Peter, I am a little punch drunk, this impending moment of truth is so stressful to anticipate.I am glad you didn’t mind. I was going to write: Peter Pappas picked a perfect piece of pickled pretext by a patent Papist. That is why my period was a bit askew. 🙃
Rest easy KSC, we’ve got this! I don’t believe men, even the ones who care, really understand what’s at stake for women and our right to make our own health decisions.
If someone had a health crisis, and there was a treatment that could save his/her life right down the street at the hospital, but there wasn’t enough money in the world to get that treatment, and they had to die, how would that person feel? That is exactly what women in abortion ban states are feeling. Those of us in blue states don’t have that problem, but if tfg got into power again, all of us would be in the same situation.
Harris/Walz will win in a landslide because of Dobbs.
Oh I sure hope so. Today is the day. But yesterday as I was grocery shopping, I saw a late 50-ish woman in the store proudly struting around wearing a Trump/Vance t-shirt, and I swear with a look on her face that suggested something like "F you if you don't like it". Southern women are not quite the same species. At least very many of them.
Ok. Sharron C Storm & what a super name, you’re so correct about that. I’m betting many men on here try their best. I, living in a very blue state …. at least up to this point…. women are able to get care; our sisters in those other places where the other kinds of men & wannabe-christians etc play god: Pure evil 😈.
It still boggles the mind that a statute containing the nonsense political word “unborn child” was even considered by the court much less given weight enough to overturn precedent. Alito’s opinion was, as it could only be, similarly nonsensical.
Thank you Joanna, I love people who think. No civil right is a state issue, many have claimed for over a century that slavery should be a state’s right issue. Latest being that fat guy who says everybody wanted the abortion issue to be left up to the states. Not true and stupid on the surface. What kind of audacity does it take for anybody to everyone what anybody must do with their body? Boggles my mind
Hello Guida. Amazing only two more days and the November 5th 2024 election will be history. Thank god. And thank you and all your feathered sisters for their support. None of us could've gotten through this without their emotional support. Maricopa county posts "ballot has been counted" dm's to those who vote early and i got mine. There is also a web hyperlink if you want to go on line and see your results. We are in this together. Ann Selzer's IA poll is my loadstone. Roll tide.
I am also in Maricopa County and there are multiple texts: your ballot has been mailed, your ballot has been received, your signature has been verified and ballot counted…so transparent about all the steps taken in elections. I am sorry we lost so many official to the harassment and threats of extremists in 2020, good people doing good work.
Ann Selzer is certainly excellent - but after friends rode RAGBRAI [the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa] and saw nothing but Trump signs all over Iowa - I still have questions about validity. Governor Kim Reynolds has taken a hard right in this state: cutting education, censoring school libraries, 6 week abortion ban and the state has gone downhill quickly. And Rep. Marionette Miller Meeks is just that: a puppet for the far right. We lived in and loved Iowa for years, but many, like us, have left.
I left long ago and I do not go back even to visit. I will not spend my money in a state that is Republican lead. That is a lot of state. Driving from one Blue state to another means a full tank of gas and food in the car before leaving home.
I'm in Cochise County. Dropped mine in the box and its marked as received, so I'll keep tracking to the counted status. I am so glad we can track in AZ!!
I voted in person in Santa Rosa, California on Saturday November 2. It was a steady stream of voters. The poll workers were efficient, smiling, happy and helpful. It was a completely positive experience.
Here in Santa Rosa, I dropped mind off the library ballot collection box out front. Then I took a lousy selfie, but was glad to have it. I smiled broadly a couple of days later when I got the text message that the ballot was received, and even more when I got the second text to say it was counted. Satisfying, but still it would have been pleasant to stand in line with like-minded determined people. Hats off to you, Ann!
This is the first time since 2020 that I have voted in person. Prior to the pandemic, I always voted in person. For me, there is something sacred about actually going to the polls and casting my vote.
I've always voted early in person. Something incredibly satisfying about watching the ballot go through the scanner. Especially this year! Like Ann's poll workers, mine were efficient, smiling, happy, and helpful. Except for one poll watcher sitting alone at the back, glowering at everyone. Poster child for Republican Party in this day and age. Ever noticed that the mouths of Republicans always seem to turn down?
I voted early on the first day of early voting in NC. The entire process took an hour and a half. The day was sunny and beautiful; the lady in front of me was lovely to chat with. A pleasant experience.
I voted by mail once to encourage that process for my future years of not being able to get to the polls. However, I am so fearful of the Postal Service not delivering my ballot I now walk to my polling place on Election Day. Thunderstorms and massive flooding are predicted for tomorrow. I will be ready!
Voting from overseas, I’m concerned about our ballots getting in on time. Keeping my fingers crossed as I await confirmation of our ballots in Illinois.
My husband and I live in Europe and were very concerned because our ballots had to be mailed to Texas. There were several “issues” along the way to just actually receiving the ballots, so we fedexed them with tracking and because I had so much trouble receiving my ballot, it told the person I spoke with in San Antonio I wanted email confirmation when my ballot was received. I didn’t think I’d actually get it, but this great worker sent me an email and said our votes were in the stack and being counted. Even though the Texas government tries to suppress the vote, there are people working in those offices who believe in democracy. GO KAMALA AND COLIN ALRED (to beat Ted Cruz)!
Voted by fax from Spain and received confirmation of receipt of my ballot but still haven’t received email or text from Sec of State that my ballot has been counted. Fingers crossed.
Thank you Robert. I had no idea you could fax our ballot. Usually I also have confirmation that my ballot has been received, then again that it has been counted. I appreciate your input.
I used to always vote in person - it made me feel like I'd 'really' voted. And I loved the camaraderie, the excitement in the room, etc. and being able to thank the poll workers while I was there. Now that I'm older and disabled, I do my voting by mail (but drop the ballot off at a drop box because I don't trust DeJoy's mail system) and it's so much easier, but much less satisfying.
I used to vote by mail but this year I wanted to put my absentee ballot directly into the vote tabulator machine. We added in person early voting this year in Michigan and it was so gratifying to go in and see with my own eyes that my ballot had been accepted.
It's nice to have that option. I like to be near my computer so I can look up ballot propositions. These are worded so confusingly that it takes research. In California, you can look up who is funding the "for" and "against' arguments. That is often quite surprising. We had a proposition on the ballot last year asking for schools to restore music/arts programs. Interesting to see that Yamaha Corp was a major financial backer.
I think that’s not a bad thing. It should be STEAM science, technology, engineering, ARTS, and Math. Hard to have a well balanced society without the Arts. I was a fortunate Boomer with band and orchestra along with visual arts drawing, pottery, drafting, dance, theater arts, available to me through public high school. I had a chance to go to a special high school to focus on sports but decided I really wanted to keep active in band so passed on that option.
As another Coloradan, I have to add that I'm an election judge this year and SOS Jena Griswold's requirements to determind voter intent when judges are checking ballots are WONDERFUL! We check ballots to see that the votes are clear for machine scanning IN BIPARTISAN (actually tripartisan, with unaffiliated voters) groups. All our work is double-checked by another bipartisan team, and we are all focused on making sure that EVERY voter's ballot can be scanned and counted. We take this extremely seriously.
You're very welcome. Getting ready to have a bite to eat and a BIG mug of black tea to go to work at 6 until probably 12, 1, or 2. We in Colorado take this very seriously, Republicans, Democrats, and Unaffiliated. We will also be working Wednesday, Thursday, and maybe Friday to get all in-person votes looked at to see that they can be scanned correctly.
Interesting that your absentee ballot can go into the tabulator….our tabulators (AZ) aren’t set up until the night before Election Day (that will be TONIGHT!!) ; mail in ballots are different from those printed at the site, and cannot go in the tabulators.
I don’t vote by mail simply because the mail service in my area has become significantly erratic since Louis DeJoy became postmaster general. Some days no mail, other days an avalanche of mail. Hold mail requests get ignored; it’s a mess! In 2020 I took my mail in ballot to the BOE office to put in the collection box there.
I'm a Bay Area gal, as well. Sometimes I marvel at how easy it is for us to vote while folks in other states have to stand in line for hours or face down intimidating "poll watchers". When I worked the polls our main objective was to help people vote. Lost ballot? Made a mistake? Dog ripped up ballot? Went to college or changed address? All of these problems would come up and we had plenty of provisional ballots to help them. Now I vote by mail and go online to doublecheck that my ballot was received and counted.
I requested a mail-in ballot here in Maryland. I never received one. The request likely slipped through the bureaucratic cracks; no harm done. I was permitted to vote in person with a 'provisional' vote, pending confirmation of a my ballot not being duplicated by an impostor.
I just wanted to let you know that I am working the election on Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor, MI as a Poll Observer for the Democratic Party. I did this two years ago and found it so inspiring to see how important it was for people to vote. I am hopeful for a similarly inspiring and uneventful election day this year!
I will be working at a polling place on Election Day. It will be interesting to see how many poll watchers we’ll have this year. Last time we only had one person stop by, ask the questions we are allowed to answer, then leave about 30minutes later.
Thank you for your participation ! Pre-2016, voting in person presented a sense of patriotic pride. Post-2016, it can appear to be a potential war zone. Thank you MAGA 🤮. America once was a welcomed voting guardrail in some distant lands—-if our current atmosphere continues, we will be asking other nations to help protect us 😓😓
Joyce, first, let me tell you I love your plaid shirt. I have a similar one. second I would like to tell you that in December, I will be 90 years old. And doing very well and eagerly awaiting Tuesday’s election. I have already voted by mail. Finally, I would like to tell you that one of my daughters is working at a pole site in Chico, California. The site is on the college campus and she said that many new voters are coming in along with seasoned voters who are eagerly and willingly taking pictures of the young people to be sent home to their families.
We need to make sure West Coast voters don't decide to not go vote Tuesday evening because they hear Trump claiming he won. Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
How can we get out the word to not repeat 1980?
Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
1980: Jimmy Carter conceded at about 5 pm PST. Too many Democrats who had planned to vote after 5 PM decided to not bother and stayed home. Republicans did go to the polls, excited to vote for the winner. Democratic House members lost tight races because of knowing Carter had lost: including Al Ullman Ways & Means Chair from Oregon.
We need to protect West Coast races in the House and the Senate by making sure that voters ignore Trumps claims of winning and go vote up and down their ballot. . And not lose winning the House and Senate because of false claims of winning before the results are in.
Nobody will believe Trump saying he won—oh, maybe his supporters. So that’s the backfire.
There’s another scenario: Suppose Georgia and Florida, come in early and strongly for Harris and commentators on TV start talking about a pink wave for the blue guys. I hope only Trump supporters in the west would stay home.
I think after his attempted coup, most of os West Coasters would know better than to pack it in. Plus…most of us vote by mail these days. That makes a huge difference. Arizona certainly won’t close down early, nor Montana…not West Coast but Western. These are part of the group of States who feel like our votes don’t matter because often top races are already called. I think this is one of the reasons we need to go to a real election where the candidate with the most votes wins. Let’s get rid of the electoral college. If we aren’t going to get rid of the EC, then let’s at least update it to reflect accurate populations in each state so that a few mostly rural states don’t control who is the President. That is just nuts.
And Joyce? Emotional Support Chickens is one of the best ideas ever! Certainly working for me, so thank you very much.
I remember that. And I recall an earlier election where the west coast states complained about the networks releasing results while polls were still open. I thought that after 1980, the news outlets all agreed to not post any results before all the polls closed every where. But maybe they don't do that any more. I'd like to see precincts not be allowed to release results until polls had closed everywhere.
Trump will do this (again) because the smaller rural precincts are the ones that get counted first. Those areas tend to vote Republican. The larger urban areas have 100X more voters and it takes a lot longer to process them. These areas are usually voting Democratic. This provides the illusion that Reps are winning initially, but it's just because their tiny precincts were counted faster. Apparently Bannon was pushing this in 2020 and it's known to be true again and that Reps will call Foul when the vote shifts as it does.
I think Amy that there are way too many voters today who vote by mail.....and like others, here in AZ we have gotten text msgs that our votes have been counted. So these small rural areas won't be 'leading' in the vote counting early.
Having been born and raised in Hawaii, that is a situation that has always been a bone in my throat. We, barely a dot on the map and 5-6 hours behind the
East Coast, wonder just why we bothered to vote when the race was typically called before our votes were counted officially. I can only say for myself that it was a sense of pride to just vote and proclaim my choices, but if something isn’t changed to bring Hawaii, and Alaskan, voters into having meaningful voice in national elections, then cut Hawaii loose to become their own independent country. We don’t even get presidential candidates to acknowledge us with a shout-out, let alone a visit, the exception being President Obama. Talk about isolation. Oil and vacations, that is all Hawaii and Alaska are to the politicians of 48 contiguous states, and frankly, we are tired of this.
We coujd have a 24-hour Election Day—say 7a eastern Tuesday til 7a Wednesday. All states open those hours so all polls close at the same time. Pain for election workers but great for same day voters
No thank you. You would have to have teams in shifts. In our small precinct a full team is 12 - 13. Between setting up tonight, going in at 530 AM to prepare to open, closing the polls at 8 PM, checking all the counts, packing up and putting everything away, we're looking at a minimum 18 hours and a max of - what if we have people in line, or the courts tell us to stay open because of a glitch in the server delaying checkin or a power outage. We stay until we are sure the count is complete and voters=ballots handed out=ballots scanned in.
One factor that does not help whatsoever is that the obsolete Electoral College has reduced the size of the United States to about 10 states and cut out the remaining 40 as not worth mentioning or in which to campaign.
One candidate came to our state once and that was for a private fundraiser in a wealthy part of the largest city, then *poof* gone. "F'k y'all, and goodbye" was the message.
60 days of fretting over "Battleground States" this and "Battleground States" that, is really demoralizing. We're not even Kirkland Brand chopped liver over here.
I live in Washington State, we get voter ballots early on by mail, I took my ballot to the local court house and placed it in the ballot box. It is safe. Every vote counts. Thank you Joyce Vance for your daily letters. Guida is a beauty.
Thanks so much for the update, Joyce! I am fully confident that Kamala will win a decisive victory thanks to her support by women voters - especially those who fought for their rights years ago and achieved them. We’ve got this and I’m ready to celebrate when she is sworn in. Our country is far too good to be held captive by a deluded old man and his fervently righteous supporters!
Here in Colorado we had a very long ballot due to the amount of ballot measures. However, we always set aside a time for voting and sit with our laptops so we can research each voting measure, each Regent at Colorado University, every judge. We did that today. We dropped our ballots today in our local dropbox. Now I guess we wait on tenterhooks for the Tuesday result nationwide. Best wishes to all of you that read the substack!
Thank you so much! I didn't know that federal law enforcement agents were not allowed to protect the people working at the polls. Interesting. I couldn't quite make out that gibberish response from the Trump campaign, but it sounds like he still has concepts of a plan, even if he can't remember what state he's in! My strategy for Tuesday is to do some deep cleaning at my house. It seems the perfect day, metaphorically and literally, to clean house and prepare for a new season of hope. Thanks for the photos of the chickens. We love them!
A friend has two kids in college, and it is their first presidential election. Both voted by absentee. ballot. Last week my friend flew to Costa Rica to visit with her daughter who is completing coursework there this semester; she brought her daughter's ballot back with her and promptly took it to the county election board office. Today, her son in an adjacent state, notified her that he just received his mail in ballot yesterday and filled it out. Knowing there wasn't time for him to mail it back by Tuesday and that he wasn't able to return home on Tuesday to vote in person, my friend drove half way and her son met her, had dinner with her, and she has returned home this evening and will drop off his absentee ballot tomorrow! Whew! That's determination by this mom, but it also communicates a strong message to these first-time voters about how vitally important it is that their vote is counted!
You asked for input on how it’s going in my State. That’s OR. We are automatically registered to vote by the DMV. I get a text when my county mails my ballot, and a text when my ballot has been received back at the county, and then a third text when my vote has been officially counted. How fabulous is that?
However I remain frustrated that a handful of states determine the election. All the hype about ‘swing states’ no doubt disincentivizes people not in those states to vote. We need to abolish the electoral college system.
I’m in Oregon, too and 100% agree with you on abolishing the archaic electoral college system. Why should my vote count less than someone who lives in a less populated state? One person, one vote.
If any of you are still canvassing, there are still persuadables out there. I had a lot of Republicans on my GOTV list on Saturday; some were maga and some were open.
Please don’t let anyone get away with “the economy was better under trump.” Please politely counter them when they wrongly attribute positive things to trump.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing in the Dobbs decision: “women are not without electoral or political power.”
Challenge accepted.
Peter Pappas picked a perfect piece of pickled pretext .
Well played
Peter, I am a little punch drunk, this impending moment of truth is so stressful to anticipate.I am glad you didn’t mind. I was going to write: Peter Pappas picked a perfect piece of pickled pretext by a patent Papist. That is why my period was a bit askew. 🙃
Rest easy KSC, we’ve got this! I don’t believe men, even the ones who care, really understand what’s at stake for women and our right to make our own health decisions.
If someone had a health crisis, and there was a treatment that could save his/her life right down the street at the hospital, but there wasn’t enough money in the world to get that treatment, and they had to die, how would that person feel? That is exactly what women in abortion ban states are feeling. Those of us in blue states don’t have that problem, but if tfg got into power again, all of us would be in the same situation.
Harris/Walz will win in a landslide because of Dobbs.
I agree!
Oh I sure hope so. Today is the day. But yesterday as I was grocery shopping, I saw a late 50-ish woman in the store proudly struting around wearing a Trump/Vance t-shirt, and I swear with a look on her face that suggested something like "F you if you don't like it". Southern women are not quite the same species. At least very many of them.
Hahaha
Reply to KSC
My life’s an alliteration
Even better!
Ok. Sharron C Storm & what a super name, you’re so correct about that. I’m betting many men on here try their best. I, living in a very blue state …. at least up to this point…. women are able to get care; our sisters in those other places where the other kinds of men & wannabe-christians etc play god: Pure evil 😈.
Thank you!
Wonder if that could catch on? Grin
🤣🤣🤣
Nicely done!
Typical Alito nonsense -- there are some rights that are not up for a vote. Shall we have each state vote on whether or not to have slavery?
It still boggles the mind that a statute containing the nonsense political word “unborn child” was even considered by the court much less given weight enough to overturn precedent. Alito’s opinion was, as it could only be, similarly nonsensical.
Remember the religious persuasions of the Supreme Court majority, John.
What if the majority voted to eliminate the First Amendment?
Or that sacred Second; amiright?
Thank you Joanna, I love people who think. No civil right is a state issue, many have claimed for over a century that slavery should be a state’s right issue. Latest being that fat guy who says everybody wanted the abortion issue to be left up to the states. Not true and stupid on the surface. What kind of audacity does it take for anybody to everyone what anybody must do with their body? Boggles my mind
Damn right, Sammy. We are NOT going back.
And then some!
It should go on his tombstone
Hopefully during a Democratic adminstration
We women understand the assignment 🩵
Thank you.
Really looking forward to seeing the results of all that electoral and political power...and gaining more.
Kinda just stole that for my insta bio. Hope you don’t mind. ✌🏻🫶🏻
Run with it!
I noted that sentence in his decision as well, and took it as a challenge that I accepted. Thank you for sharing this with all of us.
The only passage of the Dobbs’ decision I agree with
Joyce—
Thanks for all you are and all you do .You provide much needed clarity and encouragement . We are grateful.
George H.
Joyce,
Hello Guida. Amazing only two more days and the November 5th 2024 election will be history. Thank god. And thank you and all your feathered sisters for their support. None of us could've gotten through this without their emotional support. Maricopa county posts "ballot has been counted" dm's to those who vote early and i got mine. There is also a web hyperlink if you want to go on line and see your results. We are in this together. Ann Selzer's IA poll is my loadstone. Roll tide.
I am also in Maricopa County and there are multiple texts: your ballot has been mailed, your ballot has been received, your signature has been verified and ballot counted…so transparent about all the steps taken in elections. I am sorry we lost so many official to the harassment and threats of extremists in 2020, good people doing good work.
Same as in California. This should be the voting system process in every state.
Keep those emotional support chicken photos coming. It’s going to be a challenging week!
Ann Selzer is certainly excellent - but after friends rode RAGBRAI [the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa] and saw nothing but Trump signs all over Iowa - I still have questions about validity. Governor Kim Reynolds has taken a hard right in this state: cutting education, censoring school libraries, 6 week abortion ban and the state has gone downhill quickly. And Rep. Marionette Miller Meeks is just that: a puppet for the far right. We lived in and loved Iowa for years, but many, like us, have left.
I left long ago and I do not go back even to visit. I will not spend my money in a state that is Republican lead. That is a lot of state. Driving from one Blue state to another means a full tank of gas and food in the car before leaving home.
I'm in Cochise County. Dropped mine in the box and its marked as received, so I'll keep tracking to the counted status. I am so glad we can track in AZ!!
Ditto
I voted in person in Santa Rosa, California on Saturday November 2. It was a steady stream of voters. The poll workers were efficient, smiling, happy and helpful. It was a completely positive experience.
Here in Santa Rosa, I dropped mind off the library ballot collection box out front. Then I took a lousy selfie, but was glad to have it. I smiled broadly a couple of days later when I got the text message that the ballot was received, and even more when I got the second text to say it was counted. Satisfying, but still it would have been pleasant to stand in line with like-minded determined people. Hats off to you, Ann!
This is the first time since 2020 that I have voted in person. Prior to the pandemic, I always voted in person. For me, there is something sacred about actually going to the polls and casting my vote.
I've always voted early in person. Something incredibly satisfying about watching the ballot go through the scanner. Especially this year! Like Ann's poll workers, mine were efficient, smiling, happy, and helpful. Except for one poll watcher sitting alone at the back, glowering at everyone. Poster child for Republican Party in this day and age. Ever noticed that the mouths of Republicans always seem to turn down?
I voted early on the first day of early voting in NC. The entire process took an hour and a half. The day was sunny and beautiful; the lady in front of me was lovely to chat with. A pleasant experience.
I voted by mail once to encourage that process for my future years of not being able to get to the polls. However, I am so fearful of the Postal Service not delivering my ballot I now walk to my polling place on Election Day. Thunderstorms and massive flooding are predicted for tomorrow. I will be ready!
Exactly how I feel Ann. Only time I voted by mail was 2020.
Voting from overseas, I’m concerned about our ballots getting in on time. Keeping my fingers crossed as I await confirmation of our ballots in Illinois.
My husband and I live in Europe and were very concerned because our ballots had to be mailed to Texas. There were several “issues” along the way to just actually receiving the ballots, so we fedexed them with tracking and because I had so much trouble receiving my ballot, it told the person I spoke with in San Antonio I wanted email confirmation when my ballot was received. I didn’t think I’d actually get it, but this great worker sent me an email and said our votes were in the stack and being counted. Even though the Texas government tries to suppress the vote, there are people working in those offices who believe in democracy. GO KAMALA AND COLIN ALRED (to beat Ted Cruz)!
Yes Kamala and please, please Colin Alred. We need to get rid of Ted Cruz finally. He is so slimy, ok not him, but his politics and actions.
Thank you very much for this, Gayna. I’m hopeful our ballots will have been received on time.
My son lives in Vienna, Austria. He sent his ballot and it was received and recorded two weeks later. He was able to look it up online and verify it.
Thank you for that. We have family who lives here and we are always here at this time of the year.
Voted by fax from Spain and received confirmation of receipt of my ballot but still haven’t received email or text from Sec of State that my ballot has been counted. Fingers crossed.
Thank you Robert. I had no idea you could fax our ballot. Usually I also have confirmation that my ballot has been received, then again that it has been counted. I appreciate your input.
You don't vote by mail? You should! It is easy and fast. We have a place in S.R. and live in the east bay...Kamala territory!
I used to always vote in person - it made me feel like I'd 'really' voted. And I loved the camaraderie, the excitement in the room, etc. and being able to thank the poll workers while I was there. Now that I'm older and disabled, I do my voting by mail (but drop the ballot off at a drop box because I don't trust DeJoy's mail system) and it's so much easier, but much less satisfying.
Yeah, I don't trust DeJoy as far as you can "mail" him!!!! 😁
I used to vote by mail but this year I wanted to put my absentee ballot directly into the vote tabulator machine. We added in person early voting this year in Michigan and it was so gratifying to go in and see with my own eyes that my ballot had been accepted.
We have vote by mail in Colorado which is quite convenient, but people are allowed to vote in person if they prefer.
It's nice to have that option. I like to be near my computer so I can look up ballot propositions. These are worded so confusingly that it takes research. In California, you can look up who is funding the "for" and "against' arguments. That is often quite surprising. We had a proposition on the ballot last year asking for schools to restore music/arts programs. Interesting to see that Yamaha Corp was a major financial backer.
I think that’s not a bad thing. It should be STEAM science, technology, engineering, ARTS, and Math. Hard to have a well balanced society without the Arts. I was a fortunate Boomer with band and orchestra along with visual arts drawing, pottery, drafting, dance, theater arts, available to me through public high school. I had a chance to go to a special high school to focus on sports but decided I really wanted to keep active in band so passed on that option.
How perfect. My wish for all the children of the world.
As another Coloradan, I have to add that I'm an election judge this year and SOS Jena Griswold's requirements to determind voter intent when judges are checking ballots are WONDERFUL! We check ballots to see that the votes are clear for machine scanning IN BIPARTISAN (actually tripartisan, with unaffiliated voters) groups. All our work is double-checked by another bipartisan team, and we are all focused on making sure that EVERY voter's ballot can be scanned and counted. We take this extremely seriously.
Good for you, and thank you!
You're very welcome. Getting ready to have a bite to eat and a BIG mug of black tea to go to work at 6 until probably 12, 1, or 2. We in Colorado take this very seriously, Republicans, Democrats, and Unaffiliated. We will also be working Wednesday, Thursday, and maybe Friday to get all in-person votes looked at to see that they can be scanned correctly.
My daughters and granddaughter all in Colorado voted🎉
Interesting that your absentee ballot can go into the tabulator….our tabulators (AZ) aren’t set up until the night before Election Day (that will be TONIGHT!!) ; mail in ballots are different from those printed at the site, and cannot go in the tabulators.
Yep! Nothing like that instant gratification.
I don’t vote by mail simply because the mail service in my area has become significantly erratic since Louis DeJoy became postmaster general. Some days no mail, other days an avalanche of mail. Hold mail requests get ignored; it’s a mess! In 2020 I took my mail in ballot to the BOE office to put in the collection box there.
Is there a more stupid, malignant fool that DeJoy??? Nope.
I'm a Bay Area gal, as well. Sometimes I marvel at how easy it is for us to vote while folks in other states have to stand in line for hours or face down intimidating "poll watchers". When I worked the polls our main objective was to help people vote. Lost ballot? Made a mistake? Dog ripped up ballot? Went to college or changed address? All of these problems would come up and we had plenty of provisional ballots to help them. Now I vote by mail and go online to doublecheck that my ballot was received and counted.
I requested a mail-in ballot here in Maryland. I never received one. The request likely slipped through the bureaucratic cracks; no harm done. I was permitted to vote in person with a 'provisional' vote, pending confirmation of a my ballot not being duplicated by an impostor.
You are lucky you could get to the polling place. What about those who cannot vote in person? They are disenfranchised. There was harm done.
Such wonderful news ! Thank you
Comment intended for Ann
I just wanted to let you know that I am working the election on Tuesday afternoon in Ann Arbor, MI as a Poll Observer for the Democratic Party. I did this two years ago and found it so inspiring to see how important it was for people to vote. I am hopeful for a similarly inspiring and uneventful election day this year!
I will be working at a polling place on Election Day. It will be interesting to see how many poll watchers we’ll have this year. Last time we only had one person stop by, ask the questions we are allowed to answer, then leave about 30minutes later.
Thank you for your participation ! Pre-2016, voting in person presented a sense of patriotic pride. Post-2016, it can appear to be a potential war zone. Thank you MAGA 🤮. America once was a welcomed voting guardrail in some distant lands—-if our current atmosphere continues, we will be asking other nations to help protect us 😓😓
Fantastic Eve! I grew up in Michigan and went to the U-M -- I hope the polls are jammed.
Hat tip from up in Grayling!
Thank you for doing this
Joyce, first, let me tell you I love your plaid shirt. I have a similar one. second I would like to tell you that in December, I will be 90 years old. And doing very well and eagerly awaiting Tuesday’s election. I have already voted by mail. Finally, I would like to tell you that one of my daughters is working at a pole site in Chico, California. The site is on the college campus and she said that many new voters are coming in along with seasoned voters who are eagerly and willingly taking pictures of the young people to be sent home to their families.
That’s a good example of a well-run election.
What an amazing granddaughter! You must be very very proud!
Wow Fran! I’d like to know how many elections you have voted in?
Don't Repeat 1980
Hi Joyce,
We need to make sure West Coast voters don't decide to not go vote Tuesday evening because they hear Trump claiming he won. Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
How can we get out the word to not repeat 1980?
Trump will claim he won early Tuesday night, likely before West Coast polls close.
1980: Jimmy Carter conceded at about 5 pm PST. Too many Democrats who had planned to vote after 5 PM decided to not bother and stayed home. Republicans did go to the polls, excited to vote for the winner. Democratic House members lost tight races because of knowing Carter had lost: including Al Ullman Ways & Means Chair from Oregon.
We need to protect West Coast races in the House and the Senate by making sure that voters ignore Trumps claims of winning and go vote up and down their ballot. . And not lose winning the House and Senate because of false claims of winning before the results are in.
I hope that Trump calling it prematurely and before all of the polls have closed will backfire!
And wouldn’t it be nice if the media loudly protests when he tries this sleezy trick. 🤡💩🎃
Read Tim Snyder today: He has the Loser Triad down pat.
Nobody will believe Trump saying he won—oh, maybe his supporters. So that’s the backfire.
There’s another scenario: Suppose Georgia and Florida, come in early and strongly for Harris and commentators on TV start talking about a pink wave for the blue guys. I hope only Trump supporters in the west would stay home.
I think after his attempted coup, most of os West Coasters would know better than to pack it in. Plus…most of us vote by mail these days. That makes a huge difference. Arizona certainly won’t close down early, nor Montana…not West Coast but Western. These are part of the group of States who feel like our votes don’t matter because often top races are already called. I think this is one of the reasons we need to go to a real election where the candidate with the most votes wins. Let’s get rid of the electoral college. If we aren’t going to get rid of the EC, then let’s at least update it to reflect accurate populations in each state so that a few mostly rural states don’t control who is the President. That is just nuts.
And Joyce? Emotional Support Chickens is one of the best ideas ever! Certainly working for me, so thank you very much.
I remember that. And I recall an earlier election where the west coast states complained about the networks releasing results while polls were still open. I thought that after 1980, the news outlets all agreed to not post any results before all the polls closed every where. But maybe they don't do that any more. I'd like to see precincts not be allowed to release results until polls had closed everywhere.
Makes sense except that means no results until something like 3am eastern due to Hawaii. I guess we’d just learn to wait.
I’m happy to wait until all my fellow citizens get a chance to vote.
Most news organizations feel free to call the state results any time after the polls close for that state... for better or worse.
Trump will do this (again) because the smaller rural precincts are the ones that get counted first. Those areas tend to vote Republican. The larger urban areas have 100X more voters and it takes a lot longer to process them. These areas are usually voting Democratic. This provides the illusion that Reps are winning initially, but it's just because their tiny precincts were counted faster. Apparently Bannon was pushing this in 2020 and it's known to be true again and that Reps will call Foul when the vote shifts as it does.
I think Amy that there are way too many voters today who vote by mail.....and like others, here in AZ we have gotten text msgs that our votes have been counted. So these small rural areas won't be 'leading' in the vote counting early.
And what about Hawaii? Everybody's done before them.
Having been born and raised in Hawaii, that is a situation that has always been a bone in my throat. We, barely a dot on the map and 5-6 hours behind the
East Coast, wonder just why we bothered to vote when the race was typically called before our votes were counted officially. I can only say for myself that it was a sense of pride to just vote and proclaim my choices, but if something isn’t changed to bring Hawaii, and Alaskan, voters into having meaningful voice in national elections, then cut Hawaii loose to become their own independent country. We don’t even get presidential candidates to acknowledge us with a shout-out, let alone a visit, the exception being President Obama. Talk about isolation. Oil and vacations, that is all Hawaii and Alaska are to the politicians of 48 contiguous states, and frankly, we are tired of this.
We coujd have a 24-hour Election Day—say 7a eastern Tuesday til 7a Wednesday. All states open those hours so all polls close at the same time. Pain for election workers but great for same day voters
No thank you. You would have to have teams in shifts. In our small precinct a full team is 12 - 13. Between setting up tonight, going in at 530 AM to prepare to open, closing the polls at 8 PM, checking all the counts, packing up and putting everything away, we're looking at a minimum 18 hours and a max of - what if we have people in line, or the courts tell us to stay open because of a glitch in the server delaying checkin or a power outage. We stay until we are sure the count is complete and voters=ballots handed out=ballots scanned in.
One factor that does not help whatsoever is that the obsolete Electoral College has reduced the size of the United States to about 10 states and cut out the remaining 40 as not worth mentioning or in which to campaign.
One candidate came to our state once and that was for a private fundraiser in a wealthy part of the largest city, then *poof* gone. "F'k y'all, and goodbye" was the message.
60 days of fretting over "Battleground States" this and "Battleground States" that, is really demoralizing. We're not even Kirkland Brand chopped liver over here.
I hear you. Solution is a national election for president where most votes wins regardless of where they come from.
Most of us here vote by mail now. And most of those have already voted.
I live in Washington State, we get voter ballots early on by mail, I took my ballot to the local court house and placed it in the ballot box. It is safe. Every vote counts. Thank you Joyce Vance for your daily letters. Guida is a beauty.
Trump lurches from SNL ridiculous to Monty Python absurd—this is the state of politics in America, juvenile.
"Monty Python absurd" is such a perfect description of Trump.
"I'm a Lumberjack & I'm OK ... SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM,SPAM, spam, spam, spam ....
From the Ministry Of Silly Walks.
Or attempts to open doors…
Every Sperm is Sacred. . .
Thanks so much for the update, Joyce! I am fully confident that Kamala will win a decisive victory thanks to her support by women voters - especially those who fought for their rights years ago and achieved them. We’ve got this and I’m ready to celebrate when she is sworn in. Our country is far too good to be held captive by a deluded old man and his fervently righteous supporters!
Well said♡
Here in Colorado we had a very long ballot due to the amount of ballot measures. However, we always set aside a time for voting and sit with our laptops so we can research each voting measure, each Regent at Colorado University, every judge. We did that today. We dropped our ballots today in our local dropbox. Now I guess we wait on tenterhooks for the Tuesday result nationwide. Best wishes to all of you that read the substack!
Remember all the down ballot items are the ones that will affect your life most closely!
Thank you so much! I didn't know that federal law enforcement agents were not allowed to protect the people working at the polls. Interesting. I couldn't quite make out that gibberish response from the Trump campaign, but it sounds like he still has concepts of a plan, even if he can't remember what state he's in! My strategy for Tuesday is to do some deep cleaning at my house. It seems the perfect day, metaphorically and literally, to clean house and prepare for a new season of hope. Thanks for the photos of the chickens. We love them!
Trump’s not in a state - he’s in Lala Land
State of Confusion
The DOJ is sending federal agents into 27 states. Here is the link:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-monitor-polls-27-states-compliance-federal-voting-rights-laws
Wow! That's somewhat comforting and confusing. I'm surprised to see so many heading to Massachusettes and Rhode Island. What a time we're in.
Huge early voting turnout all over Ohio. Large mail-in ballot returns too.
A friend has two kids in college, and it is their first presidential election. Both voted by absentee. ballot. Last week my friend flew to Costa Rica to visit with her daughter who is completing coursework there this semester; she brought her daughter's ballot back with her and promptly took it to the county election board office. Today, her son in an adjacent state, notified her that he just received his mail in ballot yesterday and filled it out. Knowing there wasn't time for him to mail it back by Tuesday and that he wasn't able to return home on Tuesday to vote in person, my friend drove half way and her son met her, had dinner with her, and she has returned home this evening and will drop off his absentee ballot tomorrow! Whew! That's determination by this mom, but it also communicates a strong message to these first-time voters about how vitally important it is that their vote is counted!
Great story. Bravo to them both.
What state?
Guida is gorgeous! I also love her name!💖🇺🇸💖
Your information and explanations plus the extra emotional support chicken pics and stories are exactly what we need at this point. Thank you!
You asked for input on how it’s going in my State. That’s OR. We are automatically registered to vote by the DMV. I get a text when my county mails my ballot, and a text when my ballot has been received back at the county, and then a third text when my vote has been officially counted. How fabulous is that?
However I remain frustrated that a handful of states determine the election. All the hype about ‘swing states’ no doubt disincentivizes people not in those states to vote. We need to abolish the electoral college system.
I’m in Oregon, too and 100% agree with you on abolishing the archaic electoral college system. Why should my vote count less than someone who lives in a less populated state? One person, one vote.
If any of you are still canvassing, there are still persuadables out there. I had a lot of Republicans on my GOTV list on Saturday; some were maga and some were open.
Please don’t let anyone get away with “the economy was better under trump.” Please politely counter them when they wrongly attribute positive things to trump.
Additionally, i think i need to hug a chicken.