Election Anxiety - Empathy For the Win! #52 by Darcy Reeder
And how to check if your mail-in ballot was counted.
Weekly Newsletter #52
If you read a version of the newsletter on Medium instead—What Are You Waiting For? VOTE!—you can clap for it up to 50 times. Thanks so much!
Pictured: Photo by Jennifer Griffin of Chicago artist Mac Blackout's new VOTE mural
Have you voted yet?
If you’re like 78% of the registered voters in my county, then yes! (Washington State auto-registers eligible adults, so that’s really almost 78% of the voting-eligible! And that’s just as of Friday! Talk about epic turnout!)
Here’s how to check if your ballot was counted
If you voted by mail or drop-box, in any state in the US, check your ballot status here: Check Your Ballot.
Mine’s marked as received! How about yours?
If you still need to vote
If you’re still planning to vote by mail, consider sticking that ballot in an official drop box instead, to make sure your vote is counted right away. Different states have different rules about whether your vote needs to be received or just postmarked on Election Day (and Conservatives are trying to change these rules even during the election in order to disenfranchise voters), so a drop box is your best bet.
Here, Buzzfeed breaks down election deadlines, state-by-state. I was surprised to find out that a few states even require mail-in ballots to be postmarked by the day before election day, November 2!
If your mail-in ballot isn’t going to meet the deadlines, then put on your mask and vote in person! Vote vote vote.
Election Anxiety
All I want to talk about is the election, but it seems most of the people I know want to talk about anything except the election. I get it: there is so much anxiety, and once you’ve voted, it might feel like it’s out of your hands.
You might even feel like there’s no point in voting, or that opting not to vote is somehow a better use of your voice. If you’re thinking of purposely not voting, you might want to check out my Medium piece, The Great Hack Reveals Facebook Ads Aren’t Just Selling Leggings, where I wrote about all the ways we’re marketed to online, including marketing campaigns to increase voter apathy by promoting not voting as cool and anti-establishment. Also, lady razors.
Voting’s not enough, but…
Voting’s not enough. Our civic engagement does not start and end at the ballot. But it’s something. It’s one of the many ways you can attempt to make your voice heard. Another way: checking in with your friends—especially those in swing states—to make sure they’ve voted too.
VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE!
And if Trump tries to ignore an eviction notice, we do a general strike. We don’t allow it.
And once our votes are counted and Biden wins (and the Senate flips!) we push those Dems to use their political power to enact huge Progressive changes.
Vote. Vote. Vote. Have you voted yet? Vote.
Let me know if you need help figuring out how.
Something funny
Okay, you’ve voted. You’ve reminded your swing state friends to vote. Maybe you’ve text-banked or signed up to be a pollworker. Maybe you’ve curled up in a blanket and sobbed. Time for something funny:
Medium writer Sarah Lofgren always makes me laugh, and I love her take on the Nextdoor app during the End Times: The World is on Fire and Also Your Dog Pooped on My Lawn.
Now go vote.
Thanks for reading, friends! If you’d like to support me, you can go read my writing on Medium. I seriously appreciate all your reads, claps—you can clap up to 50 times per Medium piece—highlights, comments, and shares.
I’m on a hiatus from publishing on Medium right now while I full-time pandemic-parent and homeschool my kiddo. But all of my old writing continues to earn money when Medium members read it. And when you clap for my writing on Medium, the Medium algorithm shares it with more Medium members. Thank you!
Love,
Darcy