“Or you’re not going to have a country anymore”
The media is pulsing with “Biden’s age” exactly like it did in it 2016 with “but…her emails.” That focus is now and was then an intentional distraction from the most pressing issue of our time. Donald Trump, immunized last week by the U.S. Supreme Court and following the recipe laid out by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, is poised for an autocratic takeover, a takeover riding on a wave of a Christian nationalist right wing minority that has been preparing for this for decades. On Bannon’s War Room, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts couldn’t have stated Trump’s and Heritage’s intentions more starkly: “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” This is an “all hands on deck” moment.
I strongly encourage you to go right ahead, click this link (Heather Cox Richardson on Amanpour) and watch this 11:17 video (after the obligatory ad) titled “’We have never been here as a country’: Historian Heather Cox Richardson puts Trump immunity ruling into perspective.” Professor Richardson is a sober historian. Her assessment of where we now find ourselves should set off alarm bells. (If you aren’t already receiving Richardson’s daily email “Letters From an American,” click and sign up.)
We have four months to get “all hands on deck” before the November 5th General Election (and only four weeks before the August 6th Primary). Each of us needs to make sure that we and everyone else we know not only understands what is at stake in the upcoming elections but is also fully prepared to vote.
Go to VoteWa.gov and click the tab “Your Voter Registration.” Make sure that your registration is up-to-date, particularly your addresses. The “Home Address” is your permanent residence that determines your voting precinct and, thereby, what races appear on your ballot. The “Mailing Address” is the address to which your ballot will be sent. Primary election ballots will be mailed out to this mailing address on or about July 19th, a week from this Friday. Make sure your ballot is sent to the right place. We are a mobile society. When we move, even from apartment to apartment in an apartment complex or senior living situation, when we are off at college, in the military, or are going to be on an extended trip somewhere it is easy to forget to update mailing addresses to receive a ballot.
Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton notes that each election between one and five percent of mailed ballots are returned as “Undeliverable” because the USPS does not have an address on file, returned because the forwarding period has expired but the USPS provides the new address, or forwarded and the USPS provides the new address. Don’t be one of those people that misses their chance to vote or makes extra work for the Elections Office, especially this election. Now is your chance to check for yourself—and an opportunity to remind others to do the same. Do NOT assume that officially changing addresses with any other state government agency simultaneously updates your voting registration and mailing address with Elections. It does not. Update with the Elections office or online at VoteWa.gov—even if it is just a change to a different apartment in the same building! Your vote is your voice.
VoteWa.gov contains links to a wealth of voter information, FAQs, contacts, and details. Unfortunately, one thing it won’t do (until ballots are in the mail) is display what is on your particular ballot (determined by precinct of registration). You can, however, already see every race that will appear on any ballot in your county. Just click “Voter Guide: What’s on Your Ballot” found under the “Your Ballot & Voting Materials” tab. Under the “Your Ballot & Voting Materials” tab you can also see whether your ballot was mailed, whether and when it was received, reviewed and processed, and accepted after you’ve mailed it in.
After checking your own registration and familiarizing yourself with the website for your own orientation and information, reach out to others online and in person, the “all hands on deck part.”
Young people have a special roll in these upcoming elections. The Republican Party openly threatens to rob women of their bodily autonomy, valuing the intelligence and integrity of women as less than that of a fertilized egg. The same Party, disdainful of science and committed to the belief that fossil fuels were put on earth by God exclusively for mankind to dig up and burn, is hell bent on ruining the very climate and atmosphere on which our lives on this planet depend. (Of course, that’s not the way they see it.) Young people, take note.
Young people are also the most mobile among us and, up until now, the least likely to vote. Talk with them about your concerns, what is at stake, and how to participate.
Special Note on College Students: A student who is a Washington State resident can remain registered in WA using a family address for residency and a mailing address at their school for the ballot. Alternatively, a college student can decide to register to vote at their school address AND receive their ballot at that address. But, before changing a voter registration address (especially if it’s in another state), a college student ought to discuss residency with their parents and their school’s financial advisers. A wrong decision could void their tuition status or their financial aid.
Finally, pay attention to down ballot races. Republicans have been voting a straight down ballot ticket for years while Democrats tend to shy away from down ballot voting, often leaving the lesser known candidate choices as “undervotes”. How we are allowed to live in each state will be heavily influenced by those we vote into office, even while the national government might teeter, so pay attention to the down ballot races.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. I’ve heard some say that they didn’t think they’d bother to vote because the Electoral College system. Living in Washington State, for example, a non-swing state, “my vote won’t matter.” Even if, God-forbid, Republicans put another president in place via the Electoral College system, who we send to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House still matters, as do the down ballot races. Another win for Democrats of the popular vote for President would also serve to emphasize that Republicans represent a minority. (No Republican president since Reagan (except Bush II’s second term) has garnered a popular vote majority.)