Tag: voting

I may never vote on Election Day again

early voting

Surprisingly, I’ve discovered I may never vote on Election Day again. For the longest time, I had identified myself as the person who would roll out of bed on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November around 5:30 a.m., throw on some clothes, and be the first or second person in line to vote at 6 a.m.

For the longest time, I couldn’t vote in the morning on primary days in New York because the state had this stupid law: Only the people who lived in New York City, the immediate suburbs, and Erie County (Buffalo metro) could vote at 6:00 a.m. The rest of us could only vote from noon to 9:00 p.m., which I thought was discriminatory against upstaters. However, they fixed that flaw a few years ago, thank goodness.

There are many opportunities to vote before the Primary and Election Day. The polls in New York State open two Saturdays before Election Day and run for nine days from that Saturday to the Sunday before Election Day. The polls are closed on that Monday, but then, of course, Election Day is open.

According to the State Board of Elections, New York State is on pace to surpass the number of early voters in the 2020 election. So, I get a tad cranky when folks complain about the long lines. They have NINE days of early voting PLUS Election Day.

I started voting by mail during COVID-19. The early morning Election Day thing that used to self-define is gone. This year, I voted early on Tuesday between 3:00 and 4:00 PM at the Board of Elections in downtown Albany, which used to be the DMV.

I got nothing if you’re looking for last-minute suggestions to tell your friends how to vote. Heck, the Weekly Sift guy is just doing referrals.  But watch John Oliver anyway. 

Swing time

I feel bad for all of you in the so-called swing states—Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan—because you must be inundated with presidential ads. We get almost nothing here except some ads on national programs.

Most are for a few congressional seats south of Albany, but the Albany media market reaches them. Fortunately, I recorded most of the television I watch, so I can fast forward through all of them, most of which were produced not by the campaigns but by the party congressional committees. They look, for the most part, built to scare people, and I’m not that interested. It’s not that I don’t care; the New York congressional races may determine whether the Democrats have control of the House of Representatives. So it’s not that they’re unimportant, but it’s not enough for me to watch them.

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times noted this about djt: His “increasingly dark vision of America is less of unity and promise than of suspicion and grievance directed at those who cross him.

“Librarians are harassed, teachers vilified, election workers threatened. Immigrants are demonized, and armed groups march outside state capitols. Even meteorologists are targeted in conspiracy theories.”

I increasingly feel it’s my duty and obligation to become an election worker, if not in 2025, then in 2026. I’ve done it twice before, most recently in 2021. Sometimes, you have to face the beast.

Listen to I Bought Myself A Politician – MonaLisa Twins

Lydster: absentee ballot

W

The daughter called home earlier this month to ask about her absentee ballot, which she received at college after I gave her advice on securing it; she had to contact the county board of elections website.

She wanted to know why certain candidates are on more than one political party line. For instance, the Democratic candidate is also often listed on the Working Families line. This is likewise true of the Republican and Conservative lines.

It’s because, as the political science major knows, New York State allows candidates to be endorsed by more than one party or cross-endorsement. She wondered whether it made any difference in terms of the vote counting; I said no. So she asked what the significance was, and I said it had to do with ballot position and whether the minor parties remain official parties.

I only suggested one specific candidate. For reasons I mentioned here, I recommended Jaime Czajka over Jasper Mills in the family court judge race. Curiously, when we get political mail, and we got a lot during primary season, one piece has my wife’s name, and another, my daughter’s and mine.

My daughter was watching a television program recently that mentioned George W. Bush and how he was perceived; I’m a history person. Also, she knew I was the expert on games. She asked me about Monopoly for a project she was working on. I taught her how to play poker, Sorry, and much more. While I know little about current popular culture, I muddle through.

Her mom

On the other hand, she talks with her mother about paying for college, clothes, recipes, driving, medical issues, and banking—you know, the more concrete tasks. Interestingly, my daughter aided her mother in the summer with her workout at the YMCA.

I am involved with a few of these aspects. My daughter’s credit card is a spinoff of mine. Her health insurance comes from my former employer. I went with her when she applied for her passport.

Our daughter knows which specialist to ask when she has a query: the teacher or the librarian.

The Ten Commandments

make no law respecting an establishment of religion

A random dude on Facebook – I didn’t know him – wrote that he read on Facebook that the state of Louisiana is mandating that The Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms. But he didn’t necessarily believe it because it was on Facebook.

Back in my working librarian days, I would fairly often have conversations about media literacy. I’d ask someone for the source of information. They’d say Facebook or Twitter. My follow-up would be, “But what was the source, the reference?”

In any case, when I read the information on Facebook,  I already knew about it in newsfeeds from the New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, and Newsmax, among others.

The general conversation on that Facebook stream then turned to: “Well, with all of the problems in our schools, this isn’t really that much of a big deal.”  

I developed a low-grade headache.

Then I was reminded about something that a couple of people I know IRL have been bugging me about. They believe that civics is not being taught in our schools.  What IS civics anyway? It is “a social science dealing with the rights and duties of citizens.”

Amendment 1

So, citizens, there’s a thing called the Constitution of the United States!  It replaced something called the Articles of Confederation, the nation’s first framework, effective March 4, 1789.

But the critics of the Constitution wanted more guardrails. Constitutional supporters agreed to create a Bill of Rights “which consists of 10 amendments that were added to the Constitution in 1791.”

The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

Ah, but you note that it was a Louisiana STATE law that imposed the Ten Commandments. However, the Supreme Court has “interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as protecting the rights in the First Amendment from interference by state governments.” 

Requiring classrooms to display the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments reeks of the state of Louisiana establishing religion, this old poli sci major and Christian will tell you. Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) makes this clear. “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.” 

Of course

So naturally, the presumptive Republican nominee for President supports it. Per Newsmax: “‘Has anyone read the ‘Thou shalt not steal’? I mean, has anybody read this incredible stuff? It’s just incredible,’ Trump said at the gathering of the Faith & Freedom Coalition [on June 22]. ‘They don’t want it to go up. It’s a crazy world.'”’

Conversely, Austin, TX  pastor Zach Lambert notes: “If your version of Christianity wants to put the Ten Commandments in schools but take free lunch out of them, you are worshipping something other than Jesus.”

Read the fuzzy argument that Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public education, Ryan Walters, makes in requiring all public schools to teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments.

Getting back to civics

I worry about how the “rights and duties of citizens” are being abridged. In recent years, being able to serve on a jury, serving as an election poll watcher, and even the very right to vote, have been threatened. When I wrote that I would have served on a particular jury, it wasn’t because I would have wanted to; it’s because a citizen has an obligation, so the external threats are unAmerican. Poll watcher intimidation is unAmerican. Wholesale purging of voter rolls: unAmerican. 

As we celebrate the 4th of July, let us remember the preamble of the Constitution, a direct result of the Revolutionary War fervor. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Then we need to act as though it were true.

Primary day voting 2024

closed primary

Yikes! Primary Day Voting 2024 is coming up. In fact, early voting started on June 15 and runs through Sunday, June 23 at limited designated locations such as the county Board of Elections. Then, the polls will be open in New York State from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the usual locations.

I’m a registered Democrat, and unlike some states, in New York, only registered members of a political party may vote in that party’s selection process.

Albany Family Court Judge

One can vote for up to three candidates out of the five people running: attorneys Jaime Czajka, Jillian Faison, Jeffrey Jamison, and Jasper Mills as well as Judge Ricja Rice. It’s a bit humorous that a recent Times Union article about the candidates gave basic biographical information about the three women running but excoriated the two men.

In an endorsement article: “Mr. Mills, who in recent years — and as recently as last week — has found himself mired in significant controversy connected to his judgment and job performance.
“Last week, Mr. Mills found himself in the awkward position of being told by a judge in open court that he should probably stop talking as he tried to explain how the identity of a witness in a murder case in which he is a member of the defense team might have been revealed by his staggeringly bad decision to leave a discovery document in open view in a conference room.” The earlier blunder was equally stupid.
“As for Mr. Jamison, who serves as counsel to the office of Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, he recently made news for advising a co-worker arrested for DUI to turn down a sobriety test and then stayed silent as Mr. McCoy lied to the Times Union’s Brendan Lyons about the events of that evening. ” His “faulty” memory in a 2009 situation was arguably worse.
I’m voting for the women.
Albany County District Attorney
David Soares was a fresh and energetic face in 2004 when he first ran for DA and won.  Lee Kindlon is a well-known defense attorney.  I watched their debate on Spectrum News and enjoyed the interplay, in part because Kindlon genuinely seems to like Soares, noting that Lee shoveled David’sd sidewalks a few years ago when Soares was having some medical issues.
Soares disliked everything the state legislature passed regarding law enforcement, notably the Raise The Age provision passed in 2018.  Kindlon was more likely to work with whatever the parameters of the legal system were. I received a mailing in which he noted that he was a Judge Advocate in the Marines.
The Times Union endorsed Kindlon, noting, “The David Soares running in 2024 is not the David Soares we endorsed in 2012 [against Kindlon], much less the bold reformer who in 2004 ran on his opposition to New York’s draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws. While some people grow in their jobs, others stagnate. In Mr. Soares’ case, we’ve seen his views harden into arrogance, and his management of the office has over the course of his fourth term descended into scandal with disturbing frequency.”
I’m inclined to vote for Kindlon, who has the Working Families Party endorsement, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
109th Assembly District, NY State Legislature
Pat Fahy, the incumbent in the 109th A.D., is running for the NY State Senate. Incidentally, I saw her at the Juneteenth celebration at the Underground Railroad Education Center on Saturday, June 15.
This means that SIX candidates are vying for the seat. In the order in which they appear on the ballot:
Gabriella A. Romero, member of the Albany Common Council for the 6th Ward, around Lark Street. I received more mailings from her campaign than any other.  Hers are also the most creative, with one with a color-by-number wildflowers of New York.  She’s endorsed by the Working Families Party and supports a “people-first policy,” including affordable housing, “great-paying union jobs, climate resistance & lower utility bills.” She was at the UREC event but I never had a chance to speak with her.
Owusu B. Anane, Common Council for the 10th Ward, leans into his personal bio. His family couldn’t afford housing in New York and had to move back to Ghana. They made it back, he was an all-state running back, then became a coach and special needs teacher. One mailing features one of his former students and his mom, with her quote, “He believed in him as much as I do, and that made all the difference.”
Ginny Farrell. Common Council for the 13th wArd, my ward, and the body’s majority leader. The Times Union endorsement notes her 12 years of work in the Assembly, and her service on the Albany Board of Education, as president, vice president, and secretary, advocating for “the contentious $180 million renovation and modernization of Albany High School. It was work that required making dozens of presentations across the city and talking to hundreds of people to sell them on a costly but essential project that required two citywide votes to win approval.”
Also
Dustin M. Reidy, Albany County Legislator for District 30 is also the campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko. Someone from the SEIU union came to my door touting Reidy’s labor bona fides. He favored choice, seniors, gun control, and diversity in the four mailings he sent.
Jack Flynn,  the 8th Ward Albany Common Council member is a former Albany County Democratic chairman and a state Senate employee. He declined to meet with the Times Union editorial board, and I did not receive any literature from him. From someone’s Facebook page, I’ve seen a mailing noting that he’s the only person refusing public funding for his campaign.
I’m considering four of the candidates. What sayeth thou, 109th A.D.?

I voted in the Presidential primary

vote with your heart

This is for Jefferson County in upstate NYS, but the format is the same as what I saw.

On Tuesday, April 2, I voted in the Presidential primary. In New York State, we have a closed system. Democrats and Republicans can only participate in their respective party primaries. Those in other parties or not enrolled in a party, often called independents, cannot vote in either of those parties’ primaries.

In many other states, it’s advantageous to be independent, but in my state, one wants to be a Democrat or Republican because there are more chances to vote. And I ALWAYS vote, in large part because people have long denied the franchise. I feel an obligation to my ancestors.

I am a registered Democrat. My ballot had three choices: incumbent Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson, and Rep. Dean Phillips (MN). I voted for Phillips, whose “adoptive paternal grandmother Pauline Phillips was the author of the advice column ‘Dear Abby,’ under the pen name Abigail Van Buren.” After Super Tuesday, he dropped out of the race on March 6, though his site was still up as of April 3. Biden became the presumptive nominee by March 13..

Phillips’ fundamental pitch was that Biden was acceptable, but we needed a younger guy – Philips was born in 1969 – and he unsuccessfully urged others to get into the fray. I agreed with him about this. Neither Phillips nor Williamson had delegates to vote for; I voted for one of Biden’s.

Strategic voting

Much has been made of Democrats voting with blank ballots. In New York, it’s much the same as what happened in Michigan, Minnesota, and elsewhere over the administration’s policies in the Israel/Gaza war.

Is this a new thing?

For decades, I’ve believed you should vote with your heart in the primary and with your head in the general election. In the 1972 primary, the first time I could vote in the Presidential race, I cast a blank ballot because Shirley Chisholm was not on the roster in my Congressional district. Then, I voted for George McGovern in the general election.

In 2020, I voted for Elizabeth Warren, although Biden was the presumptive nominee by then. Then, I voted for Biden in the general election.

Polling

I don’t make political predictions; I’m not good at them. (I had Arthur attempt some back in December 2023.) The pundits muse about what the protest vote in the spring will mean in November. I have no idea.

Increasingly, I don’t think “they” know either. James Rosen, a former political reporter for McClatchy, wrote in the Boston Globe about why polling is so often wrong.

“The problems with political polls are multiple:

  • The dominance of cell phones and caller ID programs on landlines has made what statisticians call the “response rate” plummet.
  • There are too many political pollsters conducting too many polls.
  • The internet, with its voracious appetite and greatly expanded space for new information, no matter how incremental, has made some political journalists less discriminating and fueled more questionable polling.”
Pick and choose

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., said in an interview on CBS News’ Face The Nation that Biden is a “cafeteria Catholic” who “picks and chooses” which parts of Catholicism he will adhere to. Gregory was speaking specifically about abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, which Biden has championed.

I’ve read that for decades, the vast majority of U.S. Catholics believe using artificial birth control is moral, despite church teaching to the contrary. My old denomination, the United Methodist Church, has ruptured “over issues of sexuality and authority.” In my experience, many people of faith create their own theology, to quote an old Unitarian friend.

Meanwhile, the Great Trumpkin – a term used by the Boston Globe -claims that Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, will be “Christian Visibility Day.” Apparently, he believes selling a $59.95 Bible is a qualifying event.

Or, as many Christians believe, “It is a bankrupt Christianity that sees a demagogue co-opting our faith and even our holy scriptures for the sake of his own pursuit of power and praise him for it rather than insist that we refuse to allow our sacred faith and scriptures to become a mouthpiece for an empire,” said Rev. Benjamin Cremer on X.

There’s a column in the Los Angeles Times, probably behind a paywall: I spent 24 hours on Trump’s Truth Social. No wonder it’s tanking. “The Truth Social feed I experienced was a mix of swaggering gun talk, typo-filled Bible scripture, violent Biden bashing, nonsensical conspiracy theories, and more misguided memes about Jan. 6 ‘hostages,’ trans satanists, and murderous migrants than anyone should be subjected to in one day. Or ever.”

 

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