thuriweaver:

randomslasher:

pattykrabbies:

what-even-is-thiss:

ouroboroswatching:

what-even-is-thiss:

But you still need to vote for the ones that suck a little less because that’s how good change happens. People that bring up how politicians suck and that’s the reason they don’t vote make no sense to me.

I know you didn’t ask but I am just so passionate about politics and a lot of people are always like “Oh, so I’m supposed to choose the lesser of two evils?”

And like… yeah. Yeah you are. You really really are. That’s how democracy works.

Democracies should not be selecting the “lesser of two evils” – they should be selecting the better of two goods. It’s a subtle difference, but still a very important distinction. Of course, what should be, and what is, are two very different things. 

Voting is a civic duty, but what people in America do is not voting, and hasn’t been for some time now. By all means, continue to vote, but do not count on that system alone to bring about the changes you wish to see from your government.

Okay, but if you don’t vote, no change will happen. Ideally yes, better of two goods, but we don’t live in an ideal world. And in the end, I’d still vote if one of the candidates was a slightly shady conservative businessman and the other was a neonazi because I’d rather have a guy up there helping himself but putting on a nice face rather than somebody with openly racist ideals getting into congress. I agree other forms of action are important and necessary but in my opinion voting is the bare minimum you should do as a citizen. If you just sit back and don’t vote then the representatives aren’t representing you. They’re not catering to you. They’re catering to the people that vote. And you know who votes a lot? Old white conservative people.

You can protest all you want and create petitions but to sign petitions you have to be registered to vote. And if the people protesting don’t vote, what real incentive is there for politicians to change? They’re worried about the people that vote. Those are the ones that’ll help them keep their job.

Choosing not to vote are one of the huge factors that led to Trump being president. Everyone who didn’t vote during that election because they didn’t like either candidates contributed to this because at the end of the day, indifference is siding with the side getting away with committing the injustice. If you hadn’t voted then, use this as an opportunity now

^^^^^ Yes. For the love of God, yes. 

Vote. I don’t care if you hate both candidates–figure out which one is going to do less harm and vote for them, because that is the only way we prevent things from getting worse. And preventing things from getting worse is the first step on the road to things getting better. Before we can turn this train around, we have to slow it down, and believe it or not, that isn’t gonna happen all at once. There’s no such thing as throwing things into reverse without slowing down and turning around first.

This is already one of the scariest political climates I’ve lived through (and I lived through George W Bush) and it absolutely baffles me when people think they’re taking some kind of a stand by abstaining from voting. Abstaining doesn’t mean the system no longer applies to you. If you are a citizen, then you are a part of this system, and there is no way to be ‘above’ it. These are real policies that affect real people, even if those people aren’t you. They’re people you know, people you love and care about. And if you think that not voting means you are taking some kind of ‘moral high ground,’ you are dead wrong. What you are doing is basically standing aside and telling the horrible people they can do whatever you want because you won’t stop them. 

Voting is where your voice is heard. It’s where you take a stand. It’s where you say, “You know what? No. This isn’t okay.” 

Do not be taken in by Tumblr’s all-or-nothing puritanical ideals. No politician is perfect. Every politician has skeletons in their closets and ideals that may not match yours 100%. That should not keep you from choosing one. Deal with the fact that you have one candidate that has one or two skeletons and one that is literally standing on a mass grave and pick the first one. 

What matters here isn’t finding some theoretical perfect person, because that person will probably never go into politics. What matters is acknowledging the facts: that you are a citizen, that the results of these elections and the policies that come out of them will affect millions of people (and if you can’t bring yourself to care about them, then try to care about the people you know and love who are hurt by these policies, because I promise you you know at least one), that abstaining does not exclude you from the systems and policies that will result, and that voting really does matter. If you can acknowledge these facts, and still somehow think that voting isn’t important, then I am honestly baffled, because you’re basically saying, “I have the ability to influence history and I choose not to.” 

And frankly, if you are able to vote and decide not to? Then you don’t get to complain about the election results. If you throw away your one chance to actually influence the shit that’s going down, then you also throw away your right to bitch about it, because people are literally dying for the right to make their voices heard, and you’ve been handed a microphone and you’re spitting on it. 

I have zero patience for you. You think you’re standing on some kind of moral high ground, but you’re actually just standing on the piles of graves of the people who will be literally murdered because you let these politicians through the door. 

All that, and: If voting couldn’t change things, they wouldn’t be working so hard to take away so many people’s ability to do it. The very fact that so much effort is put into disenfranchisement proves voting is worth it, and if you are someone who hasn’t had your ability to vote taken away THEN FUCKING DO IT FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS.

artekka:

seriesofnonsequiturs:

reading-writing-revolution:

[Text of Tweet: George Takei: If you are turned away at the polls because your name is not on the register, don’t walk away. Say this: I REQUEST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AS REQUIRED BY LAW.

Don’t let them steal your vote]

Additional info:

“Provisional Ballot Laws are laws that require a provisional ballot upon verficiation of the idenity of the voter if a voter fails to present proper identification at the polls or when registering before voter registration deadlines.”

More here on national provisional ballot laws

Copied from facebook (source: John Young)

Poll worker here! Let’s talk about this “I DEMAND A PROVISIONAL BALLOT AS PROVIDED BY LAW” thing.

==
TL:DR; Yes, provisional ballots are important! And yes, you should absolutely ask for one if you need to. But there’s a couple of things to try first. A provisional ballot is a last resort.
==

It’s very common for voters to come up to the “check-in” desk, and not be found in the poll book. Some non-nefarious reasons why that might be the case:

1) The poll worker doesn’t understand how to spell your name.
2) You’re not in the right precinct (this happens ALLLL the time)
3) New married name?
4) You’re a college student, and you are registered, but you’re registered at home.

Here’s my recommendation for what to do:
* Make sure the poll worker is looking in the right spot (the book will be right in front of you; you can help find your name.)
* Mention your home address to the poll worker. THey may very well immediately say something like “Oh! Yes, you should be voting in the cafeteria. Here in the GYM, we are your next precinct over.”
* Ask politely to speak to someone to verify your status with the county. They will get on the phone with county folks, who will look you up in their BIG COMPUTER.

The steps above will, eight times out of ten, change you from the scary status of “Huh? you don’t exist!” to “Oh, right!
Okay, here you go, voter!”

If that doesn’t work, ask firmly and politely for a provisional ballot. If you say “AS PROVIDED BY LAWWWWW”, you will only get an eye-roll from a tired and hungry poll-worker. But hey, you do you – it really IS the law.

If you don’t get satisfaction, all is not lost. Step outside the precinct and call the ACLU, and they will send someone over to have some FIRM WORDS with the Judge of Elections.

How do I know? I’ve had ACLU lawyers sent to talk to me during an election: “Hey, we heard that you were turning voters away!” they said.

I wasn’t, but I DID NOT MIND having someone smart and informed come to check on what was up. The ACLU counsel was smart, engaged, and knew the rules. Had I been trying some crap, this person would have SHUT. IT. DOWN.

So, the BOTTOM bottom line is:
1) Provisional ballots are a last resort. You can read up on them; they’re definitely riskier than a full, “real” ballot. You want to vote at your proper precinct as your first choice.
2) Don’t panic if you’re not in the book. Are you in the right place?
3) If you decide you do need a provisional, be firm, polite, and persistent. There’s no “secret phrase” that’s going to make us poll workers hiss with dismay: “CURSESSSSSSS! They know about the provisionalssssss!”
4) But do stick up for yourself! And if you don’t get what you want, call it in! There’s LOTS of folks to help!

the-revolution-continues:

astrodidact:

PSA

If you are turned away at the polls, you can state: “Give me a provisional ballot with a receipt as required by law when requested.”

maevegreen:

the-revolution-continues:

Credit: Liesl Manone.

I just spammed my FB page with these…not sorry.

jabberwockypie:

shrewreadings:

treegona:

fandomsandfeminism:

genquerdeer:

transhumanist-viking:

genquerdeer:

socialistexan:

fandomsandfeminism:

Republicans: Felons should NEVER regain the right to vote. Got a felony for pot possession when you were 21? Fuck off. If you can’t follow the law, you don’t get to vote on the law. 

Also Republicans: I mean, even if Kavanaugh IS an attempted rapist who drank underage in high school, whatever. It’s not disqualifying even if its true. I still think he should serve a LIFETIME POSITION ON THE SUPREME COURT. 

Not only that, but he perjured himself 3 separate times in front of the Senate, first during his confirmation when Bush nominated him to the DC court, again during his SCOTUS hearing, and then again this past week.

Perjury is, wait for it, a felony.

hold on a second, why does this say ‘REGAIN right to vote’? Are prisoners in USA not allowed to vote???

Yeah in a lot of places in the USA any felony charge loses you the right to vote. It’s called felony disenfranchisement

… Wouldn’t that allow government to strip opposition activists of political rights by arresting them on manufactured charges? That sounds EXTREMELY undemocratic and easily exploitable.

You are correct.

In Florida there’s a board of people who get to decide if people get back the right to vote. these people don’t have to follow any laws or offer any explanation, really. They can just say “I mean, yea you’re a reintegrated part of society but I don’t like the color of your shirt so no rights for you.” 

YO FLORIDA FOLLOWERS – @jabberwockypie, @deadcatwithaflamethrower, @drougnor  et al. 

Also in Florida, on the ballot in November: Amendment 4. 

Amendment 4 allows automatic restoration of voting rights to felons after serving their sentence, completing parole or probation, and paying restitution. Convicted murderers and sex offenders are excluded from this automatic restoration.*

In other words, setting voting restoration back to pretty much what people MEANT by ‘felons shouldn’t be able to vote if they get out’ in the first place, because murderers & sex offenders.

So, if this violation of the 8th amendment pisses you off and you live in Florida, SHOW THE FUCK UP TO VOTE.

*Kam, Dara. 2018. “Amendment to Restore Felons’ Voting Rights on Florida November Ballot.” News Service of Florida, in The Palm Beach Post: January 24, 2018. Last loaded October 14, 2018 from https://pbpo.st/2Q942ER

Already voted by mail!  And I’m keeping an eye on the status of my ballot and I looked up what the necessary forms are to submit if they try NOT to count it.

Also the ballot questions this year are an obnoxious clusterfuck of unclear wording and I VERY MUCH suggest researching them and who is supporting and opposing them before voting.

“Here, you’re voting on 2-3 different things with ONE Yes/No answer!”

“#9 – Do you support banning offshore oil and gas drilling and vaping in enclosed indoor workplaces?”  Yes, I support both of those things, but I feel like you’re asking me two seperate questions there.

“#11 – Repeals the following: (a) a prohibition against aliens owning property,
(b) a requirement for a high-speed ground transportation system, and
© a provision saying that changes to a criminal statute are not
retroactive“   *squints* *rereads*  *goes to Ballotpedia*  Well the ACLU is for it, so I’m going with yes.

And SO MANY OF THEM are like that! It’s stupid.

rydiaasuka:

agreekdoctor:

sashayed:

rebakitt3n:

ruinsplume:

greywash:

melmey-fanfics:

robertreich:

Anyone still unsure of how (or even whether) they’ll vote in the midterms should consider this: All three branches of government are now under the control of one party, and that party is under the control of Donald J. Trump.  

With the addition of Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court is as firmly Republican as are the House and Senate.

Kavanaugh was revealed as a fierce partisan – not only as a legal advisor who helped Kenneth Starr prosecute Bill Clinton and almost certainly guided George W. Bush’s use of torture, but also a nominee who believed “leftists” and Clinton sympathizers were out to get him.

He joins four other Republican-appointed jurists, equally partisan. Thomas, Alito, and Roberts have never wavered from Republican orthodoxy. Neil Gorsuch, although without much track record on the Supreme Court to date, was a predictable conservative Republican vote on the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit – which is why the Heritage Foundation pushed for him and Trump appointed him.  

Even under normal circumstances, when all three branches are under the control of the same party we get a lopsided government that doesn’t respond to the values of a large portion of the electorate.

But these are not normal circumstances. Donald Trump is President.

Need I remind you? Trump is a demagogue who doesn’t give a fig for democracy – who continuously and viciously attacks the free press, Democrats, immigrants, Muslims, black athletes exercising First Amendment rights, women claiming sexual harassment, anyone who criticizes or counters him; who treats the executive branch, including the Justice Department, like his own fiefdom, and brazenly profits off his office; who tells lies like other people breathe; and who might well have conspired with Vladimir Putin to swing the election his way.

Trump doesn’t even pretend to be the president of all the people. As he repeatedly makes clear in rallies and tweets, he is president of his “base.”

And his demagoguery is by now unconstrained in the White House. Having fired the few “adults” in his Cabinet, Trump is now on the loose (but for a few advisors who reportedly are trying to protect the nation from him).

All this would be bad enough even if the two other branches of government behaved as the framers of the Constitution expected, as checks and balances on a president. But they refuse to play this role when it comes to Trump.

House and Senate Republicans have morphed into Trump acolytes and toadies – intimidated, spineless, opportunistic. The few who have dared call him on his outrages aren’t running for reelection.

Some have distanced themselves from a few of his most incendiary tweets or racist rantings, but most are obedient lapdogs on everything else, including Trump’s reluctance to protect the integrity of our election system, his moves to prevent an investigation into Russian meddling, his trade wars, his attacks on NATO and the leaders of other democracies, his swooning over dictators, his cruelty toward asylum-seekers, and, in the Senate, his Supreme Court nominees.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has emerged as Trump’s most shameless lackey who puts party above nation and Trump above party. The House leadership is no better. House intelligence chair Devin Nunes is Trump’s chief flunky and apologist, but there are many others. 

Now that Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court, you can forget about the Court constraining Trump, either.

Kavanaugh’s views of presidential power and executive privilege are so expansive he’d likely allow Trump to fire Mueller, shield himself from criminal prosecution, and even pardon himself. Kavanaugh’s Republican brethren on the Court would probably go along.  

So how are the constitutional imperative of checks and balances to be salvaged, especially when they’re so urgently needed?  

The only remedy is for voters to flip the House or Senate, or ideally both, on November 6^th.

The likelihood of this happening is higher now with Kavanaugh on the Court and Trump so manifestly unchecked. Unless, that is, voters have become so demoralized and disillusioned they just give up.

If cynicism wins the day, Trump and those who would delight in the demise of American democracy (including, not incidentally, Putin) will get everything they want. They will have broken America.

For the sake of the values we hold dear – and of the institutions of our democracy that our forbearers relied on and our descendants will need – this cannot be allowed.

It is now time to place a firm check on this most unbalanced of presidents, and vote accordingly.

This is so important. I am not American but as somebody who has studied politics and as a German growing up with the history of my country let me tell you – never take democracy for granted, you gave to fight for it. Democracies don’t always die with a big bang bloody revolution, more often they are slowly sabotaged by people in power and they die if the majority stays silent. Vote. Demonstrate. 

This means you vote the Democratic party ticket, for the record. The time to shift the party to the left is during the primaries. Right now? You vote the goddamned ticket. Even if that means voting for Manchin, or some equally despicable Democrat.

Because let’s be very, very clear about this: if Manchin isn’t re-elected, it’ll be Patrick Morrisey in that seat: a Republican, who will vote the Republican party line on basically every fucking issue (because Republicans tend to have better party discipline than Democrats, at least at the Federal level), and a Republican who helps keep committee control in the hands of the Republicans and procedural control in the hands of the Republicans, instead of a Democrat who helps shift both those things into the hands of a group of people who actually want to block Trump’s agenda. By all means, vote Manchin out—but we cannot afford for you to do it right now. Do it in the primaries in 2024. Right now? You show up to vote, and you vote the goddamned ticket.

Here is a good breakdown on how Democratic voters failing to show up for Democratic candidates in the 2014 midterms is probably directly responsible for what’s happening right now. 2014!! You think 2024 seems like it’s a long time off, and you just can’t possibly wait that long to voice your personal opinion about how insufficiently pure your local Democrat is? Fuck you. We’re going to spend the next 30 years living with a rapist on the Supreme Court because people like you couldn’t suck it up and vote like fucking grown-ups who understand how things like “math” and “their government” work four years ago.

Yes, political parties suck. Yes, they force you, frequently, to gather with people who don’t believe 100% the same things as you. Suck it the fuck up. Sometimes compromise is necessary in adult life! That’s just how it works! This isn’t about one Democrat. It’s not about your Democrat at all. It’s about blocking the Republicans. And the only way to do that effectively at this point in time is to vote the Democratic ticket. Top. To. Bottom.

Reblogging for the @greywash comment especially. Vote like a grownup.

Thank you for saying this! Yes, it has to be democrats! Third party cannot win this one guys!

Dump Republicans is step 1.

VOTE LIKE A GROWNUP SORRY

Reblogging for the day crowd…

I saw a statement that millennials now outnumber the Baby Boomers, and I also saw a survey that said 35% of millennials planned on voting in the midterms this year, which is up from something like 20-something% from 2014, but 81% of seniors plan on voting in the midterms.

This Gen-Xer is pleading with you… GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!

Strategic voting wins elections. Who cares who they are at this point. Vote for the bigger picture. Canada did it. You can too.