It's 2023, and there's a US election in 2024 that will determine the future of climate change, war in Ukraine, the global economy, reproductive rights, and global fascism.
And folks still want to talk about Cambridge Analytica in 2015, instead of stuff like this:
The reason you can't make any progress on:
* Climate change
* Reproductive rights
* Trans rights
Is because too many Black folk are denied the right to vote. Focus on that instead of your pet issue.
I'm a climate doomer, because I know that no progress on the climate can happen unless Black voting rights in the US get sorted. And we aren't even paying attention to the Black voting problem, let alone close to solving it.
There is no path to making meaningful progress on climate change that doesn't go through Black people in the US getting to vote. None. The fact that we still can't accept this, is why I'm not optimistic about our chances to do anything meaningful about the climate.
@mekkaokereke Do you see any hope in this?
“The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is launching a super PAC to mobilize Black voters ahead of 2024 in an effort to give the House a Democratic majority and, in the process, elect the nation’s first Black Speaker of the House.”
The Rolling Sea Action Fund
The Congressional Black Caucus is launching a super PAC to mobilize Black voters ahead of 2024 in an effort to give the House a Democratic majority and, in the process, elect the nation’s first Black Speaker of the House. The Rolling Sea Action Fund will raise money as well as invest in different advertising and…
@mickeleh Absolutely not. I think campaigns like this are less than helpful. They turn Black voters off. Especially Black men.
My threads on here are all about racist voter suppression. But the media conversation is always around "getting out the vote" or "mobilising Black voters?" The solution is to yell at the victims to try harder?
The word "suppression" didn't appear in this article even once.
No one is more motivated than Black voters. They don't need to be mobilized. They need help.
Black people wait in line for 8 hours to vote, and take another day off work to register. GOP changes things to make it 9 hours, and requires 3 days off work. The Dem response to this is... to ask Black voters to suck it up because "democracy needs you!" and take the 3 days and 9 hour voting line?
And if Black voters don't take that 3 days off work and wait in line to vote for 9 hours, in sufficient numbers to win for the Dems, then we are blamed for losing the election?
@mekkaokereke @mickeleh Washington switched to mail-in ballots only before I turned 18. I've only ever voted by mail-in ballot.
My ignorance: I didn't realize Washington and Oregon (two of the whitest states) were the only two states that do this until the whole fracas about mail in ballots in 2020.
I still haven't gotten over realizing people have to wait multiple hours in line to vote. It's barbaric and backwards.
I fill out a form on my kitchen table weeks before the election. Takes 5 min
@mekkaokereke @mickeleh There is no possible rational argument against mail-in voting. It increases transparency and voter participation. Anything else is intentionally oppressive.
In Australia the whole country has mail-in voting and you're automatically registered to vote by virtue of being born in Australia or emigrating there. If you are a citizen, you're registered to vote. This isn't that complicated, America is fucking this up on purpose.
@sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh
> There is no possible rational argument against mail-in voting.
Voting in person, alone, in secret, and not being allowed to photograph your voting slip protects against votes being coerced, stolen, sold, or many forms of manipulation of the voter. Mail-in voting is vulnerable to these issues.
Mail-in voting is a perfectly reasonable security tradeoff decision, but there are plenty of very rational arguments against it.
@robstyles @sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh I mean, at home is also alone and secret?
At least here (we're in California), there are boxes you can drop off your vote at, you don't have to actually MAIL it.
@frost @sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh
For many people home is neither alone or secret. People in abusive, controlling, relationships, for example. Or those who are threatened by other members of their community.
An vulnerable elderly person whose adult child decides to use their vote…
Voting in person, and having no way for another person to demand proof of how you voted is a key part of a ballot being free.
@sophieschmieg @sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh
It’s not even more poll workers, it’s more (properly working) voting machines.
Voting machines in predominantly white neighborhoods almost never seem to break or malfunction.
@sidereal @mekkaokereke @mickeleh as an Australian I can confirm, we do have the option to do "mail in voting" if we want, usually referred to as a postal vote. I'd like to point out that most of us don't because it's easier to do in person voting for a large portion of the population.
I have a polling place that's always setup about 12 houses up the street from me. Most more urban locations will have a polling place no more than a couple of miles apart. If I go vote at a more off peak time, there is no line, takes me a few minutes only. Some polling places might have a sizable queue at peak times, but waiting in one for more than 30 minutes would not be typical.
There are other things that help such as employers being required to give time off to vote on election days (its a serious offence not to) and being able to vote at any polling place you choose (I.e. If you are unexpectedly out of town it's no problem, you just vote wherever you are).
Postal votes are frequently used by people who are either in remote locations (Australia does have plenty of that), people who are out of the country or state or have some sort of disability that makes postal voting easier. Anyone who wants to can though.
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