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Not sure if anyone actually cares what my thoughts are on voting, take this with a grain of salt
Something that I think is missing from the discourse I've seen about settling for Biden is that, for a lot of the people I follow, our vote actually matters for the first time (1/?)
Something that I think is missing from the discourse I've seen about settling for Biden is that, for a lot of the people I follow, our vote actually matters for the first time (1/?)
If you were a Haverford student or someone living on my end of the Main Line, your vote absolutely did not matter in 2016. At all. The state was so disgustingly gerrymandered that somehow Penn Wynne was part of Philly, and Haverford didn't even have a real polling place (2/?)
not to mention the fact that it was intentionally lumped into a red district to discount the College's votes. Things are different now-- after 2016, the state was redistricted, and, more importantly, it was redistricted FAIRLY (3/?)
Suddenly, my vote matters. It's no longer suppressed. And I mention this not because I think it's news or to guilt people, but because someone had to fight for my state to be redistricted, for my home to be registered fairly and for my vote to matter. (4/?)
I'm not the picture of voter suppression-- far from it, and my area is far, far from experiencing the brunt of voter suppression efforts in this country. Maybe it's because of that that we got redistricted, but now I think it's my time to pay it forward (5/?)
I'm a single issue voter, and that issue is anti-voter suppression efforts. Sure, electoral politics can't fix anything, and it's naive to assume that they can, but they sure as hell can't fix anything when they are so completely broken (6/?)
Joe Biden is not the president for me. He isn't going to do most of the things that this country so desperately needs. But we're not going to be able to get a candidate or a president (or even a congress) that will until we fix the bigoted rot baked into our system (7/?)
Maybe, just maybe, if we can get a democrat, any democrat, into office, we can get that national fair redistricting, restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people, removal of poll taxes and unfair voting ID laws, (8/?)
Restoration of polling places in low-income communities and communities of color, new regulations to safeguard voting on reservations. Until it does, we're not going to get any progressive action through, because they don't want us to. (9/?)
So I'm going to vote for Biden, but only to get H.R. 4 through, in thanks to the group that made my vote count and in the pursuit of justice for those who still can't vote. If you live on the Main Line or go to Haverford and want to talk about redistricting here, reach out (10/?)
More on H.R. 4 here https://www.naacp.org/latest/john-r-lewis-voting-rights-act-2020/ (end)
Hi my list of necessary actions was incomplete--
We also need early voting, universal mail in ballots, a universal holiday for election day, increased funding for accessible polling places, voting machines, ballots, and outreach, and so, so much more.
We also need early voting, universal mail in ballots, a universal holiday for election day, increased funding for accessible polling places, voting machines, ballots, and outreach, and so, so much more.
