I voted last night. The Senior Center had a steady trickle of people coming in and out of the building. Some were there to take the class on how to Flash Mob, but most were there to vote. I live in a district where there are no competitive legislative elections. I’m in a packed region of base liberal Democrats. The major questions where my vote might matter are North Carolina Supreme Court, six constitutional questions and an affordable housing bond issue that recognizes that the best way to deal with a housing shortage is to build more housing.
Early voting helps campaigns. I am not a persuasion target. I might be a mobilization target for campaigns as I am new to the area and my Pennsylvania history of being an unusually young super-voter has not transferred over to North Carolina data banks. Demographically, I look like a potential mobilization target as I’m a recently registered Democrat with a short election history and my age indicates that I’m not a certain voter. If I show up, I’m likely to vote liberal but my profile suggests that showing up might be a problem. Campaigns will invest time, effort, energy and door knockers in getting their mobilization targets to the polls.
Early voting gives campaigns information to better target their marginal resources. Now that I’ve voted, there is no longer a reason for a campaign to target me. I can not be persuaded in any relevant manner and I can not be further mobilized for a vote. If you think that you are a potential mobilization target (check out the e-mails that you’ve gotten and the phone calls made by campaigns to you — if you have gotten called more than once, you’re a target), go vote early. Help the campaign by clearing their lists and giving them new information.
And if you think that Shelby County authorized shenanigans are likely on Election Day, vote early so that the polls won’t be as crowded. If you vote in a precinct that routinely can see an hour long line at peak times, voting early and removing yourself from the line chops off a few seconds of the wait.
Go vote early if possible even if all you are doing is shifting your vote’s timing. It helps.
Betty Cracker
You make a good case for voting early. I usually vote on election day. I control my own schedule, so it’s not a problem. But as you said, in some cases, that could lead organizers to waste time trying to get me to the polls, resources that could be better spent on people who need to hear that message.
NYCMT
Sent in my absentee ballot three days ago! (I don’t live in a problematic constituency but I will be canvassing in one, so…
Dorothy A. Winsor
The Ds called me a couple of days ago. I told them the day Mr DAW and I were voting and that we’d vote straight ticket so they could spend their time elsewhere. She seemed happy with my answer.
Kent
We have universal vote by mail here in Washington so all this nonsense about struggling to vote doesn’t apply.
First thing Democrats should do if they ever take power again is push through some sort of universal voting rights and standards act that federalizes all the standards and procedures around voting from machines and types of ballots to actual registration and voting.
Mary G
Mailing my California ballot today! I always enjoy tossing the expensive full-color flyers from Republicans that show up later. They seem incapable of keeping track of who’s voted in my area.
guachi
I hadn’t thought about the resources you save others by voting early. I’ve only voted in person once in 1996. I didn’t vote from ’98-’02 and by then I was a permanent absentee military voter.
California supports the military by not taxing us and by making it easy for us to vote absentee. All I really need to do is ensure that California knows where I live.
Haven’t voted yet but I do have my absentee ballot that they emailed to me. Takes less time, of course, than California mailing me a ballot and me mailing it back. Will be voting this weekend as California always has tons of ballot initiatives and I know very little about any of them as I don’t live there.
guachi
Congress can set rules for federal elections, right? So if they wanted to they could set ID requirements for federal elections? Can they also mandate minimum amounts of time for early voting?
Mary G
@guachi: No on Prop 6 is the big one. Republicans trying to repeal gas tax passed to fix roads and retrofit bridges for big earthquakes. It’s not the big winner they thought it would be, but running up the score is always good.
japa21
As an election judge, I have no choice but to vote early. Early voting starts Monday in Cook County, so I will probably go then. Having early voted many times, I can get a sense of how it is different from past years. I’ll report in after that.
greengoblin
Email from USPS shows our ballots will be delivered to us today. Will get them filled out ASAP.
Love vote by mail.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G: They don’t just want to repeal the gas tax, they want to amend the State Constitution to require a super majority to increase the gas tax.
Gelfling 545
It seriously annoys me that we have no early voting in NY.
Mary G
Somewhat O/T, but this tweet has a snippet of the debate between Antonio Delgado and whichever Republican he’s trying to unseat. He is the ex-rapper they are demonizing like mad and gives a great comeback to the “pawn of Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters” attack. Very impressive.
One thing I’ve enjoyed about doing more for candidates across the country that it almost gives you a “win the World Series” office pool effect – even if you don’t love baseball, you pay attention to see if you win. My teens are looking forward to seeing if the people we write postcards for win.
eclare
Voting tomorrow here in Memphis TN, can’t wait!
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Someone at work the other day asked me about the high gas prices. I asked them how they like roads with pot holes, uneven pavement, stopped traffic, just hellish traffic in general…… He asked back what does that have to do with it. My answer, “Paying to fix it.” He nodded his head, he understood.
A lot of people don’t really get/understand taxes. Either the good or the bad. They just don’t think about government and how it does the stuff it does. We have a guy who used to work with us who went to work for Los Angeles, fixing traffic signals. I just ask them who do they think pays him for fixing them so that traffic even moves. It works every time, ask them how stuff gets paid for, they just have never thought about it before. Of course there are always a few who won’t or can’t understand, it’s just the evil government taking their money.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
All of this is excellent.
I voted early in downtown Chicago, 175 W Washington St. It took me no more than the time it takes to walk right in and vote. Bingo bango bongo. Perfect efficiency.
Mary G
@Mary G: Forgot to put in the tweet, and Ajax comment editor seems unable to digest it:
Kent
@guachi:
Congress could set all kinds of standards for Federal elections by mandate and also by incentive if there were big Federal grants to pay for new election machines, software, registration systems, etc. The voting rights act that the supreme court tossed basically applied only to jim crow states on the basis of historic discrimination and they used that reason to toss it out. A universal federal voting rights law wouldn’t be subject to the same argument.
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
I loved how the Republican tried to derail Delgado’s response with the “they’re funding you!” interjection, but Mr. Delgado just stayed on track and continued his response. ?? More of this, please!
And, as Kay keeps saying, the Democrats seem to have a pretty unified message of “we will work for you, our constituents, unlike the Republicans.” I think that’s a winning message.
geg6
I wish Icould vote early! Damn this backwards state!
Alex
@Ruckus</a It's remarkable how many people think we could just fix all the roads by "cutting out all that government waste," when our state has a vicious freeze-thaw cycle, the lowest per-capita transportation investment, and $2B/year in just maintenance after so much neglect. Yeah, let's make sure all the government offices print on both sides of the paper and turn down the thermostat– there's a few billion there, right? Definitely no need to ask corporations to chip in to pay for the roads their businesses depend on. I am sure the $2B/year corporate tax cut has nothing to do with the shortfall.
Another Scott
@Ruckus: I’m so old that I remember Republicans screaming about applying “cost-benefit analysis” to everything that liberals wanted to do.
They don’t bother with that line of attack any more, it’s just “Taxes are Bad™” for everything now.
As you say, “how do you think that x,y.z gets paid for??” is a decent comeback. It’s startling how few people realize what taxes are for. The money doesn’t end up in a vault or an incinerator somewhere, it buys stuff that sensible societies realize can’t be bought by people acting individually!
Cheers,
Scott.
The Other Bob
@Alex:
Hello from Michigan…the pothole state.
JMG
They just started early voting here in Mass. in 2016. I will do so next week, probably Tuesday (it starts Monday). It’s very convenient because the elementary school that is my precinct’s polling place was rebuilt. There is a much bigger playground but much less parking, really just enough for teachers and a few guests. This can be problematic on Election Day, as school’s on top of a hill and there’s no on street parking anywhere near it. Even in a town where 75 percent turnout is the norm, I know there are folks who don’t vote because they couldn’t find a parking space. So they can have mine this time.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Alex: Yeah, folk think that the government has a big pot of money that’s either not being spent or going to shiftless lazy people. We tried cutting back on taxes for about 30 years until Chairman Jerry came back. They don’t vote for tax levies and then piss and moan when the library isn’t open in the evenings anymore, or that they have to chip in to the school to pay for stuff(that their tax dollars used to pay for).
evap
There’s just something about voting on election day, so I am reluctant to vote early, but I will ponder on this a bit.
Speaking of wasted resources, I got a postcard reminding me to vote for Stacey Abrams (Dem governor candidate in GA) through postcardstovoters.org, written by someone in CA. Meanwhile, I’m writing postcards for Stacey Abrams myself and definitely don’t need a reminder!
LuciaMia
Sent in my mail-in ballot for my newly adopted state of Maryland. Two days later I got my absentee ballot from New Jersey. Was thinking, “Hmmmmmmm…”
(Dont worry, Im not gonna do it.)
Ol'Froth
Unfortunately, we don’t have early voting in Pittsburgh.
Hildebrand
I will fill out my absentee ballot this weekend (I am a poll worker), and whilst doing so, help my son fill out his (he is in Chicago, but voting back here in Michigan). I made sure that all of my son’s friends (he is 22) are registered and will be voting – they are absolutely revved up to vote.
raven
Me and the boss lady voted together for the 1st time!
Alex
@The Other Bob: Well spotted
Ruckus
Alex.
Something went very wrong with your reply, I think you captured the reply button trying to link.
I wasn’t talking about why we are where we are but a far more basic issue, what are taxes, what do they actually pay for. A lot of people have no idea. They may have heard about the tax cut but even then they think about how much less will I have to pay. They just have never thought about what it takes to have national parks, the worlds largest military and grift operation, traffic signals, roads – bridges, harbors, SS, Medicare, really just who pays for most everything we see in our daily lives. Take SS. Ask 100 people how it’s paid for. 99 will say the taxes I pay. One might say the taxes my boss and I pay. Most people just don’t know how it’s all collected and what it all goes for. Ask them when they say/ask something and explain how it’s done. It opens eyes and creates doubt that the msm is telling anything like the real story. Makes them check if they care and moves us forward. Worst case, you’ve lost nothing.
Schlemazel
@Kent:
Ask the folks in Florida how vote by mail is working for them. Who votes matters less than who counts the votes. Be grateful you live in a relatively corruption free state
Vote by mail is all well and good but there need to be safeguards in place to prevent the obvious sabotage currently underway in america’s dick
StringOnAStick
I just walked over to the county courthouse and dropped off our ballots; we received them yesterday. We’ve voted absentee for years because it is easier, and now it is mail in ballots for everyone in Colorado. What this nation needs in mail in ballots for every election; it’s easier for people with tricky schedules/life situations and in that respect just plain fair. You get a paper trail and you have enough time to do research on various issues on the ballot instead of just winging it in the voting booth, feeling pressed for time.
Tomorrow I will check online to see that they have been received.
Jay
Fed up with slow/non-response to pot holes up here, people have taken to guerrilla gardening,
from rose garden potholes, complete with park bench to a row of maple saplings 8′ high.
Often, the “big beef” is that the Cities fill potholes, they don’t fix them.
They did a “shave and repave on the 5A” in September. In the “shave” period, you could see where each pothole had formed and why. Some spots had gravel fill, not the 4″ of old pavement, some spots were places where hillside seeps emerge on the road cutbank,
So two weeks after they paved, the potholes are coming back.
raven
Here ya go!
Schlemazel
@guachi:
No, the Constitution specifically gives states all the power on voting. The VRA forced a few states to behave better but obviously Justice Roberts knew it was no longer needed.
Alex
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re right; “waste” is a euphemism for “all the money going to those people,” which they completely overestimate. And your library example is an important mechanism for people not wanting to invest in government. If you degrade services enough, people who are too busy to think it through will just take those negative feelings out by refusing to fund government, and it’s a vicious circle. Republicans are pretty open about this being one of their tactics, but for some reason revenue is considered a dirty word for many Dems who are afraid to tell people the truth about the state budget.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Schlemazel:
What’s going on in Florida? Don’t they have public observers who watch over the counting process?
Mnemosyne
@evap:
Pass it along to a neighbor or coworker who might be on the fence!
It would be hilarious if it came from one of us jackals. I know that I’ve been doing Abrams/Amico cards from CA.
A Ghost To Most
My mail-in ballot is filled in, and waiting for the other three to fill out theirs.
The red GOP sign out front of our house, where the O contains a hammer and sickle (MADDOGPAC) continues to draw reactions, mostly from jacked up white pickups. Smile.
Mary G
@raven: Love the peach sticker!
Schlemazel
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
They have rejected thousands of ballots. I know you will find the next part really hard to believe but the rejected ballots come mostly from poor and POC voters.
Avalune
I’m looking into trying to get an absentee ballot for Leto. I know he was very much about voting this year but he isn’t going to be able to get to the polls atm. I’m usually pretty lazy about voting and was looking forward to going with him but now I guess I’ll have to go vote – sort of in his honor instead.
evap
@Mnemosyne: It was a really well-done card and I stole a few ideas from it. :)
Brachiator
I’m still trying to figure out some of the deliberately confusing propositions on the California ballot. But I hope to vote early.
I know which candidates I want to vote for. It’s just these blasted propositions.
Don K
Husband and I voted absentee about a week ago. Straight Dem plus the two (nominally non-partisan) Supreme Court justice candidates nominated by the Dems. Plus “Yes” on all three proposals (420 legalization, redistricting by commission, and voting reform – automatic registration when you have contact with the Secretary of State, registration up to and including Election Day, absentee voting without having to specify a reason, and bringing back the straight-ticket option on ballots). Bloomfield Township is classic Trump-backlash territory – upper-income, well-educated, historically very Republican, but voted narrowly for Clinton in 2016. I am hopeful we can elect a Dem State Representative here for the first time in basically forever on the way to flipping the State House of Representatives, as well as sweep the statewide offices (Whitmer, Benson, Nessel, Stabenow) for the first time since 1986.
John Revolta
@Mary G: @?BillinGlendaleCA: I thought Repubs were in favor of gasoline taxes
(as opposed to income taxes) because they’re regressive? No?
?BillinGlendaleCA
Here in CA, we’ve had horrible backlogs at the DMV due to the “Real ID” requirement(due to a Republican federal law) . Most folk want to get the “Real ID” licence since they might want to fly or get into a federal building. So the solution that’s been proposed is to eliminate the Motor Voter program.
Brachiator
@John Revolta:
Repubs hate all taxes. They are also trying to use anger over the gas tax to get conservative voters to the polls.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G:
I’ve been giving him monthly donations for a while now via Swing Left — I “adopted” his district. So although I don’t live anywhere near, I’m drooling at the thought of unseating John f–ing Faso!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@John Revolta: No, these idiots hate all taxes. Gas taxes(and vehicle registration) isn’t all that regressive here since the wealthy tend to get big cars and drive(or are driven) alot.
chopper
WA ballot just arrived in the mail. haven’t been this excited to vote since 2008.
BTW, anybody in seattle want to help phone bank for beto, calling likely dem voters and encouraging/helping get them to the polls: i’m having some people by my house this wednesday (via a local organization) to do so. 4-7pm, kid friendly. contact me at lambrunner at teh gmailzzzz if yer interested. hopefully there’s a turnout, but even if it’s just a few of us it’s something.
chopper
BTW, i’m in green lake.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@chopper: Tad wet there in the lake, isn’t it?
chopper
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
i dunno but it’s bleedin’ damp
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I vote “no” on propositions unless someone can give me a really, really good reason to vote “yes.” I’ve been burned too many times on propositions that sounded good but were actually fucked up beyond repair.
BC in Illinois
One of the things we need to do when a pro-voting legislature gets voted in, in Missouri,* is to change our absentee ballot law to an early voting law. To request an absentee ballot , you must state — under penalty of law — that you will be absent from your registered voting jurisdiction on election day.
You know, lie. (Probably safe, but not necessarily so.)
So I vote at dawn on election day. (Then, on the primary day, I handed out literature for the next 13 hours. We will see what they want on Election Day.)
* ( “BC in Illinois” is now a Missouri resident. )
tybee
@Mnemosyne: i may have gotten one. :)
HinTN
@?BillinGlendaleCA: We don’t have motor voter here in ded red TN but we got on the Real ID train almost before it was out the gate. Simple, easy, accepted everywhere. What’s the problem there?
Mnemosyne
I’m not sure if it’s California or LA County that makes early voting a pain in the ass, but one of them does. For years, there was one (1) early voting location for all of Los Angeles County, which is insane.
This year, they’re going to have about a dozen early voting locations starting next weekend where basically you go in and fill out an absentee ballot on the spot. You can also still request an absentee ballot up until Oct. 30th. We used to have a restrictive law with absentee ballots that said you had to certify that you were disabled or otherwise physically unable to get to the polls, but they’ve loosened up quite a bit.
J.
Interesting post. Though still not sure why Republicans have targeted us, when we’re both registered Dems. The spouse and I mailed our absentee ballots a week ago. Pretty sure Murphy and Himes will both win re-election. Fingers crossed.
John Revolta
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah. I guess TAX BAD is as far ahead as they think.
Mnemosyne
@tybee:
If you could read the message on it, it wasn’t from me. I have terrible handwriting and I had to try and squeeze all of the required wording onto the darn card. ?
Marcus
Sent my ballot in yesterday. Really want to see Ducey and the rest out of office. Unfortunately this is the state that kept Arpio as sheriff until he became too expensive. I’ll keep my hopes up until the results are in.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
But we are in California, and California is strange. I remember one year when a No vote really meant Yes. But I know what you mean. I listened to a good public radio program on the propositions, but one proposition is so confusing that I am not sure that a No vote would actually do the trick.
I also like/hate the proposition about Daylight Saving Time, which is almost useless, and only says that California will follow the federal law if the federal government decides to change their mind about DST. Stupid. I don’t know why this has to be on the ballot now.
ETA: RE: Early voting. People in LA county can go to LAVOTE.NET and get info. Early voting will happen at 12 locations two weekends before Nov 6. And people can always vote at the county registrar’s office in Norwalk.
TaMara (HFG)
I’m leaving town and will make sure my mail-in ballot is turned in before I leave. I’ll be back in plenty of time for election day, but why take chances?
trollhattan
Fascinating take on tackling climate action and right-wing activism.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@HinTN: The ID requirements are more stringent than for the regular license and the DMV wasn’t anticipating the demand. I also don’t think the employees were properly trained on the rules, when madame went in for her renewal(she opted for the Real ID) they wouldn’t accept her expired Passport as proof of citizenship(the published rules said that was OK), so she had to go home and get her Naturalization Certificate. Also some undocumented folk got registered to vote when they shouldn’t have so there’s a freakout about that as well.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@John Revolta: Yup, taxes are theft.
Death Panel Truck
I voted from the comfort of my own private polling place: my home in Pasco, Washington. I put the ballot into the mailbox on the street for pickup. Easy peasy.
eemom
You can only vote early in Virginia if you have one of certain specified reasons, e.g., out of town on business, caring for a sick person….
Another Scott
@trollhattan: Linky blank. Please to fixy.
Cheers,
Scott.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
My “favorite” is those ballots with competing propositions on the same topic.
Sometimes a yes on #1 is to enact something while a yes on #2 is to prevent the topic of #1.
Sometimes a yes on #1 AND #2 is to enact something similar to one another but with just the top vote-getter enacted (presuming over 50% or whatever the threshold is).
Sometimes a no means yes and a yes means no.
And then there’s this year’s Prop 10, which strikes out current law prohibiting local and county governments from enacting rent control. It actually “simplifies” big gummint if it passes, ironically Republicans do not like that. This time.
Have begun going through the voter pamphlets with the kid in spite of not fully understanding what we’re looking at. Being a citizen is messy.
Baud
You forgot to remind people to vote often.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan:
Look at the end of the ads against Prop 10, you’ll see a rotating list of high end real estate developers.
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yup. Around these parts they’re shrieking “We’ll never build an apartment ever again!”
Really, guys?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Schlemazel:
What are the stated reasons for rejecting ballots? I honestly hadn’t hurt about this. I worry now about Ohio since the SOS is running for Lt Governor.
CarolDuhart2
My stomach is flipping with anxiety over turnout this year. I’ve already voted.
Things that I have noticed: the local dems have their act together this year in ways I haven’t seen. I early voted and we had people handing out voter guides that included for the first time ever, judges! We’ve had a door hanger with early voting times and dates on it.
Also, the Republican slam ads. They are all {open borders) and Nancy Pelosi and xenophobia (Packistani scammer who ran off with money). How many people even know who Nancy Pelosi is outside of political junkies? And open borders don’t even scare people in places near the border, let alone a Midwestern city miles away from any border.
Ruviana
@Another Scott: I had a student years ago who thought the IRS employees kept it all.
Marcopolo
As I said in an earlier thread I voted just before noon today.
As for what happens, I don’t think anyone is really sure who will turn out to vote this year and in what numbers. All I know is all of the D campaigns in the area are working their butts off. It kinda feels like when I was back in high school and was throwing a party and had put all this time and energy into making sure everything was just right & everyone was invited & expectantly waiting to see if anyone came. Guess we’ll find out sometime late on the night of the 6th or morning of the 7th.
Oh, and I wrote another 100 GOtV postcards today. About 4 more days of postcards then they all gets mailed.
ruemara
@Brachiator: A friend of mine is an analyst and did his proposition recommendations. I can share that later.
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Whatever reason they can make up. Usually being a POC or dem. You really haven’t heard of this?
Yutsano
@ruemara: He’s a young’un. It’s not exactly taught in school the chicanery the people who control the ballots get up to. And oh man do we need a massive reboot on how elections are done at the state level. How we do that especially in the Can’t Wait To Re-Enact Jim Crow South is a bigger issue.
debbie
I’ve always voted on Election Day. I have next Friday off and was thinking about voting early, but I just don’t trust the State of Ohio not to mess with my ballot.
Also, the high school band has a bake sale every election, so there’s that.
Mnemosyne
@CarolDuhart2:
IIRC, it’s the other way around — people who are far away from the border are much more likely to freak themselves out about the “invasion” than people who live near the border are. The far-away people are likely to see a new Mexican restaurant in their town as a sign of the coming racial apocalypse. ?
debbie
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
They can find all kinds of reasons to reject. You forget to use your middle name, you use your middle initial instead of your middle name, you abbreviate any part of your information differently from what’s in their records, your signatures don’t exactly match. There are a billion of them.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@ruemara:
I have no doubt certain R’s would like to do this and does happen. I’m just not familiar with Florida.
There has to be regs in place. Procedures they have to follow to deny a ballot. And that process needs to be open to everyone who wishes to watch/investigate.
gene108
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Link below to FL vbm
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article218654810.html
CarolDuhart2
Reforms: I’ve noticed that other nations make Election Administration a civil service agency and job. I would take that job away from Secretaries of State and create Election Agencies. Also, if you want to run in partisan elections and work for the Election Agency, you would have to resign.
zhena gogolia
The Saudis have admitted that Khashoggi is dead.
gene108
@Yutsano:
WI, PA (until court ordered redistricting), and some other northern states that went Republican in 2010 are just as bad or worse than what Republicans are doing in the South.
The common factor is Republicans. When they are in charge, they will tamper with elections to help their guy win, see FL 2000 and OH 2004.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
And that they ordered it?
ruemara
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: You’re sweet. When you control the legislature, you control the laws. You control the interpretation of the regulations. If you’re corrupt, it will take a massive amount of work to pry you out of the seat of power.
I saw this story about a South Carolina ministry that is lobbying to have it’s religious freedom to deny adoptions by Jews approved by the Trump administration. Intercept link, FYI.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
Voting early here in the (largely) benighted state of AZ, cuz voters here get to choose (as my wife and I have for years now) to vote by mail-in ballot. Our ballot forms here are also quite likely the best type available, whether mail-in or at the polling station (the same ballot form for both) — optical scan. Very easy to use (you connect two halves of an arrow pointing to the candidate, or “yes” or “no” for propositions, using a black pen) and quite reliable in registering votes when scanned. Also allows for a paper trail in event of recounts. This ought to be the standard form used everywhere.
Cautiously optimistic for Kyrsten Sinema’s chances here to replace that enormous phony Jeff Flake in the Senate. Hers is the campaign I have spent the most time (canvassing and phone banking) and $$ on this cycle. She’s slightly up in most polls, but I think it’s really a dead heat.
Sadly, the Latino community here appears to be about as under-engaged in this bare-minimum civic duty (voting) as ever. Hope to be proven wrong about that, but doubt I will. It’s been, for me and many others, the single-most disappointing aspect of political involvement here.
ruemara
@Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: I have to admit, I am furious about Latino engagement in red states. I’m tired of the IGMFY attitude towards others, neoconservative patriarchy, brainwashed catholicism and horrible racism. The fact that non-black POC can be so conservative as to not see what is going with others like them and understand that it’s just as threatening to them – I don’t get it. And I don’t want to get it.
Steeplejack
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
You hit a nerve here with Real ID.
@HinTN:
What’s the problem? Well, it’s not just a case of “Hey, I need to renew my license, and I’d like Real ID, please! Thank you!”
My driver’s license expires in late January 2019, and last week I got an e-mail from the Virginia DMV detailing the hoops to be jumped through to get a Real ID license.
First, no renewal by mail. You have to do it in person, because you are going to be bringing a shitload of documentation. Basically, I will have to go through the same exhausting rigmarole I had to go through when I got my Virginia driver’s license back in 2011 (because I had let my previous Georgia driver’s license expire).
You have to bring original documents to prove your:
The Virginia DMV website has a helpful interactive guide to what’s accepted for each item, but, jeez, it’s a lot of stuff, and it might be stuff that will be a nuisance to collect for people who have been coasting for years on mail-in license renewals. (You know right where your original birth certificate or official copy thereof is, right?)
And you can run into trouble in unexpected areas. I found that I’m going to have to do a little digging to come up with docs to prove my residency. I have opted out of paper bills with everybody, so I don’t have a convenient copy of a recent utility bill showing my current address.
Ditto for a canceled check. I think I wrote only three or four checks in the last year, and my bank no longer sends them back to me automatically. I would have to request one—I think. And then I’m not sure if the bank sends you the real check or a copy. The situation has never come up for me before.
I think I can scrounge up a recent official letter from either Medicare or Social Security showing my current address.
In any case, the e-mail and interactive guide were eye-opening for me. This is going to be a somewhat involved process. I’m glad I got three months’ notice. I can only imagine how hard it’s going to hit people who aren’t Internet-savvy or receiving DMV updates.
And of course the Real ID license is more expensive than a “regular” driver’s license. Don’t remember the amounts.
P.S. And, yes, a passport is also a valid “Real ID document,” but how many Americans have passports? A third or so?
P.P.S. And it’s maddening that apparently you can’t use your Real ID passport as a single-shot solution to all the requirements for the Real ID driver’s license. (Struggling and failing to find a D&D/RPG analogy.) “One doc to rule them all.” No way.
J R in WV
@Steeplejack:
Pretty sure my WVa drivers license is “Real ID” – also have a passport, etc. So hope I won’t have trouble flying / driving / etc in the future. Where am I supposed to be from after 67+ years here in WV, with a DD214 / birth cert / etc, etc.
I have been to Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, they are all great places. I would be happy to have a passport from any of those nations, in addition to my US passport. My grandfather was eligible for a Swiss passport, I suspect my father was as well.
But neither of them suspected that their kids/grandkids would ever wish they could qualify for a Swiss passport, ever. Never crossed their minds that America could become swamped by fascist Republican warlords. And it’s probably way way too late for me, without coming into, say, $50,000,000 or so to invest in Swiss industrial bonds or some such thing.
Steeplejack
@J R in WV:
If your driver’s license has a gold star in the upper right corner it’s Real ID. Otherwise keep that passport handy.
This whole thing, coupled with TSA security theater going to/from Las Vegas on my recent trip, reminds me that in some sense bin Laden won. He paid with his life, but he turned us into—or revealed us to be—a nation of pussies and caused us to piss away billions of dollars to this day on “homeland security.”
rikyrah
@Gelfling 545:
Work on initiative to change it