Vote!

How to do it:

Check voter registration before deadlines. Some states allow same-day registration, but you may need to go to your elections office. If your absentee ballot goes astray, you’ll also need to contact your elections office for a replacement. Don’t give up hope—I once cast a replacement ballot from an ICU across the nation, thanks to a friend who worked in politics telling me how.

Make sure your ballot arrives by dropping absentee or mail-in ballots in an official drop-box, not the USPS. After years of intentional starvation, USPS no longer guarantees a same-day postmark. (This affects bills and taxes too!) If you must mail, do so at least a week before the deadline.

Vote every election. There is an election every year in November and most years a series of primaries or special elections at seemingly random dates. Presidential and midterm elections have relatively high turnout (for the U.S.) but many of these smaller elections are decided by small margins of only the most dedicated voters. They can include important issues — Mike Johnson has shut down the House because a special election in Arizona switched a seat to Democrats, and will mean a vote to advance legislation to release the Epstein files.

Vote every contested race. It takes a little time to research local races, but if you don’t understand how school boards, judges and sheriffs directly affect policy, I’m not sure what to tell you. The Tea Party effectively leveraged these overlooked entry points to politics two decades ago. We have catch-up work to do. To speed your process, identify local voting guides that align with your positions on the races and candidates you already know about. Also visit the candidate’s web sites—they often speak in less coded language there.

How to research local races:

The process of identifying reliable sources for voting recommendations begins well before elections. Seek out a local newspaper, blog, or social media feed that covers politics and tends to align with your beliefs. In most places, the real selection process happens in the primaries, when ballots can be long with many options in each race. We strongly recommend voting every primary, and offer these tips to keep it manageable:

• Skip uncontested races
• Weed out frivolous candidates:
  • election pamphlet wasn’t completed (e.g. no image)
  • campaign has its own email (not a personal email)
  • pamphlet statement is related to role they seek (not a rant on some other issue)
• Check the candidate’s web site
  • is it reasonably professional?
  • look for dog-whistles/coded speech

This usually gets us down to at most 2-3 serious candidates. Proceed as for any election: check your trusted local sources or text a friend who follows politics like its the World Series. Here are a few starting points:

• The League of Women Voters has local chapters nearly everywhere. Their recommendations tend to be progressive, with primary emphasis on reproductive rights and other “feminist” topics
• The League of Minority Voters is a good resource for practical, progressive guidance. They do not maintain chapters in every state.
• The Progressive Voters Guide can identify hidden regressives in blue states. (e.g. Federalist Society vetted judges.) They do not have guides in every area, and will not align with every voter.