cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21819748
Mona Mawari
Thu 24 Oct 2024 10.46 EDT[Please read the entire article - it is very thoughtful and informative. With her record on Gaza and Lebanon, voting for Harris will be difficult for millions in the US. --PL]
Not just in Michigan, I’m in Pennsylvania and I’m staying home.
No one should be upset that [some] Arabs and Muslims are not voting for the Democrats. The Democratic Party doesn’t need our votes and they made it clear to us. They care about white suburban voters and former Trump voters. I told my representative a year ago if the genocide doesn’t stop I am not voting, she responded back with a long email about Israel’s right to defend itself. I still feel a punch in my gut every time I remember her response.
This could be a good opportunity to explore 3rd party and independent candidates that could really use your vote. There are some small benefits to voting 3rd party or independent over staying at home. Helping get a party to 5% popular vote gets them some public campaign funding in their next general election. It also shows the two Major parties that you are willing to vote, but you don’t like their platform. -That’s worth something. Lastly, politicians in the major parties like to co-opt policy ideas that originated in smaller parties. Did you know that AOC’s previously proposed Green New Deal idea did not originate in the Democrat party?
I wanted to vote third party but I read that the Democratic Party got third parties banned from the ballot. I guess if there’s a write-in option I still might.
In some states the major parties got certain candidates banned. Here in indiana the Green party is banned even as a write-in (try to make that make sense) but Cornel West as an independent is accepted and so is PSL candidate Claudia De la Cruz. In Georgia Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz are banned while the Green Party’s Jill Stein is allowed. It’s worth checking out each candidates website to see which states they have “ballot access”…
[addendum] I feel like i’m committing an injustice if I don’t mention the Libertarian party which also has ballot access in every state, though I adamantly disagree with them.
yes they tried, but they didn’t succeed everywhere; why not put that vote to good use instead letting it go?
if you’re in one of the places were the democrats succeeded; you can write them into your ballot yourself. the democrats have also made write-ins unusable; but they had less success with that than they did with banning the the green party so you have a good chance that your write in will be counted and the democrats haven’t yet started banning the other other parties so you could write-in/vote for them too.
I am in Pennsylvania, and I am going to write-in Jill Stein as it looks like I can’t for Claudia De la Cruze. Though all the ads about my voting record being public makes me think that even staying home sends the message to the Democrats.
they won’t care if you’re not part of the group they need so they won’t notice.
i’ve learned recently that the dnc has a track record of not bothering in such environments and leaving the local democrats to fend for themselves while giving symbolic support at best; if anything at all. But you’re in a battle ground state so maybe it’ll be different this time.