Voters are Deciding

I do not believe this is going to be a blowout election. I do believe there will be a change. People have had enough of Tr__p and Republicans. There has been obvious decreases in public approval and support for President Donald Trump. He had it all when he won the last election. Since then the public attitude towards Tr__p and Republicans is driven by persistent economic issues consisting of inflation, and also foreign policy strains. The frustration with “Tr__p”—is reflected in sliding support among independent voters and disapproval within Republican voters and politicians.

It is very noticeable in the news.

“Every day, There Are Fewer Undecided Voters”

– by Jack Lessenberry

Politics and Prejudices and other musings

The most beautifully poetic words ever written about Election Day in our country are on the first page of Theodore H. White’s classic The Making of the President 1960:

It was invisible, as always … it is the essence of the act that as it happens it is a mystery in which millions of people each fit one fragment of a total secret together, none of them knowing the shape of the whole.

The country has changed dramatically since then, and elections have changed too. Yes, the final outcome is still a mystery, and upsets are still possible; on Election Night 2016, the New York Times had a front page designed with the headline:

Madam President

However, there are two big differences between elections in John F. Kennedy’s time and now. For one thing, thanks to early voting and the widespread use of absentee ballots, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of people have already voted in Michigan’s August 4 primary, even though the official election is still eleven days away. Back in 1960, absentee ballots were pretty much limited to traveling businessmen (most were indeed men) and they were overwhelmingly Republican.

Now, more are Democratic.

But we also have a narcissistic monster as President of the United States, and he has no use for democracy and will only accept the results of elections if he or his minions win. He staged a mini-coup in which people were killed to try and overturn the results of the 2020 race, which he lost. He’ll do anything he can to subvert this year’s elections too, and we must be vigilant.

That means being as educated as possible about the candidates you are voting for, and if you are voting absentee, make sure you understand how it works.

The other day, I overheard a woman who had already voted say she’d voted in the Democratic primary for senator and the Republican primary for Senator. Know what that means? Her vote will be thrown out and won’t even be counted.

You can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary, but you have to vote for only one party’s candidates. According to the independent site Votebeat, four years ago, 6,300 primary ballots were thrown out in Macomb County alone because of people trying to cast crossover votes. You can go back and forth and pick candidates of more than one party in the general election November 3rd, but not the primary.

And if you want to help protect democracy and piss off those who want to end free and fair elections, the best thing you can do is … vote. Every year, fewer than half of those eligible vote in our primary elections. This year, let’s change that.

Now more than ever, apathy is not an option.