#Protest Votes

[originalleftist]

The thing about "protest votes" that makes them, in this of all elections, so mind-bogglingly intellectually and morally bankrupt, is that the potential consequences now are NOT A HYPOTHETICAL.

We don't need to speculate on what could happen if a bunch of people decide to stay home or vote third party, because they did that in 2016 against THIS EXACT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE, and we all enjoyed four years of hell culminating in an attempted coup as a consequence. And three years and counting of the aftermath since, including the destruction of abortion rights across much of the country. To say nothing of the ones who didn't make it through, like the migrants who died in detention, or the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of preventable Covid deaths.

And now fuckers are saying, "Well, we better do it again just to make sure we get every last bit of the world we haven't burned down yet".

How many real, actual, living people are you prepared to throw under the bus for your "protest vote"?

[nokingsonlyfooles]

“It’s my hope, Mr. President, that you listen to us, that you choose democracy over tyranny.” - Abdullah Hammoud, Dearborn Mayor and Voter

YES! I can't fuckin' believe the media accurately reported this as a protest and printed/publicized the words of the voters explaining why they did it. AND NOBODY HAD TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE! This is big and it could get even bigger! But it's a qualified bigness, because...

Walz, a major supporter of Biden’s reelection campaign, said Michigan’s “uncommitted” results were a healthy demonstration of democracy. “I think they feel passionate, as they should, about an issue we all care about,” Walz said, adding that he expected most protest voters would eventually return to Biden’s side in a likely November rematch with former President Donald Trump, who himself has struggled with college-educated voters and suburbanites in his ongoing Republican primary against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. “I’m much more convinced there’s a chance bringing those folks home is much greater than bringing the ‘Never Trump’ folks back home,” Walz said.

Yeah. I know this song and dance. I've seen it happen in person, at protests, in reatime. They come out to "do voter outreach" and they're all smiles to start. "Yes! Please do continue to act upon your freedom of speech in a way I, an advocate for the status quo, find nonthreatening. Your feelings are valid, ha-ha! I expect nothing to change, and indeed I will act to change nothing, but good for you!" A few folks always believe the message has been received and quiet down, that's why they do it. But wait and see what happens to that smile when a few people start interrupting and yelling, "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

At least this guy's willing to suggest Biden would pick up more votes by moving left than moving right, although I doubt he actually expects anything radical. A few more forgiven student loans or somewhat cheaper drugs aren't much of a problem, and that's leftist too! So we don't really have to worry about the ongoing genocide.

The thing is, if/when this picks up momentum and the DNC starts to think they might have to change something or lose, it will become something other than a positive demonstration of free speech. It'll be childish tantrum-throwing, pointless, uncivil, attention-whoring, astroturfed, counterproductive foreign interference, and whatever else sounds bad. If any of you out there in internet-land already feel threatened by it, you're probably saying that right now. (Go ahead and comment, you'll boost this with other people who think like you, and I might change some minds.)

And, if you are comfortable with it and want voters to do it instead of threatening to withhold votes from Biden in the general, check your privilege. Not every state offers this. Unless something changes real fast (at least, I THINK it hasn't changed, it's hard to do a search when "uncommitted" brings up SO MANY news articles about Michigan 😁), mine won't. I can't do this. I can't vote in a third party primary either. It'd be all blue or nothing. And neither of those things will get me any press, so I gotta keep talking. Maybe I'll motivate someone who can vote uncommitted! Or scare a politician! I still think I'm doing more good by staying alive, and I'm a bit distant from any property I might meaningfully damage (although I am open to suggestions that won't get me arrested and silenced), so this is the only thing I got that won't injure a human being.

Tumblr, no matter how you actually intend to vote, if you're not up for living in a two-party system where both parties think they can do a little genocide and stay in power, you have ways of making yourself heard. There are options beyond falling in line behind the lesser evil. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't. And when you start hearing "stop!" or "you can't!" that means you have something they want. A cessation of hostilities! Well, now you might be in a position to negotiate terms! Don't give up!

Please, please, please don't give up. There is so much to be done.

[tomorrowusa]

When Clarence Thomas renames the SCOTUS building after his far right patron Harlan Crow, perhaps ol' Harlan will put some of his Nazi memorabilia on display there.

Clarence Thomas’s Billionaire Benefactor Collects Hitler Artifacts Harlan Crow also reportedly has a garden full of dictator statues.

Justice Thomas is probably the only person on the court who has a friend who owns a signed copy of Mein Kampf. Mr. & Mrs. Alito must be jealous.

The odious Clarence Thomas has been on the court for 33 years now. And he was appointed by one of the less bad Republican presidents – George H.W. Bush. Trump's three SCOTUS appointments could still be handing down terrible decisions well into the 2040s.

When you vote for president, you vote for the person who nominates Supreme Court justices. When you vote for US senator, you vote for somebody who confirms Supreme Court justices. People considering casting useless "protest votes" for candidates with zero chance of winning should keep that in mind.

[virovac]

Do not write "Gaza" as a protest vote in these states Primary for president for these states

Seeing articles suggesting that in Illinois, but protest votes like that aren't counted in many states

To register a non-Biden vote in the tallies [ of aCategory 4: No Uncommitted Option, Most Write-Ins Not Counted, Blank Ballots Not Counter], you have to vote for someone pre-approved by the state, whether that be a named candidates on the ballot or a qualified write-in candidate. For most states, this leaves you with Dean Phillips and/or Marianne Williamson if you want your vote to count. Feel free to choose between the two at your own discretion, although you can always vote for another listed candidate or even pick someone from your state’s list of qualified write-in candidates if you really want to avoid voting for either of them.

note I found one contradicting opinion to my source

ReadingRambo Mar 3 Hold on. Blank ballots do count for something in Category 4 and 5. Because President isn’t the only race on the ballot. If I vote on all the other lines but not that one, my other votes count. If Biden gets fewer votes than his fellow Dems downballot, that shows up. And it might actually be really important: it’s looking increasingly likely that people will do this in the general. I know I will. SHARE ettingermentum Mar 3Author That’s a little more abstract I think. The idea here is replicating the Michigan thing—i.e., reducing his percentage. ReadingRambo Mar 3 It still matters! Don’t rob us of our agency! I promise you they’ll notice. Ballot underhang gets attention.

Something I am unsure of:

[although you can always vote for another listed candidate (unsure what this means, would I put in a senator candidate or something as a protest vote? Or do some states have extra candidates exclusive to that state?)]

I have been unable to find a list of qualified write-in candidates for my state but maybe you can? I can understand wanting to do so if Dean Phillips is too conservative and in past voted along Biden's lines. Leaving blank might also be an option so long as vote for locals as stated above... [Or if any others are an option as a state exclusive presidential candidate as discussed above]

March 19th: Arizona (D and M), Illinois (D and M), Ohio (Dean only) April 23rd: Pennsylvania (Dean only) May 14th: Nebraska (Dean only), West Virginia (Dean only)

Here's sorted by alphabetical state

Here is sorted by date

Always look at a sample primary ballot ahead of time for this year.

and states without writeins

States/Territories Without Write-ins

March 23rd: Louisiana (Both Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson on ballot)

May 7th: Indiana (No D or M or anyone else.)

June 4th: South Dakota (Both Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson on ballot)

June 8th: Guam (Candidate list currently unavailable)

[aunti-christ-ine]

[catsarecoolstudios]

From the linked article:

"As expected, the picture statewide was more mixed. Overall, more than 100,000 people voted uncommitted. Some commentators have pointed out that that is not all that different from the 11 percent who voted uncommitted statewide in 2012. But there are significant differences between the two elections.

In 2012, the Obama campaign was actively discouraging its supporters from voting in the primary since delegates were actually awarded via the state’s caucus. Partly as a result of that, turnout was unusually low. Fewer than 200,000 people voted in the 2012 Democratic primary, compared to more than 1.2 million in 2016 and 2020, and more than 750,000 this year."

[bunnyhugs22]

[stil-lindigo]

source

source

[godisarepublican]

[nientedal]

What progress at home has biden enacted? What policies of his show that he is making progress that prove he is actually different than trump?

I like to pretend I have faith in humanity, so I'll answer as if you're asking this in good faith.

Biden's DEA has lifted restrictions on telehealth prescriptions to make appointments and assistance more accessible.

He put a funding package into place to help unhoused people get access to mental and physical healthcare, as well as short-term and long-term housing.

He has attempted and is still attempting to get student debt relief through - this was blocked by Republican judges appointed by Trump, but he's still working on it.

Infrastructure repair - his administration has budgeted funds to actually fix some severely-damaged and frequently-traveled bridges.

Trying to expand access to healthcare to include undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children (Dreamers) under the Affordable Care Act. Support for Navigator programs and outreach has also been increased.

He has vetoed Republican-led bills that were attempting to overturn environmental protections - one that would have forbidden investment fund managers to consider climate change in their portfolios (I have two degrees in accounting and this is actually huge), and another that would have overturned restrictions on agricultural runoff into our waterways.

He and his administration worked for ages to get rail workers paid sick days.

This is just some of what he's been doing. Meanwhile, Trump and other Republicans want to criminalize the lives of LGBT people like you and me. They want to eliminate no-fault divorce and force births that will kill parents or devastate them financially. They have stated flat out that they want to install a military dictatorship in the USA. They attempted to put that in motion on January 6th, 2021. They failed once. They will do better next time.

One party wants to house the homeless and expand social safety nets, while the other one wants to criminalize homelessness. One of them wants a future in which I might be able to vote to change how much of a war machine my country is, while the other one wants to eliminate my ability to vote entirely. Those are not the same. Those literally are opposites.

At the end of the day, all you and I can do is choose to do the least amount of harm possible. You and I cannot choose to do no harm. This is the USA, we sell war, you and I cannot choose to do no harm. I wish we could, my god do I wish we could, but that is not an option. So we grieve for the harm we couldn't eliminate and work to minimize the harm that is done. Despite all the crap they support, Democrats are the minimum amount of harm right now. Acting like they aren't is exactly what brought us to an election where our options are a future where we are either wading in blood or drowning in it.

Not voting for Biden will not help Palestine. Not voting for Biden will guarantee a Republican president who will make the situation in Palestine WORSE. AND it'll hurt a lot of other places as well, both at home and abroad, because Republicans are about business and the USA is in the business of war! And I would very much like that to change someday! I would very much like to someday be able to choose to do no harm! And I know what I have to do to try for that future, so what are YOU going to do? There is no standing off to the side in this. If you aren't helping pull, you're the dead weight we're pulling. Are you going to dig your feet into the mud and blood and drown us there? Or are you going to get the fuck off your ass, grit your teeth, and help us pull free?

[sher-ee]

In the debate, Trump claimed he fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper because he “did a bad job.”

Trump fired the Iraq war vet and lifelong Republican by tweet on Nov 9, 2020.

Here’s the real reason:

[originalleftist]

ATTENTION NON-VOTERS/"PROTEST VOTERS":

Inaction is still a choice.

If you choose not to act to stop a Trump Presidency, you are making a choice that you do not care if it happens or what the consequences are for vulnerable people- at least, not enough to try to stop it.

Not voting doesn't keep your hands clean. It just dirties them in a different way.

[sjonni33]

hurt (click for better quality)

ko-fi☕️ shop🎣 redbubble🪲

[mugiwara-lucy]

One of the main reasons why I’m voting for Kamala Harris is because sometime within the next couple of years there will be two open seats in the Supreme Court.

Let’s not forget one of the judges that Trump appointed in his first term OVERTURNED ROE V WADE. And the old fucker BRAGS about it:

If he gets back into office, I’m sure we can all anticipate AILEEN CANNON being one of those Supreme Court justices. And if you all don’t know who she is, she threw out the case where Trump STOLE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE:

In a nutshell, if Trump gets into office, he will appoint two younger Supreme Court justices younger than Clarence Thomas, meaning the Supreme Court will be locked HARD RIGHT for AT LEAST 30 years.

By then, that means our potential children and grandchildren (if you even want to have kids) will have LESS RIGHTS THAN US.

Do you really want that?

That’s why I feel with Kamala Harris being President, we can BALANCE OUT the courts!

Please Vote Blue.

Thank You 🙏

[virovac]

Democratic Primary for States/Territories without write-ins

March 23rd: Louisiana (Both Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson on ballot)

May 7th: Indiana (No D or M or anyone else.)

June 4th: South Dakota (Both Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson on ballot)

June 8th: Guam (Candidate list currently unavailable)

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Look into Dean Philips and Marianne Williamso.

[angelx1992]