#Ballot Initiative

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

Arizona

Colorado

Missouri

New York

Maryland

Florida

South Dakota

[overclockedopossum]

Major good news from ballot measures:

$15/hr minimum wage ahead in Alaska

Restrictions on ballot measures failed in Arizona

Strong abortion rights passed in Arizona

Abortion rights likely to pass in Colorado

Extra tax on guns with proceeds to crime victims, mental health, school security likely to pass in Colorado

Broader absentee voting passed in Connecticut

Though weed legalisation and abortion rights failed to meet the 60% threshold in Flordia, they did get over 50%.

Strong abortion rights passed in Maryland

Strong abortion rights passed in Missouri

Amendment 6 (cops wanting to reinstate corrupt practices) failed in Missouri

$15 minimum wage passed in Missouri

Strong abortion rights passed in Montana

Medical weed to be legalised in Nebraska

Forced labour as punishment banned in Nevada

Strong abortion rights passed in Nevada

Broad equal rights measure covering abortion and trans rights passed in NY

sourced via ballotpedia

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal Constitution

* * * *

As once-in-century hurricane heads for Florida, major media is silent about Trump's disaster relief lies

Hurricane Milton threatens to hit Florida on Wednesday as a once-in-century storm. FEMA and the National Guard are already stretched thin in their response to Hurricane Helene. And Trump continues to spew his disinformation about their response in North Carolina—creating an aura of distrust and the potential for vigilante violence by misguided storm victims who believe Trump's lies about the disaster relief.

The good news is that many responsible Republican elected officials have criticized or condemned Trump's lies. The bad news is that the criticism hasn’t stopped Trump. He as at it again on Monday. See The Guardian, Fema chief warns ‘dangerous’ Trump falsehoods hampering Helene response.

While the major media outlets are rightfully focused on the potential damage from Hurricane Milton, they have already lost interest in Trump's disinformation campaign. It has disappeared from their platforms—even though Trump has not relented. His lies continue unabated.

Never before and never again in the history of our Republic will we witness a presidential candidate leverage the lives and safety of victims of natural disasters into pawns in a campaign. Kamala Harris condemned Trump's statements on Monday—and the major media yawned (except for The Guardian). Harris said, in part,

People are in desperate need of support right now and playing political games at this moment, in these crisis situations – these are the height of emergency situations – it is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish and it is about political gamesmanship instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first.”

And I cannot stress enough to all the folks in Florida in the Tampa area, please listen to evacuation orders. Please listen to your local officials because I know a lot of folks out there have survived these hurricanes before; this one is going to be very, very serious and I urge you to grab whatever you need. The other point I’d make is there’s a lot of misinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, particularly for the survivors of Helene. First of all, it’s extraordinarily irresponsible. It’s about him, it’s not about you. The reality is Fema has so many resources that are available to those who desperately need them.”

Trump is subordinating the lives and safety of hundreds of thousands of Americans to his partisan political interest. That is a scandal unmatched in American history—and it is missing from the front pages and websites of nearly every major news source. Shameful!

Florida threatens local news stations with jail time for running political ads supporting ballot initiative

If you want a view into what a second Trump presidency would look like, check out Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to prosecute local news stations for running political ads in support of the ballot initiative to protect reproductive rights in Florida. The threats are plainly unconstitutional, but the fact that the state is threatening jail time for political speech is beyond the pale. Let’s hope that all Floridians are outraged by this abuse of power and government overreach—and motivated to turn out in massive numbers on November 5. See Talking Points Memo, DeSantis Threatening Jail Time for Running Abortion Rights Ads in Florida.

Again, the fact that the major media has not come down on DeSantis like a ton of bricks bespeaks an inexplicable quiescence in the face of an onrushing fascist threat.  

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[cazort]

Hey, in case people don't know it, abortion rights are on the ballot in Florida. There is a ballot initiative, Issue 4, and voting Yes protects abortion rights in the state constitution.

Please share this even if you don't live in Florida, so it can reach as many Floridians as possible. Don't just share on Tumblr, send it to friends of yours who live in Florida to make sure (1) they know about this, (2) they are registered to vote (Deadline is October 7th, 2024) (3) they are going to vote YES on this.

If you live in Florida, you can volunteer or even take a paid position (they are hiring) to help with on-the-ground organizing. They are going door-to-door to talk to and try to register as many voters as possible.

If you don't live in Florida, you can still donate to this organization, as long as you are a US Citizen.

This initiative is important for multiple reasons. It is highly likely to succeed; abortion-related initiatives have consistently come in in favor of abortion rights, often with surprisingly large margins, in "deep red" states such as Kansas (+18.32%) and Kentucky (+4.7%). Florida has slightly more "purple" politics than either of these states so the margin would probably be even bigger. And I think it goes without saying that we all agree that protecting abortion rights is important.

A second reason is that abortion ballot initiatives tend to result in huge increases in voter turnout, primarily from more women coming out to vote. These new voters (a) tend to keep voting once they vote for the first time (b) are more likely to vote democratic. Florida has tended to vote Republican in recent elections but it is still a "purple" state; Obama won in Florida in both 2008 and 2012, and in 2012 Florida elected a Democratic senator by a huge (+13%) margin. Not coincidentally, that election had high turnout (63.5%) whereas turnout was much lower (52.0%) in the 2018 election that elected a Republican by a razor-thin margin (0.12%) and similarly in the 2022 election (turnout even lower, about 49.35%) that elected a Republican by a much larger margin.

So this initiative could be the difference that not only protects abortion rights in Florida, but leads to Democrats winning both the presidency and Senate, and it may lay the foundations for them winning back the governorship, which is important because DeSantis has not only been highly damaging to Florida but has been a negative figure on the national stage.

[nando161mando]

Remember to vote for the lesser... Wait... Wtf?

[mythigal1966]

Let's talk about big wins for women in AZ and MO and 2024....

[twelvebooksstuff]

To my USAmericans on here, please don’t forget your power. We live in a political system that can often make us feel powerless and helpless, but this is a chance to participate in a meaningful, impactful way. Don’t forget that!

there are enough tumblr users who can vote in US battleground states to literally swing the election, do you realize that?? the election is going to come down to like 80’000 votes in those states — that could be your vote! so if you live in pennsylvania, georgia, arizona, nevada, north carolina, wisconsin, michigan, etccc your vote is going to make a huge, huge difference. please for the love of god vote (and if you live in a different state, you still need to vote too)

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

Arkansas medical marijuana supporters sue state over decision measure won’t qualify for ballot

Organizers of an effort to expand medical marijuana i n Arkansas sued the state on Tuesday for its decision that the proposal won’t qualify for the November ballot. Arkansans for Patient Access asked the state Supreme Court to order Secretary of State John Thurston’s office to certify their proposal for the ballot. Thurston on Monday said the proposal did not qualify, ruling that its petitions…

[archaalen]

Initiative to enshrine abortion rights in Missouri constitution qualifies for November ballot | AP News

[yen-sids-tournament]

Good Job, Donald! We are so proud you did your civic duty!

This poll is scheduled so it will end ~30 minutes after ballots are due in Hawaii.

We are prioritizing participation so please don't be aggressively antagonistic here. The poll is focused on/timed for the US elections but this year (2024) has been full of many important elections across the world, we hope everyone feels comfortable to press a button.

If you voted by mail/absentee in the US click the first option.

[nando161mando]

Georgia Democrats trying to block several candidates, including De la Cruz/PSL from ballot

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/georgia-democrats-kennedy-jill-stein-presidential-ballot-election

[scottguy]

Good. Finally, a decent Arizona supreme court decision.

By Peter Valencia

Published: Aug. 20, 2024 at 6:23 PM MST|Updated: moments ago

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Arizona Supreme Court rejected a final challenge to Proposition 139 that would put abortion access in the hands of voters, officially placing the measure on the ballot this year.

[dostoyevsky-official]

Different anon just watching the drama go down. I'd hand you a lemonade or something because I don't want this to be vitriolic and combative, but unfortunately this is online. No-one's going to change their mind being screamed at and at the end of the day, we're not enemies, we're people who want the same thing and have a different idea about how best to reach that (and hell, maybe I'm wrong anyway, time will tell), so I'm gonna explain my point politely, and I mean no offense, which I hope gets through in my wording but hell, I'm terrible with tone so... let my intentions be known, at least.

I'll be real, I entirely get the revulsion to the presidential election and I agree on most points: something materially needs to be done to wrench the overton window left. The issue is, that not voting *isn't worth it*. It is an unmistakable truth that there will be more death and suffering under Trump. Abortion will almost certainly be nationally banned, transgender people will very likely be criminalized for their very existance, foreign policy will be significantly worse, the right will be emboldened to further violence, ecological damage will be significantly expediated with further fossil fuels, public education will be absolutely gutted, and there is a serious chance that all future efforts for progressive reforms will be sabotaged and made significantly more difficult. And whether or not *not voting* sends a message, it may very well not matter because any actual reform is going to be 10x harder. Plus, even excepting all that, voter turnout will likely not be attributed to Gaza but with mobilization efforts or just plain luck. The amount of people tumblr may be convincing not to vote this year is far closer to the number that could further jeopardize the election than to any amount that will convince Democrats that they should go back on years of self-selection for Israel support and the interests of Oil Executives who want the US to have a hold in the Middle East, if there even is a non-double-digits percentage of potential voters dissuaded by this for them to be convinced. These opinions are so widely-held that voting numbers would have to sway to an insane degree for them to get the message on this. And EVEN STILL, after all of that, if your opinion is to personally not vote, then while I disagree as a principle, I sympathize with the reality of it and I wouldn't chastise you. I get that it's far too utilitarian to suggest that *everyone* puts aside their issues with the Democrats, especially when those issues pertain to them in specific, like those with family in Gaza.

The issue comes in when someone campaigns for others not to vote. You don't have to campaign for anyone to vote but you can't claim that you're not doing harm when you actively tell people they're morally repulsive for voting. It is emperically non-neutral. Convincing other people not to vote is actively attempting to remove other votes, which is materially different from just not voting. Saying that you're not voting because of the Democrats' policy is entirely fair if you're being neutral and don't want to symbolically support Dems. Saying that anyone who doesn't refrain from voting is a morally reprehensible liberal is a step past that, and I do think it's fair to say that *at the minimum* this message and defense isn't honest, regardless of whether or not you believe it's worth not voting.

I admit that the amount of people who are defending Kamala and saying that she and the current administration haven't been reprehensible (for more than just Gaza) aren't honest either, and I disagree with and refuse to support that message, either.

That's not to say I think that laying down and giving up are justifiable either. There are plenty of other constructive ways to make change, especially by voting in local elections and campaigning for these issues in your communities, and I want to give you credit for doing that, for voting on local issues. But the vast majority of these posts campaigning against voting and even your original post do not mention these, and frankly the carte-blanche "do not vote", even if it included an exception to vote for local issues, still would significantly decrease the number of people who vote for these, because it is ultimately still telling people not to vote.

Ultimately, I just don't find it worth it.

(P.S.: Not a liberal, absolutely a progressive who's just as frustrated, angry, and betrayed as you, I've just seen so much shit get worse over the years because of similar campaigns and I'm concerned this is happening again.)

this is the only honest and thoughtful response i've received, to which i would only add that i'm in large agreement with you—up to the point of voting in states like new york, california, etc, which is what i have been saying all day. they're clearly not up for grabs. both the RNC and the DNC know this, while people every four years forget: there's a reason there's no campaigning in massachusetts. the community of people nationwide who care about gaza and are voting is, ultimately, small. it's upsetting to see people read and watch about gaza and go vote in these states, knowing perfectly how the electoral college functions. the vantage point in those states is more or less the same as that of anyone else on earth: a participant to outcomes that are preordained and to which your voice does nothing. it is a symbolic, and therefore in its assent a reprehensible, hypocritical action, in my opinion. i've expressed my disdain for empty voting before in criticizing those russians who went to vote for nadezhdin, then davankov. it's theater signifying nothing