Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

This blog will pay for itself.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Giving up is unforgivable.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

This fight is for everything.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Come on, man.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / What You Are Doing to Contribute to the Outcome We Want in November?

What You Are Doing to Contribute to the Outcome We Want in November?

by | 86 Comments

This post is in: 

This cartoon is so spot on that I asked for permission to share it here, and she graciously agreed.

I know for sure that a lot of you are donating!  I bet a lot of us are doing a lot more to stop the crazy and contribute to the outcome we want in November – please tell us what you’re up to in the comments.

What You Are Doing to Contribute to the Outcome We Want in November?

Jen Sorensen:

This pretty much sums up how I feel about the midterms. I can’t believe so many contests are so close. Perhaps the most depressing one is the Ohio Senate race in which the misogynist bigot JD Vance — who has stated that the sexual revolution made it easier for women to leave violent marriages, and that this is bad somehow — has a very good shot at winning. Republican candidates can say just about anything these days, and it doesn’t matter. The old norms are gone; actual policy has become irrelevant.

In case you haven’t heard about the guys in tactical gear guarding a ballot drop box in Mesa, AZ, you can view footage here. I can only imagine we’ll be hearing more stories like this in the week ahead. I saw a disturbing thread on Twitter the other night from a female TV journalist in Arizona who had reported on intimidating “poll watchers” — she was sharing all the threats she had received.

The third panel of this cartoon was partly inspired by a Christian nationalist rally last weekend in Lancaster County, PA, where I grew up. The QAnon-friendly event featured a speaker who declared that the “angel of death” was coming for numerous politicians and members of the media by the end of the year. Eric Trump was in attendance. Lancaster has always been a fairly religious, conservative area, but it wasn’t like this when I was a kid.

 You can subscribe to Jen Sorensen here. 

Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    PSA:  We have a postcard writing party (and music thread) scheduled for 8pm this evening.  Post goes up at 7:45.   Come write postcards and/or share music as we support the folks who are doing the writing.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    One of our jackals shared this with me.  From Mobilize
  7. 7.

    Kristine

    The Auto draft 69 link downloaded a .tif image that I then opened. Spot-on cartoon, which is scary and disheartening which means Kris is writing postcards tonight.

  11. 11.

    Joe Falco

    There’s a version of the comic available on The Nib, the website featuring left to shitbird left comics.

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    Donald Trump started sending me email yesterday.  Surprise, he wants me to donate.  To his organization, of course, nothing for candidates.  I hope that syphons off candidate money.

    No idea where they would have gotten my contact info.

    edit: oh my god, he is still sending from “President Donald J. Trump” and he wants to know if I approve of “the job he is doing” – he can’t really still believe he’s president, but apparently there are a lot of rubes who do.

  20. 20.

    James E Powell

    Texting Orange County.

    Last week I got a text (supposedly) from Beto O’Rourke himself asking for cash. I normally ignore all texts, but I felt a little guilty because I have a bet with @WaterGirl: that he’s going to lose. I don’t recall what the stakes are or whether there is a point spread, but I’d be happy to lose, so I gave him my last donation of this season.

  26. 26.

    Reboot

    400 postcards written (I had help) to nudge Democrats in Roanoke to the polls.  Fingers crossed that some of them get nudged!

  27. 27.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @WaterGirl: One day this past week, I got back to back calls from unknown numbers for a good 2 hours. Could be Medicare Advantage insurer bots (they are relentless during enrollment), pollsters, GOTVers, car/appliance warranty scammers, you’ve committed fraud fakes…so many reasons not to answer the phone. I think texting would be more effective these days.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    @WaterGirl:

    I don’t know.  Even though she did really well in the debates I don’t honestly think they help at all.  They are canvassing in CD1 today which makes me nervous because usually we run up the score in CD 1 to off set CD2 where we are weaker.  CD1 should be buttoned up by now.
    i just can’t believe any of these races are close.  I mean the previous governor was a GD disaster.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    I did phone calls and events for Marcy Kaptur and events for Tim Ryan. The Ryan race has been fun despite national political media announcing he has lost. I think it’s been good for Ohio  to have a real (if long) shot. It would be enormously gratifying to me if Ohio voters contradict the NY Times political team and Ryan pulls out an upset.

    We still need 13 D election officials which is a big number to need this late in a county with only 30k people- I’m not doing it this cycle, I did it last cycle, but I fear potential D volunteers have dropped out of poll working because of what an insane pain in the ass Republicans are now at polling places. Aggressive, angry delusional nutjobs as GOP pollworkers. Normies, especially if they are a political minority as Democrats are here, don’t want any part of that.

  30. 30.

    RaflW

    Yesterday I texted 2,000 younger, lower-propensity voters living in MN apartment buildings in towns and cities not in the Twin Cities metro. Micro-targeting is wild.

    Did have a few positive text chats indicating plans to vote. Offered rides and polling location, etc. It feels a little detached, but the folks who are setting up the banks said that in 2018 this sort of stuff did drive some fraction of additional voting.

    I’ll text more in the days ahead.

  32. 32.

    davecb

    Do you have police at your polls?  In Canada, the poll’s Returning Officer will call the police if scrutineers (poll watchers, often official representatives of the candidates) misbehave.

    (I used to live in Minneapolis, but didn’t observe elections)

  34. 34.

    RaflW

    Also, to the ‘so close’ stuff, Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC)  has a thread up on ways that polling is likely missing things that can break positively for Dems (and he even dares to day the GOP is gaming polls here at the end to give an appearance of a red wave).

    I think the GOP is pushing these biased polls now to help frame up the ‘stolen’ messaging after the election. “Hey, R’s were surging at the end, but lookit these bogus results!”
    We need a more sophisticated press with polling and data chops to cut through the BS. Le Sigh.

  35. 35.

    eclare

    @Sure Lurkalot:   I got a text (supposedly) from John Legend about the DA election in Memphis.  I was already going to vote for that candidate, but if someone had called it probably would have shown up as spam.

  36. 36.

    Kelly

    Canvassing for Jamie McLeod-Skinner this afternoon and tomorrow. First time ever canvassing for me.

    A lot of money being spent in Oregon. Advertising seems saturated. Jamie was outspent by Schrader in the primary but won handily by getting out her vote. Getting out the vote for Jamie should help Tina Kotek’s governor race as well.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @davecb:

    We have Bds of Elections employees one can call, which in Ohio have to be both R’s and D’s, in equal numbers, although Rs have been gaming that too by registering as “Independents” when they are in fact Republicans. That way they could have more R’s  on a panel . Democrats know they are doing this, so Democrats will do it next cycle- register falsely as a Independent and attempt to stack boards with D’s.

    But our actual Bd of Election EMPLOYEES are not delusional nutjobs yet-the Republicans are still normal county employees – so voters can (still) call them if Republican poll workers harass them or behave like lunatics.

  40. 40.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @eclare: The calls I got showed as numbers but unknown and not even local area codes so nope, not picking up. I get texts from Wisdems, VoteVets and other groups to whom I’ve contributed even though I’m not sure how they got my phone #. I very rarely give it out. I think it’s very weird how the first thing many retail checkers ask you at the register is “what’s your phone number?” Next, “what’s your address and car VIN? Blood type? Net worth?”

  41. 41.

    Cathie from Canada

    So here I sit in Canada feeling smug and thinking, boy those Republicans really are nuts aren’t they, why haven’t the Democrats done more about it — I think, its too bad for the past 20 years the Democrats seemed to think they were just debating policies and so let the Republican crazy get so deeply embedded that these nuts actually have a chance.

    And then I start thinking about Canada – where the Conservative party just selected a federal leader who supported the Trucker Convoy last winter and who also suggested the Canadian central bank should switch to bitcoin, and where the Conservative party just selected an Alberta premier who thinks the World Economic Forum is Canada’s greatest problem, and where we now have half the provinces led by Conservative premiers, and where the federal Liberal leader and Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has been demonized by the right and treated like Nancy Pelosi North.

    And I realize that us Canadian Liberals have also been sitting around for the last 20 years thinking its just a policy debate when the crazy is getting worse here, too, more deeply embedded by the day into our Conservative party, which is winning elections here too.

    I don’t know what we can do about it exactly, but it has to be fought, and genteel “candidates’ debates” won’t be enough.

  42. 42.

    Bunter

    I don’t understand how the ballot box “watchers” aren’t considered loitering? I mean, other than they’re white but how does it seem running them off for loitering hasn’t happened? Is that not a thing everywhere?

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @Bunter: I know.  I keep thinking the DOJ ought to be stepping in and coming down HARD on anyone who is attempting to interfere in elections in any way.  Maybe there’s stuff going on that we are not hearing about?

  44. 44.

    No One You Know

    Mailed my ballot and 200 handwritten GOTV postcards to left- leaning people who haven’t been voting.

    Loved the approach on the script,  which opened with “Who you vote for is private,  but whether you vote is public record. Please join your neighbors…”

    Really brilliant: a nudge and a mini- civics education in two sentences.

  45. 45.

    H.E.Wolf

    I’m a slow but steady postcard writer (with http://PostcardsToVoters.org), and my total for this year was 330.

    I wrote to GA for Stacey Abrams & Raphael Warnock; to NY for pro-choice military veteran Pat Ryan; to OH for the three righteous judges; and to 21 counties in FL to encourage sign-ups for Florida Vote By Mail (good for 2 years, and renewable).

    My other ongoing project is data entry for our state Democratic Party. Since June I’ve spent a couple of hours per day; and I’ve updated more than 9,000 addresses of volunteers statewide. It’ll be 10,000 before the election.

    It’s especially satisfying to update the addresses of recent college grads. They have their own places now! Out of the dorms and into the world. :-)

  46. 46.

    H.E.Wolf

    Hoping to attend tonight’s postcard party, although I’ll be swanning in very late because of a prior commitment that runs until ~ 9 PM blog time. (Drat! I’d rather listen to music with all y’all.)

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Official, from Lane County (OR) Elections website:

    November 8, 2022 General Election
    Your ballot was received on October 28, 2022.

  50. 50.

    Kelly

    @Villago Delenda Est: Official Marion County, OR email Thursday Oct 27th
    Welcome to Marion County Clerk – Elections Track Your Ballot
    Your ballot envelope for the November 8, 2022 General Election has been accepted and your ballot is being processed for counting.

  51. 51.

    frosty

    Sent 25 postcards yesterday and later today I’ll be signing up for canvassing shifts next weekend and election day. Unless they need poll watchers; I’d rather do that than knock on doors.

  52. 52.

    Kelly

    @frosty: No need for poll watchers in all mail voting Oregon. Ballots come with a postage paid envelope. Anybody messing with my ballot is going to answer to the United States Postal Inspection Service, obscure bad ass LEOs.

  53. 53.

    slybrarian

    I just voted here in one of the blue dots of Hoosierstan. There was actually a pretty sizeable line, but it was also running a little slower than what I’ve seen at other voting locations for congressional-only years. I think it’s because we switched to a new type of machine and the staff were having to give people a little more introduction. It’s an electronic system with push buttons and a high-contrast screen, which seemed a bit more readable than the pure touch screens of the previous ten or twelve years, and the process for loading a ballot was a bit different as it no longer requires the voter to return a card to the staff. It also has a receipt printer attached (and under a plastic cover) so you could verify the record. It feels like a nice balance between the convenience of the electronic system, which lets you vote at any location in the county, and having a paper trail.

  54. 54.

    Almost Retired

    Somewhere in the Antelope Valley section of Los Angeles County, roughly 60 voters are trying to decipher barely legible postcards urging them to do something for (….”what does this say, honey?”….)  Christy Smith.   Hopefully, I have inspired them to support both their Democratic candidate and a greater emphasis on penmanship skills in the classroom.  The incumbent is vile, and this should be a Democratic pick-up.

  57. 57.

    StringOnAStick

    Writing as many postcards as my hand can handle, 150 over the past 10 days and I’ll do it until postcards to voters says we’re done. It has the added benefit of tossing some business to the USPO.  E

    I’m contributing at easily 5x what we’ve done before and my husband has been ok with it because he sees the danger now too (thanks to Maddow’s Ultra podcast).

    I’ve considered canvassing but as a short blonde woman, I admit to being afraid of the local wingnut crazies.  I’ll check about what else can do to support Jamie McLeod Skinner.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @StringOnAStick:

    We’re not canvassing here (70% Trump county and armed to the teeth). I don’t think it’s safe.

    I’ve gotten the handwritten postcards. Obviously I’m not the intended audience of “normie” and I also am a USPS enthusiast, but it’s nice to get them.

  62. 62.

    Nelle

    I will be going to all the registered Ds in my neighborhood for the third time for this election, urging them to match their 100% voting record in 2020.  I’ve also picked up the neighborhood just north and challenging them to match our 2020 turnout.  My neighbor will help me with the printed message.. there will be about 100 households.  I’ll check yesterday’s record for returned absentee ballots and add “I voted” stickers to the ones who have so far.  We are organized through the Neighbor to Neighbor program for getting out the vote.

  63. 63.

    EarthWindFire

    I’m donating easily what I donated in 2020, if not more. Our three VA dem congresswomen are in tight races, so they’ve been my primary focus for donations and postcards. I’ve lost too much patience with the human race to canvass or phone bank anymore, so I don’t.

    I’ll be monitoring a voting place of the VA Democratic Party’s choosing on Election Day. I do my training for it early next week. I don’t trust Governor I Fleeced More Than My Red Vest and his minions one bit.

  64. 64.

    Kristine

    @WaterGirl:

    The difference in IL between R and D governors is like night and day. Hoping we keep Pritzker.

    Oh God, I don’t want to think about what could happen if we don’t. I wasn’t excited about Pritzker in the beginning–oh goodie, another billionaire who bought himself political office. But if he isn’t the best governor in the country, he’s in the top 3, and I really hope enough Illinoisans realize it.

  67. 67.

    Kelly

    @StringOnAStick: I’m a 6′ 1″ 195 lbs guy and I’m going to relatively liberal Silverton. Jamie’s campaign website suggests I work in deep red Linn County, not going there.

  68. 68.

    Splitting Image

    @Nelle:

    One of my Saskatchewan cousins has seemed to tip into a Trumper. Why would anyone in another country fall under the spell?

    There is a certain brand of Canadian “patriot” that has always understood patriotism to mean “America First”. The one good thing about Putin radicalizing so many Americans is that people in the States can finally understand what’s so creepy about people like that. It’s party over country on every level.

    My mother’s cousin is Irish and fervently longs for the British to take back the Republic and start running things properly again. The last 10 years of British-style government has done nothing to shake her faith in the belief that the British can run any country properly.

  70. 70.

    Marmot

    Blockwalking 100 doors this weekend. Did 200 or so this past week. I’ll do at least that in the coming week.

    Kay: For GOTV, you’d be sent to infrequent Dem voters, not Rep gun nuts. Well, mostly not. I did talk to a nut or two. The trick is to show interest by asking what they think is important, then walking away without activating them to vote.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Marmot:

    I usually help coordinate and I’m not comfortable sending them out. I hear a lot of things because of the work I do. It hasn’t really been the same here since 2016- it’s nastier. I don’t know if there are more Right wing nuts or they’re just more comfortable flying that flag but it’s no longer safe enough (here) to knock doors, IMO.  They go from zero to “insanely angry” really fast.

  73. 73.

    Mousebumples

    Postcards update – WaterGirl asked what the mailing deadline is. Frankly, I’m not sure (it’s typically 3 days after you request addresses), but in 2020, I think I mailed some postcards on the Saturday before Election Day that were going a short distance (my state or adjacent state – to Iowa, from Wisconsin). I’ve got a question out, to ask if #PostcardsToVoters has a Last Day To Mail determined. Hopefully, I’ll have details by tonight.

    After it’s too late to mail, I’d be interested in doing some texting campaigns for Pacific Time Zone candidates or even Alaska (Peltola?). Suggestions on good groups to work with are welcome! (WisDems has texting from 6-8pm, but that doesn’t usually work with bedtimes in my house.)

    I’m looking forward to seeing you guys at the Postcarding Party tonight! 📬

  75. 75.

    suzanne

    If there’s voter intimidation happening, of course it’s happening in Mesa.

    Most conservative city in the country, I think. A real shithole.

  76. 76.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Kelly: Awesome!

    I helped Mom vote, and voted myself.

    Other than helping to fund the Oregon gov and congressional campaigns, I haven’t done much more than that…

  77. 77.

    Marmot

    @Kay: I see. I mean, I’m in the cushiest city for it, but I can’t imagine any TX city being quite as bad as you describe. Are you in rural Central OH? I forget.

    Also, don’t the nuts get removed from the list? (I feel like our lists lean too heavily toward friendlies.)

  78. 78.

    Geminid

    @suzanne: Grace Segers had a good article in the New Republic a couple days ago. It was about GOTV efforts directed at Arizona Latinos. One of the people she interviewed was nurse practioner Eva Burch, who is running in the  west Mesa 9th Senate District. It sounded like observers see Burch as slightly favored to win, perhaps because her opponent is a trumper who knocked the incumbent out in the Republican primary.

    Besides Burch (who canvasses with a translator), Segers interviewed the state director of Mi Familia Vota and Rep. Ruben Gallego, among others.

    You might like the article.

  79. 79.

    suzanne

    @Geminid: West Mesa, where I essentially grew up, has long been split between white Mormons — many of them descendants of the first Mormon settler families — and Latino, mostly Mexican, Catholics. The Mormons have historically controlled the City Council but have been white flighting out to Gilbert. So that small corner of Mesa has opened up some opportunities for Dems.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    @WaterGirl

    Come write postcards and/or share music as we support the folks who are doing the writing.

    On it. Expect a something for everyone potpourri.

  82. 82.

    Geminid

    @suzanne: Sounds like Hispanics may be taking the white west Mesans’ places. Burch emphasized how many of her staff and volunteers are bilingual. Her opponent is an Anglo and a retired cop. Democrats are trying hard to flip the state Senate, and they probably need to flip that seat to do it.

    One thing Segers noted was that while Arizona Hispanics have lagged Anglos in proportion of registered voters, that community has been closing the gap in recent years.

  83. 83.

    Sandia Blanca

    I answer calls to the Texas Dems’ Voter Assistance Hotline. People call with questions about registration status, locations and hours of polling places, early voting, voting by mail, etc.

    I also nag everyone I know to vote early. Still have a few I’m working on.

  85. 85.

    Chris T.

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    … car/appliance warranty scammers …

    I got a scam call a few weeks back (easy to tell because they claimed to be from a power company that would have been applicable more than a decade ago) and tried answering it with: “Hi, we’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty!”

    Got an actual person, which was amusing. He interrupted my sales-pitch-at-him babble with “you must be on fentanyl” and hung up on me.

    That one was almost as good as the time I got one of those “police fund” guys to hang up on me when I noted that more cops had died of COVID than anything else, so to protect the cops, we should require COVID vaccinations.

  86. 86.

    TriassicSands

    That cartoon perfectly illustrates how there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties.

    On this hand, we have a Democrat who wants to fight climate change and on the other hand we have a Republican who wants to increase fossil fuel production to help him win in November. Climate change? What climate?

    On this hand we have a Democrat who wants every eligible citizen to be able to vote without unnecessary restrictions and on the other hand we have a Republican who wants to prevent as many of “them” as possible from being able to cast ballots.

    On this hand we have a Democrat who wants to make medications affordable and on the other hand we have a Republican who wants to enable large corporations to bleed the American people dry.

    On this hand we have a Democrat who wants to limit the types of weapons and ammunition that people can possess and on the other hand we have a Republican who believes that only when everyone is openly carrying guns everywhere, all the time will be have a safe society.

    On this hand we have a Democrat who wants women to be able to control their own reproductive lives and on the other hand we have a Republican who is a Christian Nationalist who wants to impose her religion on all American citizens regardless of their own personal religious beliefs. Freedom of religion? There is only one true religion — armed Christian Nationalism!

    On and on, ad nauseam. Not a dime’s worth of difference.

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