A Vote Uncounted

We’re on the precipice of the midterm elections.

• Political ads are running rampant.
• Voter rolls are being purged.
• You’re getting text messages every 11 minutes asking to chip in to someone’s campaign who is falling behind.

We can’t be certain what’s going to happen.

On the one hand, it seems pretty clear what most people want. On the other, it’s pretty clear what those in power want and what they’re willing to do to protect it.

There are two important pieces we would be wise to remember once we’re on the other side of this election.

1. It only counts if it’s counted

In the aftermath of recent elections, there has been a lot of focus on undecided voters, those who didn’t vote, and any voters from various ethnic and racial minorities who cast their votes in unexpected ways.

There’s also a temptation to think that a small voting block showed up in greater numbers than the majority because maps show the voting preferences of land rather than density of people.

These are our simple explanations for a complex reality. That picture falls apart when you look at what’s really happening.

The Reality

Who is to blame when prospective voters are removed from voter rolls and have to file a provisional ballot on election day? A ballot that might not even get counted.

Who is to blame when a citizen learns that their ID is no longer accepted due to restrictive laws or that their closest polling or drop off location is now over an hour away? What happens if they don’t make it to work in time?

Who is to blame when partisan gerrymandering means that even if you overcome all of the barriers and vote in full collective force, the map is set up so that you lose seats?

Who is to blame when people stay home because their polling location is chosen to be “overseen” by the same armed service members and agencies that kill (on-camera) without repercussions, or fail to do anything to stop it?

Who is to blame when the elderly, disabled, and out of the country service members who rely on mail-in voting are denied their opportunity for civic participation?

Who is to blame when a party refuses to accept the results or swear in the winning candidate?

I would argue that in none of these cases is the voter to “blame” for our current reality.

On The Day After

The low turnout that will be framed as an apathy problem is an availability and civil rights problem.

Where we have failed and continue to fail is to individualize a systemic problem, and see our outrage funneled into civil, one-day parades that do little to change the course we’re on.

If/when the worst humans “win” their election, remember how it came to happen.

2. Voting isn’t our only option

Voting our way out of fascism is certainly one option, but would it surprise you to learn that fascists don’t very much care about the democratic process?

We can’t vote any harder or be any more coordinated when we cast our votes on broken machines. Ones observed, controlled, and counted by those who openly ignore and break the rules.

Our answer lies in our numbers.

When votes go uncounted

So what are we to do if we can’t just vote harder?

We can look to France and how people rallied together during the Yellow Vests movement (2018–2019) to address the cost of living crisis, fuel prices, and more. They choked off supply routes, organized mass demonstrations, and showed up for days, weeks, and even months causing disruptions too significant to ignore. In the end, the government was forced to capitulate in some way or another to meet their demands.

We can look to S. Korea who shut down martial law within about 6 hours, after crowds gathered at the National Assembly and lawmakers voted 190–0 to demand it be lifted.

We can even look to Hungary, where for roughly 8 days after the pardon of a man convicted of covering up child sex abuse became public, rallies grew until the President and former Justice Minister resigned. ¹

Who Will Lead?

In my book, the Lovable Leader, I stated that leadership is not a title but a mindset.

The future of the United States is not the product of one remarkable individual leading a mass movement, but a mass movement of people sharing a mindset and beliefs.

Mostly what I’ve heard in the past decade is a desire to return to normal; to get back to that status quo. We want to be able to ignore our politics once again and get on with brunch.

But ignoring our politics and getting on with brunch might be how we got here.

Believing that our participation in the system meant little more than showing up and pushing that button or dropping our ballot in that box.

But the buttons don’t work and the ballot box is over an hour away. And even if you make it there, they might not even count the vote.

So what’s left has to be a departure from the status quo and an envisioning of something better. It has to be a demand for accountability.

One place we might start is by listening to all the groups who have been pointing out everything broken for these past several hundred years. Putting all of their grievances off to the side led us here.

Maybe it’s time to start counting their votes.

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1. Can you even imagine something like that happening in the United States –– a President covering up child sex abuse? I know, I know…it’s ridiculous.

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