I voted!

Oct. 21st, 2024 09:21 pm
sonia: Statue of liberty passionately kissing blind Justice. "Liberty/Justice is my femslash" (liberty justice)
[personal profile] sonia
In California, we have two thick voter's guides to decipher. Twice as much democracy! I worked through the state-wide one last week, and worked through the local guide yesterday and finished today. I checked over the five-page ballot, made triply sure I filled in the right oval for Kamala Harris, sealed and signed the envelope, and biked it over to a drop box. It's a relief to be done.

I voted yes on most of the propositions, except the one that wants to fund more police. Wtf, as it is I see at least one cop car most times I go anywhere. I don't know why people think more police will help anything. Also voted no on the silly revenge proposition on the organization daring to support rent control. Oh, and the one that wants to make drug offenses a felony. Again, wtf.

On October 1, I sent out the Vote Forward letters I had been writing, as directed. I've been writing them in sets of 5 since then and sending them out immediately. I'm up to 150 total, and I'll try to send out a few more before the October 29 deadline. I'm sending for a California campaign, so they should get there in good time.

I thought I would write tons of Vote Forward letters while I was unemployed, but 1) I ended up being busy with code challenges and interview prep, and 2) I wasn't sleeping well at all, so I didn't have the focus in the evenings to hand-write without making mistakes. Now that I'm settled into the new job, I'm sleeping much better, and it's easier to focus. Yet another way that capitalism and precarity robs people's life energy.

When the new job was confirmed, I also made a big donation to Movement.vote to fund getting out the vote. It's not too late to donate, if you feel inclined.

And those are the things I can do to affect an outcome that should not be in doubt, would not be in doubt but for the lying, cheating, and stealing that one side is doing. Which reminds me, here's a hopeful and satisfying article: This is the first election since the MAGA Supreme Court ended Roe—why are we talking about anything else? by Jason Sattler. I'm going to hold that thought.

Also relevant, a link I've had open for a while, He tried to clean up Grizzly Peak. Then came the messy part: East Bay politics by Callie Rhoades. How John Kirkham and his volunteer cleanup group, the East Bay Trash Pandas, made sure their work didn’t go to waste.

Date: 2024-10-22 09:17 am (UTC)
dadi: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dadi
Thank you for all of this!

Date: 2024-10-22 05:43 pm (UTC)
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
From: [personal profile] sanguinity
We're still working on ours. An hour or so every night, she with the voter's phamplet and me with vote411 and all the endorsement webpages, and we read and compare and discuss until we feel like we understand what we're being asked and what the salient factors are, and move on to the next one. And we keep that up until we stop feeling sharp and start feeling fed-up, at which point we put it away for the next night.

It's an important process and worth being thoughtful about, but it does take some time!

Date: 2024-10-23 02:48 am (UTC)
sanguinity: woodcut by M.C. Escher, "Snakes" (Default)
From: [personal profile] sanguinity
One of our mayoral front-runners wants a 50% increase in police officers. There are a TON of reasons I don't want him to win, but that is absolutely one of them.

Date: 2024-10-24 08:13 pm (UTC)
silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
From: [personal profile] silveradept
Huzzah for voting and encouraging others to vote.

(Still a strong "how is this race this close" that is then concerted immediately by "because one of the candidates is saying the quiet part out loud and certain people love him for it.")

Date: 2024-10-25 05:20 am (UTC)
silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
From: [personal profile] silveradept
Yes. It should not be this close, yet it is, and I think there is a lot more malice planned for a second go around than the first executed.
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