Native history shows that the right to vote can actually be a defeat instead of a victory.

This election year is also the centennial of the Indian Citizenship Act, which made #Indigenous people US citizens (sometimes against their wills), with theoretical voting rights.

#USPol #Election2024

hcn.org/issues/56-10/the-nativ…

The Native vote dilemma

Every election year, Indigenous people grapple with whether and how to engage in electoral politics.

^{B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster (High Country News)}

via abramson:

It is slipping farther and farther BELOW 50%. He now leads by only 1.6%—and his vote advantage is under 2.5M. One of the narrower victories of the last 100 years of American politics, and any journalist or politico using the term mandate probably needs to retire from their profession immediately.

#election2024

🚨 Artem Klyushin, as he was a key figure in the 2018 NYT bestseller Proof of Collusion. The Russian oligarch and Putin ally hosted Trump in Moscow in November 2013. So now Klyushin is posting tweet after tweet (after tweet after tweet) tagging Trump and Musk and instructing them on what they must do as co-presidents. He’s sending these tweets on the heels of a Kremlin official stating publicly—if vaguely—that Trump owes debts to those who helped him win and that the Kremlin expects him to deliver on those debts.

It is in this context that on November 9 Mr. Klyushin posted—without explanation—the list of names you see below. Trump has already picked eleven (not a typo) people on that list for his Cabinet or administration, causing deep concern.

bsky.app/profile/sethabramson.…

#election2024 #corruption

New: From the Justice Department to #immigration, here are some of the topics ProPublica’s reporters will be watching in a second Donald #Trump presidency.

#News #Journalism #Government #DonaldTrump #Election #Election2024 #Democracy #Politics

propublica.org/article/second-…

Second Trump Presidency: Issues We’ll Be Watching and How to Get in Touch

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will continue our focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them.

^ProPublica

Despite Trump’s Win, #School Vouchers Were Again Rejected by Majorities of Voters

In several Republican-led states, popular sentiment on the voucher issue has been overridden by the efforts of special interest groups and powerful governors who have enacted sweeping voucher programs that often benefit affluent families.

#news #Education #schools #election2024 #voting #trump #kentucky #nebraska #colorado #government #politics
propublica.org/article/school-…

Despite Trump’s Win, Voters Widely Reject School Vouchers

^ProPublica

Speaker Kevin McCarthy should hire a good tax lawyer. Attorney General #mattgaetz wants to know about his taxes.
Just ask #Comey and #McCabe

Remember kids: Trump hires the very best!

#attorneygeneral #usag #election2024 #kevinmccarthy #speakermccarthy #uspol #gopclownshow #jamescomey #andrewmccabe

Aiming at the MAGA base and fringe Americans who were addicted to Fox News the trump campaign used the KISS method:

Keep It Stupid, Simple.

The more you know.

#politics #election2024 #fox #foxnews

Haymarket Books has made 10 key antifascist ebooks #free to download.

“Wherever each of us live, work, and are in community: the time is now to build power and fight back, together.”

haymarketbooks.org/blogs/517-t…

#USPolitics
#Election2024
#reading

seeing a lot of posts saying…

'get your IUD now'
'stock up on Plan B'
'here's where to find mifepristone'

but nowhere have i seen posts saying…

'seriously consider getting a vasectomy [so you can potentially avert the risk to someone's life or livelihood]'

as someone that's had one, there's usually a 3 month waiting period so you have time to think it over. when you go in for the procedure, it takes about an hour—half of it filling paperwork out, changing into a gown, and waiting for the surgeon. recovery took me about a day to feel 70% normal, then roughly a week to get back to 100%. there are typically no obvious signs there's been an incision since the way the procedure is done is so minimally invasive and there's zero impact to sexual or urinary function.

at this point, taking it upon yourself to get a vasectomy and talking openly about it is direct action, or at least adjacent

#health #harmReduction #bodilyautonomy #reproductiverights #reproductivejustice #reprojustice #planb #contraceptives #abortion #abortionrights #mifepristone #vasectomy #sexualhealth #harris #trump #election #election2024 #postElectionPrep #directAction #resist #resistance

NEW: What to Expect From #ProPublica in a Second #Trump Administration
==

Our job is to give readers an independent, verifiable account of what’s happening, even if the #president is calling us enemies of the people or bloodsuckers.

#News #Journalism #DonaldTrump #Election #Election2024 #Politics #Government
propublica.org/article/second-…

What We’ll Be Covering in a Second Trump Administration

We’ll be devoting a significant part of our staff to detailing what are expected to be dramatic changes in the role of the federal government in the lives of Americans.

^ProPublica

I’ve said it before but hoped I’d be wrong. My main worry about #election2024 was that a big % of Americans would simply never vote for a woman, no matter what.

They'd rather let a senile fascist run the country because they just can’t stomach the idea of a woman running it.

Most won’t even admit this to themselves. They'll assure you that they would absolutely vote for "the right woman". But when the possibility becomes less abstract, no actual female candidate is ever good enough for them.

Everyone knows to stay in line if the polls close while you’re in line, right? If you’re in line, you get to vote.

Wait and get your vote counted. #Election2024 #StayInLine #Vote

Vice President Kamala Harris will secure Massachusetts’ 11 electoral votes in the presidential election, AP calls.

For live results and election updates, see the @gbhnews #Election2024 liveblog: wgbh.org/news/politics/2024-11…

Democrat Sarah McBride has won election to a U.S. House seat representing Delaware. With her victory over Republican John Whalen III, McBride is poised to become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.

Live updates from @gbhnews: bit.ly/48HcSmz #Election2024 #trans

The Associated Press has called the Massachusetts US Senate race for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

For live #Election2024 updates, see the GBH #News liveblog: bit.ly/48HcSmz

Probably not gonna toot a lot more now. It’s the after-work rush. And once 7pm hits it’s all #electionofficer work. Surprisingly heavy turn out. Surprising me mainly because I thought a lot of early #voting would reduce the load. But we had dozens of same-day registrations! So they were unexpected voters. Hard to anticipate.

I’ll toot out some final thoughts after 8:30 or 9:00pm EDT
#election2024 #electionday #uspol

And now a funny goof I did as an #electionofficer earlier.

A woman walked up to the check-in table and handed me her ID. The system comes back with nothing. So I search and she’s not in there. She mentions that she has changed her name. So I search a bit more. Nothing. I search by address. Nothing.

Finally the officer next to me leans over and asks “are you registered to vote?”
“No.” She answers.

Face palm.

So I’m asking a little sooner now when someone strides up and then they’re not in the system at all.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol

Finally something kinda funny happened. Voter came in and the officer next to me knew her so he’s checking her in and they’re chatting. He asks her to say her legal name (part of the process in Virginia) and she accidentally says the wrong last name. (Not sure if perhaps a former partner’s name or just a maiden name). They chuckle and she’s embarrassedly saying “don’t tell my husband!” It was all sweet and familiar and funny (not creepy, which it can seem when I write it that way). Just neighbours chuckling with neighbours in their polling place.

#election #electionofficer #electionday #election2024 #uspol

Ooh. You may have read in the news that the OSCE is sending election observers to the US for this #electionday . We just had 2 Italian women arrive and ask a few questions and chat a little. They are not official observers (meaning they didn’t present a letter from the county board of elections) so they can’t hang around like authorized observers. But we had a quick chat and shared numbers and info that we would share with any member of the public.

npr.org/2024/10/16/nx-s1-51348…

#election2024 #electionofficer #uspol

Continuing my #electionday #electionofficer live mega thread. Scroll up to see more, mute the thread to see less, without blocking me entirely.

One fun thing we do in my precinct that I enjoy is yelling “first time VOTERRR!” And cheering a little when people are voting for the first time. We don’t know it from their records. But if they say something we cheer.

I’m sure I have also processed a few fiftieth-time (or more!) #voters and I wish we could celebrate them also.

#election #election2024 #uspol

I’m reading about long lines on #electionday in other parts of the country. I love early #voting. We had maybe 10 voters waiting at 6:00am who we quickly processed. Since then, it’s been slow and steady.

In 7 hours we’ve done maybe 300 #voters, so a little less than 1 a minute. But that doesn’t mean nobody is voting. They probably voted early or absentee.

I’m a big fan of early voting. It just makes #elections easier. #election2024 #electionday #uspol

I’m in the #CovidIsNotOver crowd and still wearing my N95, especially if I’m going to deal with 1000 total strangers. Rough average in the US is 1 in 60 have an active infection. So if I do see 1000 people today, probably something like 16 will have an active infection. Virginia’s rates currently are pretty moderate. Maybe it’ll be less than 16. But there’s no reason to think there will be zero people with #covid #voting.

Of the 15 officers in my #poll precinct, 2 of us are wearing masks. Few #voters are masking, maybe 5 out of 200. Airflow is good in the room.

We offer free #masks to those who want them. But it’s a bit pointless. Nobody who wants a mask shows up without one.
#electionday #election2024 #uspol

We love it when parents bring kids to #vote. We have stickers! We make sure the kids get the “Future Voter” stickers.

Around 10:00am we had 5 voters and 6 kids. More kids than voters!

This year we have special “presidential election” stickers. First time I’ve seen those.
#electionofficer #election2024 #electionday #uspol

You might wonder “Paco, are you sharing details about #election #security that you shouldn’t share?” I have a high regard for #Fairfax County #Virginia. They make a lot of their #voting training public. You can see the training that I was given on their YouTube channel. All the details I’m sharing are in that training.

I really think they do it right. I have no complaints about how the County does things. But sometimes I think State law is not great. So we follow the law but that can be annoying sometimes.

#electionday #election2024 #electionofficer #uspol

m.youtube.com/@fairfaxcountyel…

Fairfax County Election Officers

Election officer training videos from the Fairfax County Office of Elections

^YouTube

One of the main #election #security mechanisms is as old as time. Double ledger entry and independent verification at lots of steps.

The county knows how many ballots they sent us (1600 in this precinct). They come in shrink wrapped packs of 200. We open one pack at a time as we need to.

When we open a pack of blank ballots, even though we think the ballots were counted properly at the printer, we check. Two officers count them, then swap piles and check the count. We have high confidence in how many paper ballots really were present in the precinct.

At the end of the day, there is a thorough form we fill out that accounts for every single paper ballot in the room. Did it go into a scanner with a vote? Did it go into a provisional vote envelope? Was it spoiled? (Sometimes the machine can’t read it, or a person makes a mistake. We ask them to fill in every bubble so it isn’t clear who they might have meant to vote for. And we take that spoiled ballot and issue them a new blank) We know and must account for the disposition of every ballot.

At the end of the day, the sum of ballots in the machine + provisional ballots + spoiled ballots + blank unused ballots must add up to the total that were sent to us. It can happen that there’s a discrepancy. It’s usually something like a spoiled ballot that got thrown in the trash instead of being put in the right place.

The error rate is like 1, 2, or 3 out of 1600. We’re human, after all. But many times the error rate is 0. If you’re careful and follow instructions, it’s easy to be perfect.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol

#Virginia is one of many states that prohibits #firearms and #guns in a #polling place. I’m no lawyer so I don’t really know how long it’s been in its current form. It seems like this law has been on the books a long time (since 1950 with various amendment over the years).

This is the first year we have made much of a fuss about it. We have 2 prominent signs and we got a tiny bit of training on how to handle the situation. (Pretty much tell people the law, try to calmly persuade them to go away and come back to vote without it, and escalate anything serious to 911, who have been prepped for this.)

I’ve been doing this 20 years and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a firearm in a polling place except an active duty police officer in uniform coming in to #vote.

#election2024 #electionday #uspol

law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/ti…

It’s a little unusual to have this much food in our #electionofficer break room. Seems like lots of people brought food to share.

We start our day at 5:00am, polls open at 6:00am. Polls close at 7:00pm and we usually get to leave about 8:30 or 9:00pm. The rules are that officers may not leave the #polls during the day. So you have to bring any food, drink, medicines, or anything else you might need during the day. Or you have to have a wonderful partner like I do, who brings you dinner toward the end of the day. Dress in layers, comfortable shoes, you know the drill.

I usually bring a thermos of coffee, some snacks, and a lunch. I always have a couple ibuprofen in my bag just in case.
#uspol #electionday #election2024

A little live tooting from my job as an #electionofficer on #election2024 .

It’s calm and quiet in 904 - Stonecroft, in #fairfax #virginia. We are nicely over staffed and over prepared. There’s about 2000 registered voters in the precinct and we’ve seen around 100 so far. That might sound low, but it’s hard to judge.

In 2020, I was in a precinct that had about 3200 voters. It had record turnout, like 78%. So around 2500 people voted. But we only saw about 1000 in the polling place on #electionday. So just because the in-person turnout sounds low, we might actually have lots of voting.

This year Virginia started early voting on September 20. So since that date people can go to a number of satellite polling places and vote. And of course there’s absentee by mail or by dropbox.

More as it happens.

In just over 10 minutes we’ll get the first BIG and all important TOO EARLY TO CALL announcements.

In just over 10 minutes I will crack this open. #politics #Election2024 #voting

independent photographers (like myself) will be out there documenting everything we can today. I'm in #Bethlehem #Pennsylvania and will be heading out with my cameras shortly as I'm getting reports of high early turnout. If anyone hears of anything up this way that they want a set of eyes on, let me know. There's a lot of attention on #NorthamptonCounty and the #LehighValley

#ElectionDay #Election2024 #PollWatching #BelieveYourEyes

Not yet registered to vote?

The following states allow you to register and vote on the same day!!! Visit www.vote.gov to find out the rules in your state!

Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming

#election2024 #VOTE #uspol #uspolitics @KamalaHarrisWin