(no subject)

[beatrice_otter]

For those of you who are on the fence about voting, or haven't voted yet, or aren't sure if it matters, here's a bit about the issues and people on my ballot.

First and most obviously there is the US Senate and House of Representatives candidates.  If you think this doesn't matter, you're an idiot; if there had been 51 Democratic senators instead of 49, Kavanaugh would not now be a member of the Supreme Court.  And yes, this is true even if your Democratic senator is an absolute ASS and the next best thing to Satan.  Your Democratic senator (or senatorial candidate) may be an ass and the next best thing to Satan, but they are not actually Satan.  And it's a lot worse to have actual Satan in charge.  Think of how much nicer things would be if Trump hadn't had a congress that would mostly just follow his lead.

But leaving aside that, here are some issues on my ballot:

• A state-wide measure that requres law inforcement to receive de-escalation, mental health, and first-aid training, and adds an INDEPENDENT investigation to any use of deadly force by law enforcement.
• Tighter gun controls.
• Higher taxes on industrial pollution sources.

These are all really important things, yes?  And, sure, they only affect my state; but that's still very important for all the people living in my state.

Then there's the local Sherriff, the head cop in my county, and the guy in charge of law enforcement where I live since we don't have our own police department.  Do I want the guy in charge of the cops in my area to be a Republican, a member of a party that thinks it's just fine to rip children out of their parents' arms and stuff them in cages and treat them horribly?  Who thinks it's okay to strip people of citizenship because of the color of their skin?  HELL NO.  So I vote for the Democrat candidate.

Then there's the judges.  There are three state supreme court positions up for election (they aren't lifetime positions), and two of them are uncontested, but one of them is, and in THAT one, the two candidates are a) a guy who talks about using technology to make the court system more efficient, and then use the money saved to get more public defenders for low-income people accused of crimes, and b) a guy whose website is incoherent ranting about Kavanaugh and elite media doing a smear job.  Efficiency and working to make things better for low-income people is FAR preferable to a pro-Kavanaugh nutjob.

VOTE.  VOTE YOUR ENTIRE BALLOT, EVEN (ESPECIALLY!) THE LOCAL STUFF.  You can make SO MUCH difference to things locally regardless of what's going on nationally.  If you need information on candidates and measures, https://www.ballotready.org and www.vote411.org  and https://ballotpedia.org/ provide information.  If you are going to be voting in person, I suggest going to one of those sites, getting a sample ballot for your area, and writing down who and what you want to vote for and against so you have it when you actually are in the booth.

Comments

[jjhunter]

Also, District Attorney races are really important if you have even the vaguest remote interest in criminal justice reform, address unequal / harsher sentencing for minorities, and all kinds of important stuff.

[beatrice_otter]

Yeah! Most of the things that actually affect crime, punishment, police brutality, racism in the system, and a whole HOST of other things are actually handled at the LOCAL level. Sheriffs, County Commissioners, DAs, all that sort of thing. And those are also the elections where individual votes make the most difference!

[duskpeterson]

Terrific post! I'm currently working my way through my absentee ballot.

[thothmes]

If it's a comfort, I will vote on Tuesday (having had a seizure in July, cause now corrected, I can't legally drive until after Christmas, so my husband's day off on Tuesday will be the time) and having researched the races will vote a straight Blue ticket.

[beatrice_otter]

I'm glad you're okay! And thank you for voting!