{"id":8979,"date":"2006-11-07T08:57:49","date_gmt":"2006-11-07T13:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8979.html"},"modified":"2006-11-07T08:57:49","modified_gmt":"2006-11-07T13:57:49","slug":"your-turn-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/your-turn-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Your turn"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president recently drew widespread laughter by labeling himself, “The Decider.” The truth, of course, is that Bush got it wrong. In our system, the president doesn’t decide, you do. And it’s time for you to make that choice.<\/p>\n

I’ve been looking forward to today since, well, almost exactly two years ago<\/a>. I suppose it’s safe to assume that if you’re reading this site, there’s no reason to remind you to vote, but I feel compelled to urge you to participate anyway. Even if you live in an uncompetitive district, in a safe “blue” state, get out there anyway and help send a message that the whole nation can hear: we’ve had enough and we need a change for the better.<\/p>\n

A few thoughts\/links as the day gets underway:<\/p>\n

* Not sure where your polling place is? The DNC has a handy online resource<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* The DNC has also created a voter protection hotline for those who’ve experienced or witnessed voter suppression or voting irregularities: 1 888 DEM VOTE. People can record testimonials, which could be the foundation for any legal action, as well as a reliable central repository for follow-up contact information. (This number operates 24\/7 in English and Spanish.)<\/p>\n

* MoveOn.org has created ProtectOurVotes.org<\/a>, which will be tracking electoral problems today. It will be a valuable resource.
\n
\n* Just to be on the safe side, bring your I.D. with you to the polls. The rules vary in different states.<\/p>\n

* Don’t forget provisional ballots, if the someone tries to stop you from voting. The New York Times explained a while back, “No voter can be turned away in any state without being allowed to vote. If there is a question about your eligibility, you must be allowed to vote on a provisional ballot, the validity of which will be determined later. But if you are entitled to vote on a regular ballot, you should insist on doing so, since a provisional ballot may be disqualified later on a technicality.”<\/p>\n

* If you’re voting after work, get in line — and stay in line — even if it looks like you won’t get the chance to vote before the polls close. If you’re in line, officials are not supposed to be able to turn you away.<\/p>\n

* If voting is particularly heavy in your area, and voting lines stretch outside, be sure to bring an umbrella, comfortable shoes, and if you live anywhere near me, a coat.<\/p>\n

* As for today’s Carpetbagger schedule, I plan to write\/post pretty much all day and well into the night. I probably won’t do my usual campaign-related round-up at noon, because, well, today’s Election Day and the campaign news is pretty much over.<\/p>\n

Here’s to an encouraging day….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president recently drew widespread laughter by labeling himself, “The Decider.” The truth, of course, is that Bush got it wrong. In our system, the president doesn’t decide, you do. And it’s time for you to make that choice. I’ve been looking forward to today since, well, almost exactly two years ago. I suppose it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8979\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}