The Republican Party has a two-pronged strategy for winning elections: gerrymandering the hell out of localities in order to suppress votes of color, and working relentlessly to disenfranchise voters by invalidating their legally cast votes. To this end, during a pandemic that Trump and the Republican-led government have exacerbated with incompetence and greed, the Republican Party is working to make voting by mail as big a boondoggle as possible. The hope is that with delays and recounts, Trump et al. may squeeze out what is left of their ill-gotten power, and maybe even thwart the Democratic process entirely.
The movement to make our country’s democracy more democratic using vote by mail has been under attack by conservatives for years. Before this pandemic began, the Donald was openly hostile to it and the perceived deleterious effect it would have on his reelection chances. Trump has been signaling his QAnon-infected base to look out for goblins and voter fraud and has even looked into his pay to play donor bag for a postmaster general in Louis DeJoy. DeJoy’s dismantling of the USPS’ workings, hampering its ability to deliver the mail on time has raised serious questions about the infrastructure of the United States Postal Service. As a result, many people are anxious about casting their ballot come this November. But there are always ways to wade around pond scum like Trump and his cronies. Here are four ways you can cast your ballot this election that will cut out Trump’s possible sabotage.
You will likely need to check your own state’s requirements and local elections board for dates, and deadlines for the information below, here.
Vote in Person—Early:
There are 41 states with some form of early voting. Depending on where you are in the United States you may be able to vote up to 45 days before the November election. You can take a gander at which states allow early voting and to what degree, here. You can also see a calendar of early voting here. Early voting has its own set of problems, but the earlier you can cast a vote, the better the chance that those problems will be ironed out in time to throw the orange narcissist out of office come the New Year.
Take your ballot to a drop box:
Using a ballot drop box to cast your vote is also a good way around mailing it in. Drop boxes are official mailboxes that election officials collect ballots from. Because the pandemic hit in the middle of primary season, many states like Michigan have already upped the number of drop boxes available to their constituents. Other states have followed suit as the obvious concerns over Trump’s abused USPS mount. The Democratic Party has put in some work to help citizens find where their local drop box—if offered—is located. Conservatives have launched lawsuits against the integrity of drop boxes, but realistically speaking, any type of democratic voting will receive a litany of litigation from right wingers hoping to find a loophole out of which to grab minority power.
Take your ballot to an election office or similar polling location:
This method is obviously preferable for someone who lives within manageable proximity to an election office. Once again, checking in with your local election office is important, as some states allow citizens to drop off their ballots at any election county location, not just yours specifically.
Organizing ballot collection and delivery within your community:
Getting together with friends and family and designating someone to collect and deliver a bunch of ballots to an official location is a great way to skip the USPS. Think of it like a communal postal situation. If you need to convince a more conservative member to join, tell them it’s the way they used to do it in the olden days. Not all states allow just anybody to organize and deliver absentee or mail in votes. But many do, and there are different requirements for different states.