COVID Diaries Pt. 8

Suppressing the Vote

This current shitstorm we are in with COVID-19 could have been lessened if we had actual leadership in the White House.  But instead, there are a lot of things all coupled together that have been designed to keep us from voting this election.

Let’s start with the pandemic itself.   Because early surges were all in blue states, Eric Kushner pushed the administration to let states handle the pandemic on their own with little help or guidance from the federal government.  This was political.  If blue states had all of the problems, those voters would be more likely to vote red.

In addition, they slow rolled or even completely ignored states needs for increased testing.  Because more tests would show more positives which would make them look bad.  Even now, there are reports of long waits on testing, sometimes even taking 10-14 days which really hinders tracing of who those people came in contact with.

The next piece is the president’s attack on voting by mail.  This administration knows that if more people can easily vote, the Republicans are going to lose.  All the polls show this.  So, the president has been saying over and over again that voting by mail will make this election fraudulent.  He’s already setting the stage to say everything was “rigged” come the results.

But it doesn’t stop there. They have also placed a crony in charge of the United States Postal Service.  Current Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has made a lot of changes recently that are causing a backlog in mail deliveries.  Almost every state has a rule that something mailed before the election that arrives AFTER the election is automatically disqualified and doesn’t count.

Slowing down mail delivery is a way for fewer votes to actually count, which helps their cause.

We can get social security, credit cards, legal documents and much more by mail.  But safely voting by mail during a pandemic is getting attacked.  It’s on purpose, to help them win.

Next, the orange Twitter monster also suggested DELAYING the election due to the pandemic.  Many people have pushed back on this, and it’s not even legal to do so, but the fact that he suggested it is appalling.   I mean, he wants to risk the lives of our children in schools and get everyone back to work even though 155 thousand people are dead, but he doesn’t want to allow YOU to safely vote by mail.  By the way, himself and pretty much everyone on his staff has voted by mail, multiple times.

Oh, and Hong Kong delayed their election by a year and the White House has condemned that action, ONE DAY AFTER the president suggested it here.  It’s all about what is good for his re-election chances.  He doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself.

Finally, one of the most insidious things I hadn’t thought about popped up on Twitter.

Yesterday was the last day for the previous stimulus bill.   When it ended, people on unemployment lost their $600 a week additional benefit, and more importantly, the federal ban on evictions expired.  That means landlords can now evict anyone that hasn’t been able to pay during this pandemic.

Now the Senate could and SHOULD have been working around the clock for the next round of stimulus to help the American people who are struggling.   But they didn’t and now millions of people could become homeless.  This will affect lower income families and people of color particularly hard.

But there is another angle here.   What happens to people who have to move or become homeless when it comes time to vote?  You vote based on your address, and what if your address changes 95 days before the election?   Will you be allowed to vote, or will that suppress your ability to vote in the election?  This is a big deal, and quite frankly I think the Republicans in the Senate have dragged their feet on purpose to cause this outcome.  It’s absolutely repugnant.

Google the 14 signs of Fascism.  The president has hit every single one now including fraudulent elections.  He just openly said we should push the election back, he’s trying to suppress users voting by mail, evictions could help his cause.  Hell, you could even say the last election was fraudulent because of Russian interference.  But you cannot deny fascist ideology this administration promotes.

He wants to be a dictator.  Do not let him.