If you have early voting in your state, vote now.
I want to do a little more fundraising. I’ve read a lot that suggests that the place where money right now can make the most difference is in second and third tier House races. So I upped the goal on the Balloon Juice fund that goes to candidates chosen by the readers, because those are mostly lower tier. Taking the House is critical…let’s do this one final push. (As always, you can give to just a few of the candidates to make sure you don’t end up on too many mailing lists.)
You can send some postcards here.
It’s far from a done deal that Dems will take the House. This could be razor thin. Picking up a surprise seat or two in a district that’s flying under the radar could make all the difference.
Uncle Omar
As the old Michigan campaign slogan said, “Make It Emphatic! Vote Straight Democratic!!”
HinTN
Voted yesterday for Mariah Phillips to unseat Scott DesJarlais. Thanks for putting this up and all y’all jackals give, please.
HinTN
@Uncle Omar: That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
batguano
My father, a self-described conservative, showed me the list of candidates he’s voting for in the midterms; a straight Democratic ticket. He even researched all the local ‘nonpartisan’ judicial races to determine who was the Democrat. This is the first time he will ever vote a straight Democratic ticket; he did vote for Obama at least once.
Doug!
@batguano:
Good for your dad!
Smiling Mortician
@batguano: Good on your dad!
My husband and I just voted straight-D (WA state) absentee via email from Spain. Go Dems! Let’s do this!
Aimai
I don’t comment here much anymore because none of my computers remembers me on site and so I have to keep re-entering my information. Drag. But I just contributed a thousand to this campaign here, and another 500 to Heitkamp, and I will distribute all the rest of my campaign contributions today. I also early voted yesterday. I appreciate the way this blog keeps its eye on the prize.
Yutsano
My ballot is still wrapped up. I decided I would address it when I get home from Milwaukee, which will still be plenty of time to handle it
piratedan
mailed off my ballot this morning in AZ… a sense of relief and now the waiting….
hoping that the shenanigans are minimal but knowing the GOP, anticipating otherwise, hope that our collective activism is enough to beat these fascists back under their rocks….
Doug!
@Aimai:
Good to hear from you again. And thanks for giving!
Starfish
@Aimai: It doesn’t remember anyone anymore. I try to comment on your blog occasionally because I think you are awesome.
Aleta
Portland Press Herald–The Secretary of State’s Office reported Monday that 19,470 Democrats have voted in Maine compared with 12,965 Republicans and 10,708 unenrolled voters. With two weeks to go until Election Day, the state was well ahead of the early voting pace in 2014, the last year when a governor’s race was at the top of the ballot.
…
The last time early voting surged dramatically in Maine was before the 2016 presidential election, when roughly 22 percent of all voters had cast their ballots within a week of the election.
. .. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said that Maine technically doesn’t have “early voting” because the (absentee/mail in) ballots are not actually counted or tabulated until Election Day.
Dunlap expects the number of voters turning in absentee ballots to accelerate as Election Day nears, with the final tally being close to 2016 levels. As of Tuesday about 97,000 voters had requested absentee ballots, topping the pace in 2014.
schrodingers_cat
@Aimai: Yes on one or no one one? Have you decided?
The Moar You Know
@batguano: My father – actually, both my parents – were wondering if they should vote for the sole Republican running for city council because of his position on a certain local issue they very much care about. My father, lifelong Republican, said “of course, I really can’t trust what he’s saying about this, because all Republicans are liars nowadays“.
NeverTrumper, of course. Voted for Hillary “with disgust” but he did it. I’d say the GOP is in deep fundamental trouble if their own are saying shit like that about their candidates, although it may take a few more cycles for the damage to really set in.
Matt McIrvin
@Aleta: that’s how early voting works in Mass. The ballots stay in envelopes until Election Day.
Heidi Mom
I had just decided to make another small donation to my local candidate, George Scott, so thanks for making it easy.
Kay
We’re doing one more “big” canvass Saturday. “Big” is relative- this is a very R area, but we had 10 people for the last “big” canvass.
It’ll be for Galbraith. I personally would rather we do Cordray (which is very close) but the rest want to do US House, so US House it is. It’s a safe R seat but they think lightening could strike and if so they are ready :)
Zelma
I just gave money to the Democratic candidate for governor in South Carolina, of all places. Got an email from Doug Jones saying the race is actually close. I don’t know whether to believe this or not, but wouldn’t that be something. I am also giving money to 3 candidates in New Jersey (Kim, McAlliter and VanDrew) and 2 in PA. Also sent money to O’Connor in Ohio and Heidi.
I am going to be broke by November 6. But I’ll throw in a few bucks for the Balloon Juice cause.
Matt McIrvin
@Aleta: There have been worrying reports of surging Republican early voting in some red and purple battleground states… note, though, they were mostly about mail-in voting (since in-person early voting had barely begun if at all) and that does traditionally lean Republican.
Steve in the ATL
We received a vote postcard today, so thanks, F.B. Wondering if you are a jackal!
Aimai
@Starfish: @Starfish: @schrodingers_cat: Oh, Yes on One–I definitely support the nurses but I got confused because I remembered their slogan incorrectly as Nurses vote No on One (showing that these slogans can be easily misremembered! I actually pulled out my phone and checked while in the voting booth to make sure there wasn’t a hidden trick in the referendum. Ditto with the one about LGBTQ rights.
As for my blog–I stoped writing in it because now that I am a social worker and thinking all the time about my patients I really became concerned about ethical and privacy issues, the kinds of things I want to write about just got problematic. So I stopped posting at least fo r now.
r€nato
where does Janet Napolitano go to get that big fucking apology she is owed????
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/c3/06/2d/c3062d162789e95374e0dd68f62c105f.jpg
Keith P.
When they go low, we ask for more money.
Matt McIrvin
@Aimai: the No side used that slogan too. There are two nurses’ groups on opposite sides.
guachi
Update on my attempt to absentee vote in California. I had my ballot emailed to me as a pdf. The actual ballot is long, like 8.5×14 inch legal sized.
Called my county elections board and the response was that they didn’t care if I shrunk it to fit an 8.5×11 inch piece of paper as long as it’s legible.
Hooray for not strict requirements.
So I have now voted! Huzzah!
Mnemosyne
I liked what the Hoarse Whisperer said on Twitter. It was something like, “Voting is easier than armed rebellion, so let’s take the easy way out, shall we?”
I suspect that the Russian trolls and other assorted ratfuckers were out in droves a few days ago, because every Democratic blogger on Twitter (including our esteemed host) freaked the fuck out all at the same time over what seemed to be fairly small shifts in the polls.
oldster
I dropped a thousand bucks on this yesterday, plus a $50 tip for Act Blue.
That’s a lot of money for an old guy on a fixed income. But it is really, really important.
If we don’t win back the house, I am going to wish I had dropped two thousand, or my whole nest-egg. How much good is my money going to do me when they strip away my health care, and send out the gestapo to start breaking heads when I protest in the streets?
Like the kids say: leave it all on the field. Or as close as you can.
indycat32
Got a text from my sister who lives in Ohio. 20,000 early votes in Butler County won’t count because the Board of Elections sent out faulty ballots.
Hungry Joe
On Sunday I walked a precinct for Ammar Campa-Najjar; he’s running against the multi-indicted sleazeball Duncan Hunter Jr. Hunter is about six points up in the polls (inland San Diego County; don’t ask) but I think it’s doable: Ammar has hundreds and hundreds of pumped-up volunteers, and Hunter has a few dozen — mostly paid, I suspect. If we Get Out the Vote we can Get It Done.
Re bombing attempts: Just what did these people think was going to happen? BARACK: I’m going to see if the mail has come yet.
MICHELLE: Okay.
[long pause]
BARACK, re-entering house with two Bed, Bath, and Beyond flyers and a package: Did you order anything?
MICHELLE: Is it from J. Jill?
BARACK: Nope. Doesn’t say where it’s from.
MICHELLE: Well, open it and find out.
WaterGirl
@indycat32: Surely those people will be individually contacted and invited to re-vote, with a new deadline, if necessary. Yes?
indycat32
@WaterGirl: Supposedly they’re “trying”.
Ohio Mom
@Aimai: It’s not your computer, it is the inner-workings of Balloon Juice. The code is broken, and is being held together with temporary fixes. Somewhere along the patching, the blog forgot how to remember any of us.
Cole is researching ways to build a brand new structure and the target date is after the election. On the theory that no one can think of anything else until the voting/counting is over.
Kent
Dropped my mail-in ballot in the mail yesterday here in the WA-3rd Congressional District where it looks like Carolyn Long has a chance to beat a GOP Incumbent Jamie Herrera Beutler.
Straight Democratic ticket, although many of the local races are non-partisan, you can still figure out who the D’s are.
Last time I didn’t vote a straight D ticket in the general election was 1996 when I was living in Juneau AK and voted for Ted Stevens for US Senate over a horrific deranged woman named Theresa Obermeyer who somehow managed to sneak through the Dem primary due to name recognition in Anchorage where she was a gadfly on the school board. That was one epic Senate race. Obermeyer was basically stalking Stevens for years blaming him for the failure of her husband to pass the Alaska bar exam a total of 33 times. She was even jailed for a couple weeks for violating restraining orders. I was in fisheries politics at the time and she would show up at the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council Meetings and harrang the council members about random nonsense in this freaky shrill voice. The one debate between Stevens and Obermeyer is a YouTube Classic. Stevens ended with a sincere plea for her to get help: https://youtu.be/MaIsLeqfwM4
geg6
@Aimai:
It doesn’t remember any of us. FYWP at its best!
Ohio Mom
@indycat32: Butler County is where John Boehner lives. It’s exurban, the far reaches of Cincinnati’s suburbs and it is pretty Republican.
I find this news about 20,000 bad ballots very concerning. It hasn’t been my impression that they would make mistakes by mistake up there. Mistakes on purpose is more believable.
WaterGirl
@Aimai: You are missed! If you enter them once and click the box, it will remember you for about an hour, I believe, or maybe it’s 30 minutes? If you don’t refresh the page before the magic amount of time has passed, your information is forgotten.
I can’t thank you enough for your generous donations!!!
JoeyJoeJoe
@Kent: I remember that one. She actually came in third. The Green Party guy beat her, 13% to 10%
Ohio Mom
@Hungry Joe: Very funny. Now make one up for the Clintons, who also had a package intercepted. Bill brings back two BB&B coupons and a package Hillary asks if it is from…? I’m guessing she ordered something for the grandkids.
Hungry Joe
@Ohio Mom: My in-laws live in Oxford, a small blue dot in Butler County. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the “bad” ballots came from around there.
Hungry Joe
@Ohio Mom:
HILLARY: Did you get the mail?
BILL: Uh … yeah.
HILLARY: Where — wait a minute. What are you hiding behind your back?
BILL: Nothing. How ’bout them Razorbacks?
HILLARY: Let me see — [tries to reach around him. Tussle.]
(Sorry — short notice; That’s all I got. Feel free to complete.
Ohio Mom
@Hungry Joe: Must be all them commie college perfessors voting Blue.
indycat32
@Ohio Mom: I just googled “faulty ballots in Butler County” and the first hit was to a story in the Dayton Daily News but when I clicked on the link I got a page not found and there’s nothing on their front page. The small amount of info on the google search results said 20,000 mail-in ballots “affected” not rejected. So who knows.
r€nato
@batguano: that’s great.
My father – who is a Republican his entire life and his first vote ever for a Democrat was for Hillary (whom he loathed but not a much as he does Trump).
Last night he told us he voted for the GOP Senate candidate. Two steps forward, one step back…
Kent
@indycat32: Here’s the article on Butler County ballots
https://www.journal-news.com/news/some-butler-county-ballots-not-counted-due-elections-board-snafu/frHdN2Tandw9465XhqYjHN/
Hungry Joe
@Ohio Mom: Yup. My father-in-law is one of them (retired English prof, Miami of Ohio). The local Democratic Party once recruited him to run against Boehner, since no Dem had a chance and they were embarrassed by the goofy Dem gadfly who got the nomination every time because no one else would file. My FIL agreed, reluctantly — and then got beaten in the Dem primary by the goofy gadfly. We figured it was name recognition. My FIL was relieved.
Cheryl from Maryland
Sorry, my budget for giving is shot. I am doing postcards for postcards4VA (sent 100 off for Jennifer Lewis running for VA-06) and phone banking for Beto O’Rourke. Last night was very positive for Beto, I had only one Cruz/Trumper be creepy (Trump memorabilia in his bedroom), one Cruz/Trumper mention guns, but I got 8% more people who answered the phone telling me they were voting for Beto. One kind gentleman corrected me on my pronunciation of “Beto” (it has a long e). Other than the creep and the gun nut, all of the Cruz supporters were nice and polite — thank you, ma’m, appreciate the work you are doing, etc. etc. It was an enervating experience.
Facebones
Sorry, posted in wrong section
tybee
@Facebones: it was still funny. :)
indycat32
@Kent: Thanks. I was just about to post an update. At least it’s not 20,000 ballots.
J R in WV
WE phone banked several times for Richard Ojeda, running for Congress in the 3rd district here in WV. It got to me pretty bad the last time, I started telling solid Trump voters that it was their right to vote D for Democracy or R for Russia. Then hangup on them.
So maybe I should knock off phone banking. Have donated a lot, mostly women, not all. Mostly Congress, not all. Stacy for Gov in GA, that Kemp guy is a bad joke, squatting in the SoS office, damaging the state’s voter data deliberately WHILE running for Gov, should be criminal on the face of it. If that isn’t illegal, what else isn’t illegal in Georgia?!!?
Need to work on the tractor, have no energy for that, though. Upset stomach, a little. Better since I made a ham and swiss for lunch…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Hungry Joe:
Trump was actually surprisingly decent about this. He actually said the right things for once, at least judging from his statements in a news story. They say a stopped clock is right twice a day…
Josie
@Cheryl from Maryland:
Actually, “Beto” has a short e. If it were a long e, it would sound like “beeto.” ; – ) Thanks for all your hard work. Texas needs all the help it can get. I too am tapped out but getting ready to give him one more small donation.
rikyrah
BREAKING: Judge blocks Georgia elections officials from rejecting ballots over suspected signature mismatches without due process.
This is an important victory in our case with @ACLUofGA.
— ACLU ? (@ACLU) October 24, 2018
Mnemosyne
@Josie:
Okay, I have to ask: is it pronounced “BAY-toe” or “BEH-toe”? That’s where I’ve been getting confused.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: It is not the first one.
Watch an ad and listen to Beto say he approves this message. :-)