Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote another awesome OpEd that spells out how the GOP has made it so difficult for people, especially people of color, to vote in several states.
He begins by reminding us that the election is now less than a year away and we should treat this election as: “America or Trump. There is no middle ground. This is democracy at its Armageddon.”
Pitts points out that there are more of us who are for America and less people who will stick with Trump no matter what. But, he alsoprovides a major reality check.
The reality born out of some non-existent, alleged voter fraud that enabled Republicans in numerous states to pass laws that require “photo I.D.s, voter purges and polling-place closures that disproportionately disenfranchise those who don’t vote GOP. Meaning, pretty much everyone who’s not a straight, white, angry, older male lacking a college diploma.“
For his article, Mr. Pitts contacted Carol Anderson, a history professor at Emory University and author of “One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy,” who compiled a list to prepare voters for the 2020 election.
- Check regularly with election officials to ensure you’re eligible to vote. In other words, make sure no one purged you from the voter rolls.
- If you’ve moved, re-register.
- Make sure you have the correct polling place; they can change and change without notice.
- “Be prepared for chicanery. In other words, be on the lookout for fake sample ballots, misleading robo-calls and other dirty tricks.” (Ohio just pulled this crap).
- Long lines; be prepared. Remember Florida in 2012?
- Do your research; don’t be conned. Don’t be fooled. Research your candidate’s platform.
- “Support civil-society organizations that are doing so much to help folks get registered to vote and get out the vote. I mean folks like Indivisible (indivisible.org), the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (naacpldf.org), the ACLU (aclu.org), VoteRiders (voteriders.org). Those are the folks doing some heavy lifting fighting for this democracy. And that requires resources, so if you can, help them. Help them fight for us.”
And in closing, Pitts reminded again:
“The alternative is to watch helplessly next year as hundreds of thousands of us see our votes stolen, our voices silenced — again. Our choices, then, are simple: act with foresight or regret with hindsight.
That shouldn’t be a hard call to make.”
In other words, get prepared NOW. When Election Day finally arrives, Get Out The Vote otherwise, we’re stuck with four more years of this nightmare.
