Regardless of who you voted for or what you stand for, the fact of the matter is that life must go on. Its time to take a hard look and learn from the election cycle and chart a path to the immediate and long term future. There are some clear take-aways and the many forms of voter suppression has taken us to places we've been before, and places we've never been. Voter suppression has consistently had an adverse effect on communities of color. This is something both parties and legal experts need to take seriously as voting rights laws may not extend to some of the item listed below:
TURNING PEOPLE AWAY OR INTIMIDATION TACTICS
According to USA Today, Zack Arias recorded a video of a poll worker telling him he would have to take off his Black Lives Matter shirt to vote in Cummings, Georgia. Moments later, a polling place manager intervened and said Arias could vote because Black Lives Matter is "not on the ballot". Some Black voters in Detroit received literature in the mail falsely telling them they had until Nov. 10th to vote due to COVID-19 concerns. Some of the mailers included a non-working Google phone number for voters to call for more information.
ENDING THE VOTING AND BALLOT COUNTING PROCESS
For better 9or for worse, trust comes into play when it comes to your vote. Votes MUST be counted and trust in the process must be earned and maintained. The toxic, emotional and partisan presidential election created an extraordinary turnout for early voting and votes by mail. There are many parties who seek to undermine the confidence and accuracy of this process and there are others that seek to suppress or make it more challenging for certain segments of the voting population to get their ballots in and counted.
FAKE NEWS, CLAIMS, LIES AND THREATS
Its easy to tell is a media outlet is partisan or not. CBS, ABC, NBC and many more don't deserve the "fake news" tag simply because they challenge the truthfulness of a candidate. The labelling of reputable, long established award-winning journalism is a clear step towards destroying a democracy. It is often the first step a dictator takes when grabbing power.
When a candidate declares victory well before the ballots are counted, its a clear threat to the election process. When a candidate argues that a winner should be announced BEFORE the votes are counted, it undermines the voting and ballot counting process, especially when so many early votes were turned in - which takes longer to count. When a candidate make false claims that an election is "rigged" or that the process is not to be trusted, without facts and merit, we have a clear threat to our democracy.
FAKE VOTING BALLOT BOXES
Both California and Boston have seen ballot drop boxes set on fire this month, destroying dozens of ballots, including in Baldwin Park, a majority-Latino Los Angeles suburb – where a ballot box containing about 100 ballots was set ablaze. Keep in mind it is a federal crime to destroy voter ballots and California also had to deal with completely fake ballot drop boxes planted to further suppress votes in key areas.
THE NEXT STEPS: GET TO WORK
The next step is to get to work and list these issues with a keen understanding that he truth is that there are those that don't care about fairness, truth, equally of justice. They see the world through self-centered and distorted lenses and feel better blaming others (the enemy).
IDENTIFY THE REAL THREAT
Hate is real and its crippling the country from rising to its full potential. The biggest threat to America are those Americans that could care less about the country as a whole, and care more about their own selfish concerns, and see everyone else as a threat. It will often necessary, take the legal route.
GET SERIOUS ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE
Deep seeded divisions, racism and hatred - animosity between "liberals, conservatives, the left, the right and the middle will persists as long as innocent Americans are killed by rogue law enforcement officers with a resulting and expected protest that follows. The police are not the enemy. The protestors are not the enemy. we have seen police and protestors engage peacefully, respectfully and effectively. However there are those within both camps that tarnish the good in both by fueling the fire with insults, abuse, and assault and battery. This is why social justice must be a high priority for this nation.
WORK TO CREATE A SMARTER VOTER: BECOME A VOTE INFLUENCER
Smart voters don't vote for people that consistently lie to them, They don't elect people that show that they are willing to break the law. When we vote the right people into office; people that that represents everyone (White, Black, Hispanic, women etc.) we have a chance at success. We need to elevate our skills and training on ways to elect people that can represent all of us, even the people you don't agree with. That requires more than we have seen thus far and that's why hate and division is rampant at this time. Our nation needs everyday people to step up and speak up for fairness and justice and vote accordingly. It takes more courage that we've seen. But this is the fight our nation needs to take on if we want America to be at its best.
Article by TCL
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