sam
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salmon-ander.bsky.social
sam
@salmon-ander.bsky.social
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salmon-ander.bsky.social
2/2. Thank you for reading if you made it to the end. Real talk, how hard would it be to make a software to track voter/vote status at least to make sure your vote was received? Why would they want us to have that access tho 🙄
Screenshot of a notes app, with text continuing from prior screenshot that reads: "My vote probably wouldn't have mattered. But it eats at me every night. What if it did? What if my vote was the one that could have turned my county blue? It makes me fucking sick. If you took the time to read this, thank you. Sorry for the dramatics. This whole thing has been an unbearable weight."
February 4, 2025 at 4:37 AM
salmon-ander.bsky.social
This is my negative experience at the polls in November, if anyone would like to give it a read. 1/2
Screenshot of a notes app, with text that reads: "My polling center was located in my blink-and-you-miss-it town in a predominantly conservative Midwestern state. The polling center was being run by three silver-haired women, assigned to work from open to close, one of whom was tasked with pulling up voter registration. I had my voter registration card on my person, my fiancé didn't because of the timing of when he registered. My fiancé went first, and was told that his voter registration couldn't be pulled up and he had to re-register. When re-registering, he was interrogated about whether or not he had a prior name, despite zero of his identification forms suggesting that he was attempting to register as anything other than his legal name. He goes by a different name but strictly uses his legal name for legal documents. The address on our IDs was from a prior address, same state, but we brought mail" Screenshot of a notes app, with text continuing from prior screenshot that reads: "The address on our IDs was from a prior address, same state, but we brought mail to show proof of residency in the county. When repeatedly questioned about his name, we discovered she had put an address from a neighboring state. He has only ever lived in our current state, there was no reason to think otherwise. I stress these details as this woman demonstrated a basic lack of understanding on how to run the system that we were depending on for one of the most important decisions a legal adult can make in the United States. When he was asked what his party would be, he said undecided. He was able to fill out the ballot and put it into the polling machine. The absolutely not biased machines created with the technology of a totally unbiased nazi techbro. Then it was my turn." Screenshot of a notes app, with text continuing from prior screenshot that reads: "I, too, had to re-register, despite having my voter registration card. She simply could not locate my information. There was small talk made about how she had to do this with a large amount of voters. She asked me my party. I said blue. Like a fucking idiot. She types some stuff into the computer and tells me, with zero hesitation, that the screen was saying I was ineligible to vote. This was months ago, but to this day my heart is racing thinking about how this statement felt like a punch to the stomach. Not wanting to cause a fuss, I politely informed her I had to be eligible if I had my voter registration. I did everything on my part to be eligible, and there was no reason for me to be ineligible. I've never even had a speeding ticket, so definitely not a felon. Another worker starts to help the lady with the computer, I think she saw my fear. After what feels like eons and after more back and forth, I am handed a ballot at" Screenshot of a notes app, with text continuing from prior screenshot that reads: "After what feels like eons and after more back and forth, I am handed a ballot at last. I fill it out and bring it to the desk. I'm told they will have to send it in themselves and that, for whatever reason that they couldn't explain efficiently, they couldn't send my vote on the machine. I'm handed a Manila envelope, and told to put my vote and my voter registration inside, and they will send it. This was the last day of voting, how were they going to turn it in if not via machine? No mail could ever be that fast? I didn't know what to do, but if that was the only way I could give them my vote, I was going to do it. So I did. And I still feel a pit in my stomach when I think about it because I know in my heart and soul that my vote was not counted. I know my vote was one of so, so many. I know in my location it was probably a speck of blue in a sea of red. I know even if the machines didn't rig it, the electoral college would anyway just to avoid having a female president, and truly, deep down, my vote probably wouldn't have mattered."
February 4, 2025 at 4:37 AM