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How to Vote in the 2020 Election
- hprotagonist 6y agoAll the votes i could cast this year that will substantively affect an outcome have already been cast in my state’s statewide primary, in which i cast an absentee ballot i mailed back last week. I voted in the presidential primary before lockdown, where my candidate was defeated. I will for damn sure be voting in the general, but my local rep is running uncontested, my state has a polling average of ~+40 biden, and no local ballot measures of any interest are included this cycle, so all i’m doing is bumping the popular vote a bit in an extremely predictable direction as far as top of the ticket is concerned. Downballot, we have a right to repair measure that I think is important, but not a lot else. edit: just to be clear, I _love_ voting, I take my obligations seriously, it's one of my favorite civic activities, I am well aware of the importance of local politics. Mostly, I am equal parts relieved that we're here again, and only disappointed that the pandemic is almost certainly going to preclude my usual celebratory post-voting girl scout bake-sale brownie at my polling place.
- Naac 6y agoPresumably there are also important local ordinances and local officials that are worth voting for, where your single vote counts much more.
- hprotagonist 6y agonot really. I did look, and i'll of course participate, but most of it's not in question or up for reelection this cycle.
- djaque 6y agoI would be fearful of polls considering the 2016 presidential election. Plus, there's more than just the president and your state rep. Local positions like judges, DAs, etc are also important. In some sense probably more importany than federal politics.
- chrisweekly 6y ago"Local positions like judges, DAs, etc are also important. In some sense probably more importany than federal politics" Not in this election they aren't.
- djaque 6y agoTrust me... I understand how important the presidential is. My point was that politics in the US rolls uphill. You have a much bigger impact on local elections than on federal elections. That one vote has a bigger impact than on trying to change that one senate seat.
- hprotagonist 6y agoput it this way: my state was the only one that went for mondale. I'm not super in doubt about the outcome of the presidential ballot in november, here :)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- tunesmith 6y agoPeople have got to get over the math arguments here. Voting isn't about whether your vote will "matter" mathematically to your local races. It's a symbol of expressing your democratic power - a discipline and civic responsibility. We should all vote just as part of being citizens that care about and defend democracy. (And then occasionally - you don't know when - it will also matter mathematically.)
- ipnon 6y agoIt's more important to identify as a voter than it is to just vote.
- hprotagonist 6y agoNo fear, i am quite vocal about that.
- yencabulator 6y agoYour vote should still show in the "popular vote", right? Popular vs electoral college results might result in a reform, later. Please get on record with your decision, please vote.
- mmastrac 6y agoIt's so strange to me that voting is so political in the USA (yes, I realize the phrasing). It really feels like fundamental voting rights are constantly under attack -- whether it's against felons in Florida that don't vote the way that the leadership likes, or disenfranchising minorities. For a "bastion of democracy and freedom", America has some major problems with its most basic rights.
- jlev 6y agoThis is intentionally done by one political party that does not care about democracy. They push policies that restrict individual voting rights, gerrymander districts for minority rule, and expand the influence of money over people. This has been their plan for decades, as they see the younger and more diverse America as a threat to their ideology. We have got to vote them out at every level.
- mrlala 6y agoWhy do comments like this on HN get downvoted? It's a FACT- not an opinion.
- sealjam 6y agoI don’t think the Republican Party even try and disguise this fact President Trump talking about proposed electoral reforms: “They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/30/trump-republican-party-voting-reform-coronavirus https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/30/trump-republ...
- yonaguska 6y agoIt's disingenuous to not acknowledge the Republican argument that this is about preventing voter fraud. The Democrat argument is of course, that Republicans are actually trying to disenfranchise actual voters. Either way, this last minute effort to expand mail in voting may not be fraudulent, but it's way too easy to allege fraud, and results will simply take too long to be tallied for anyone to actually trust the election. The legitimacy of an institution is oftentimes equally backed by the perceptions of trust and respect of that institution as much as it is backed by the actual functionality of that institution. Regardless of who you back or how much you trust the authenticity of vote by mail, too many people do not trust the other side to not cheat. And even if you assume we live in a world where voter fraud isn't possible for vote by mail, the veracity of the election can be attacked with little effort. Imagine we're two or three weeks into November and still counting votes. A rogue actor prints tens of thousands of fake ballots. They don't need to actually count them, they just nee to make it public- "hey we found a bunch of lost (party of your choice) ballots!". That's what's scary to me. Suddenly, no one has faith that the other side didn't cheat. If I were Xi(China)- this is exactly what I'd be doing right now. It'd be laughably easy for a foreign state actor to absolutely destroy our faith in the election process right now.
- senkora 6y agoSee also: the “How to Vote in Every State” YouTube channel, which has a short video for each state + DC. https://www.youtube.com/c/howtovoteineverystate https://www.youtube.com/c/howtovoteineverystate I like those because it’s sometimes easier to share video content with people.
- bcrosby95 6y agoConsidering the current climate surrounding the USPS, if you vote by mail you should drop it off yourself at the local election office. The law in several states is based upon when they receive it. If it is postmarked in time but they receive it late, your vote literally gets thrown away.
- stupendousyappi 6y agoAccording to a Washington Post article from today, the Trump campaign is considering filing lawsuits to challenge mail in ballots without postmarks. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mail-voting/2020/08/13/3eb9ac62-dd70-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-mail-voting/20...
- derision 6y agoBecause it leaves the doors wide open for foreign interference
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- HumblyTossed 6y agoWe just voted by mail here in Fl (for the August 18 elections) and we were able to see when our ballot was received and counted. No delays. Some cities fortunately do have this figured out.
- traceroute66 6y agoHow to Vote in the 2020 Election ? Surely the answer is: Anyone except Trump!
- pwdisswordfish4 6y agoI really don't know how someone could come to any other conclusion.
- charlesu 6y agoAt least 40% of the voting population is going to come to another conclusion. Maybe more. This is actually what people want even if we don't understand why. Just two lifetimes ago hundreds of thousands of propertyless young men fought and died for the privilege to compete against slave labor in...an agricultural society. Not all believed in the cause. Most probably didn't. But many did. People do strange things for stranger reasons.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Press2forEN 6y agoTrump supporter here. I'll answer any questions you may have about that.
- kag2020 6y agoThey can censor us but they can't stop us!
- charlesu 6y agoWhat are Trump's policy achievements and how have materially improved your life since 2016?
- Press2forEN 6y agoThe reaction to his election traumatized me. For the first time in my life I felt like a foreigner in my own country. I disagree with most of his policy positions. His tax cut was too small, his insistence on opening the public schools is baffling to me given how the public school system manufactures his opposition. He was never able to build the wall, although I expected that. Ultimately I can work with my disagreements with him and the right more broadly. There is room for compromise there. But watching the left since 2016 and especially recently after the death of George Floyd, policy matters don't concern me much anymore. I'm afraid of the left. I feel intimidated by their vast cultural and social power. And I'm going to vote for someone that unapologetically opposes them. I know that doesn't really answer your question as you asked it. But there it is anyway.
- djaque 6y agoSeriously, send your application in now. I sent it in a while ago and it took a solid week longer than it has taken in years past.
- kag2020 6y agoTRUMP 2020! Shills btfo! Vote by mail is election fraud
- pmoriarty 6y agoVoting is really the absolute minimum you could do to effect political change. You can magnify your influence by not just voting but also volunteering for and donating to political organizations, getting involved in local politics (such as running for office yourself or sitting on local boards), becoming and organizer yourself, and educating yourself and others on the issues, organizations, techniques, history, and people involved in politics.