!
Florida Rights must be restored via the governor and a clemency board. In the November elections Floridians have the opportunity to vote for Amendment Four and restore voting rights to over a million Floridians. So that man that threw an alligator at someone can vote?? YES but so can your dumb little brother who thought carrying a concealed weapon would be cool when he was 19. So can the drug addict who robbed a convenience store but has been clean for 20 years.
Iowa You must petition the governor
Kentucky You must petition the governor
Mississippi If you have committed one of the following crimes: armed robbery, arson, bigamy, bribery, carjacking, embezzlement, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, forgery, larceny, murder, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, rape, receiving stolen property, robbery, statutory rape, theft, timber larceny, and unlawful taking of a vehicle. you cannot vote unless a bill passed by both houses of the legislature or through the governor. If you did NOT commit one of those crimes, you can vote even while incarcerated
Nebraska Voting rights are automatically restored two years after the completion of all supervised release
Nevada Voting rights are restored automatically after sentence completion if convicted of a non-violent felony. However, those convicted of a violent felony and all second-time felony offenders (whether violent or non-violent) can only have their rights restored by the court in which they were convicted.
Tennessee Individuals convicted of a felony since 1981–except for some felonies such as murder, rape, treason and voter fraud–may apply to the Board of Probation and Parole to have their voting rights restored once their sentence is completed.
Virginia: You can vote if you completed your sentence, including probation and parole. This is not a law but an order by the governor. A new governor can repeal this.
Wisconsin-Voting rights are automatically restored upon completion of all supervised release
Wyoming- Voting rights restoration is dependent on the type of conviction: first-time non-violent felony offenders can apply to the Wyoming Board of Parole five years after completion of sentence. All others must apply to the Governor for either a pardon or a restoration of rights, but must wait ten and five years, respectively, after completing their sentence.
In many cases you must RE-REGISTER to vote but you can vote.
*If you are guilty of buying or selling votes, you have to get the governor to pardon you.
This is not intended to be comprehensive, you should check out your state’s laws for any quirks.
Remember people of color are disproportionately incarcerated. Double check you may be able to make your voice heard
Hey there US friends! If you’re voting using these machines (Hart eSlate) or similar ones right now or in the near future, make sure that the machine has NOT changed your ballot before casting it, ‘k? It’s apparently an already known problem, and has been for years, but has never been fixed.
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
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.
Stressed, Depressed, and Story Obsessed 