The Next 45 Days
What I'm Doing to Wake Up on November 6th Feeling Like I Did My Best
Well, it’s been a hell of a time since my last post. (Also… to everyone who said that going back to school while coaching soccer and leading a Girl Scout troop - you were right, I take on too many things. This is not going to change.)
We’re past the initial “hot takes” period (thank God, because some of those were truly horrendous) and we’re moving toward the finish line.
We are now halfway through a historic 90 day rush to the finish line of November 5th. It’s likely to be just as chaotic in the next 45 days as it has been the the previous 45. We’re 10 days past the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And only 11 away from the VP debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. Yes, I had to double and triple check some of these dates because it’s felt like approximately 2 years since Joe Biden announced he was ending his election campaign.
I started this with the goal of showing people how everything in our lives is touched by politics, but also with the secondary goal to create a community where things feel hopeful. If I’m being fully honest I haven’t felt hopeful around politics for years - despite loving the way the government functions even as a kid. But right now amidst the chaos and uncertainty of navigating a severely truncated election cycle, it feels genuinely hopeful. It’s been so prevalent a change that I brought it up with my therapist today - the stark juxtaposition of anxiety right next to a sharp uptick in joy and positivity.
Normally at this point in a standard election year, we’ve had our nominees for a few months and the conventions are mostly a flashy formality (and sometimes a massive Hatch Act violation) to show support for the candidates picked by the primaries. 2024 has been anything but standard, though - so we have more choice and more undecided voters which means that we have the opportunity to have an increase in voter turnout. 2020 had record breaking turn out… at an abysmal 60%. That’s barely over half - a failing grade almost everywhere.
So that’s the first thing I am doing; consistently checking my voter registration to ensure everything is good to go. There have been multiple states messing with voter registration, including purges of already registered voters. Check often. Don’t wait until the last day of your registration window. Every state has a different deadline so make sure you check yours here; Voter Registration Deadlines! If you need an early or absentee ballot - request one NOW
As much as I believe every vote counts - one vote doesn’t often change things in a pool of one hundred and fifty million. And at 60 percent of the eligible voting population, we’re rapidly losing our voices. So the second thing I’m doing is making sure 5 friends every week are registered to vote, and are checking their registration often. One of the best ways to do this, as we’ve been shown by celebrities, is sharing on social media and linking directly to Vote.org’s website. My friends and community have every right to have their votes recorded and their voices heard, and I am quite annoying in making sure they know about it - and that they have a true plan to get to their local polling location!
After you’ve made sure your friends, family, classmates, and your favorite cashier are registered and ready with a plan, the next thing I’m recommending is finding out your own personal way to volunteer for your favorite campaign. There are tons and tons of ways you can impact your local elections, or national ones. I love Vote Save America because they have multiple routes to volunteer and assist campaigns, whether that’s in person canvassing for the more extroverted among us, or text and phone banking for those of us who would rather eat rocks than interact with that many people in one day. You can also reach out to your local political parties and see where they need you most - they’ve likely got in depth knowledge of where they have volunteer gaps and can help direct you.
If volunteering for a specific campaign isn’t exactly your jam but you want to make sure that your community has adequate voting access - I’m going to strongly suggest you sign up to work on Election Day. Yes there are crazy hours (my shift on Election Day is currently slated to be 5am to 7pm), and yes it means you are going to have to interact with potentially hundreds of people - but you’re also going to get to help staff the direct point of democracy.
And finally (and this is probably the most important one for my mental health, personally) get the heck off the internet, ESPECIALLY Twitter, and get into real life groups of people who you can support, and who can help support you. I am one of the most ‘terminally online’ people I have ever met, and just tonight I had a friend tell me I send him the worst stuff after sending him a particularly upsetting news item… but I would not be able to be nearly as hopeful after taking in all that information and riding the political pollercoaster if I didn’t have friends to laugh and cry and rage with (and that’s just all during the span of the first presidential debate!) in real life.
So this week’s homework is:
Check your voter registration, early and often at Vote.org
Ask 3 friends if they’re registered to vote - and help them make a plan!
Sign up to do the work whether that’s Election Day poll working, or signing up to knock on doors for a few hours on the weekend. Democracy can’t work for you if you’re not doing the work on your end.
Get outside and touch grass - expeditiously. Make your friends come with you. It won’t matter if we save democracy if we’re all isolated and doom scrolling too much to enjoy it!
