Progressives Every Day: Lots of voting news in important states
Progressives Every Day: Lots of voting news in important states
And a very cursed video
Welcome to the Monday night edition of Progressives Everywhere!
Two notes:
We’ve raised over $3000 for Arizona candidates in the last 24 hours, so thank you for the help!
If you really want to hear my Friday night appearance on Sirius XM radio for some reason, you can download the audio here. And if you enjoy that, I’ve got 120 episodes of an entirely unrelated podcast to send your way!
Elections (and Future Elections) and Voting Rights
The pick is (almost) in! Joe Biden’s vice presidential selection team has completed its work and disbanded, and all that’s left is for the former Veep to pick his own VP nominee. Expect a pick by as soon as tomorrow and on Thursday at the latest.
As I’ve written here over and over again, Georgia will not be sending out absentee ballot applications to every registered voter in the state for the general election after having done so for the primary. Simply put, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger discovered that making it easy to vote would lead to a lot of people voting — 2.4 million people cast ballots during the primary! — and he just couldn’t have that in the general election.
Raffensperger did promise, however, to create a website through which people could submit requests for absentee ballots. On Monday, the state Election Board unanimously approved a plan to create that website and get it up online by the end of August. The deadline to request an absentee ballot in Georgia is October 30th, but given all the USPS shenanigans happening right now, they’re certainly advised to do it ASAP.
Counties in Georgia do have the right to send absentee ballot applications to voters and Augusta is doing just that, spending $100,000 to get them out to all registered voters.
In Pennsylvania, a smart alternative to pure vote-by-mail is coming together in a number of major counties: Early voting, in lots of places:
Some of Pennsylvania’s largest counties are planning to create satellite election offices, where voters could request and submit a mail ballot on the spot, according to officials. That would provide for the first time a form of in-person early voting that is easily and widely available to all voters in those counties — at a moment when the coronavirus, a surge in voting by mail, and troubling post office delays have cast a shadow on the very process of conducting the 2020 presidential election.
As Democratic-controlled counties start doing this, Republican ones will likely rush to catch up, making it a defacto voting method in PA. Other Dem-controlled counties in swing states would be smart to copy them.
Maryland, meanwhile, is drastically reducing its number of traditional polling places and replacing them with county-wide voting centers; while they usually have about 1600 voting locations, they’ll go down to 360 election day locations that can be used by anyone in the county. They’re going to be hosted in high schools — hopefully they are big enough to handle the massive influx of voters.
In Missouri, Medicaid expansion passed largely thanks to high margins in cities and nearby suburban areas. That’s generally the accepted turnout strategy for Democrats, so it’s interesting to see that expansion in Idaho was approved by voters across the board, even in more rural areas:
When you heard Medicaid Expansion won by over 60%, you might've thought that it was because voters in Boise, Moscow, & a few other places had record turnout. True, but the bigger story is Prop. 2 won big in every region of Idaho--in 35 of 44 counties! #MedicaidLandslide
Even the most conservative, rural counties clocked over 40% support for “socialized medicine.”
Masks won’t be required at Florida polling places. Good thing the COVID-19 numbers are so low there. The Florida primary election is on August 18th.
COVID-19 and Related Drama
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to prove himself to be one of the worst people alive. Now, he’s indicating that cities and towns can’t put a halt on evictions on their own (though it’s non-binding) Let me re-emphasize the fact that this guy is an alleged (and very probable) felon and is making a full salary and benefits on the taxpayers’ dime anyway. Right now, his allies are sabotaging the case against him, which makes it even more rage-inducing.
Many teachers are very rightfully terrified of going back to school — especially in hotbeds like Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Arizona, where governors are rushing students back to the classroom despite the pandemic’s ongoing strength. Look at this:
Worst testimony so far - from a verified teacher in a North #Georgia School District: "I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom. They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is 'god's cleansing plan'." reportmyschool@gmail.com #gapolIf you think that teacher is being dramatic, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp just ruled against requiring masks at schools — even after the school with the horrible crowded hallway viral photo had to be shut down due to the viral spread.
Cases are falling in Arizona but the risk level in the state is still super-high.
I’m honestly really disappointed in Smash Mouth. I was on their side until this.
Quibis
This is very well-written and remarkably depressing. When you zoom out and really look at what’s happened in this country over the last 40 years, you can’t help but feel as if this is an obituary.
Trump’s executive order for “stimulus” will really just screw people over and wreck the social safety net, but you probably knew that already.
The New York Rangers won the number one draft pick!
I leave you with this haunting video:
Wait, before you go!
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