Just letting you know that I ducked out to see my New Zealand friend this morning, and as we were walking bumped into Johnny from HEALTH (if you know, you know) - and he had voting papers in hand and was OFF TO THE BOOTH!
That’s amazing!! Rat wars is so great. I blast it at the record shop whenever I’m working.
P.s. thanks for the shoutout on flightless bird today. I’m the guy who convinced those girls I was Taylor Hanson. Just wanted to follow up and let you know I was 14 in 1997 when I did it. I had recently become a world class shit disturber. So it was just teenage stupidity.
I woke up at 4am with a bad feeling, pit in the stomach you might say that the unthinkable has happened… it has. Americans dropped the ball hard, and have allowed a tyrant once again into our highest seat of power. God fucking damnit, I’m furious!!
Canadian here, absolutely gutted. My faith in humanity is gone. And now this bullshit will trickle into the next Canadian election. I want off of this planet.
somehow I manage to keep finding capacity for sheer disappointment in my fellow man. writing this off as a bunch of ignorance or party-line stuff is copium for the reality... actually I won't finish that sentence since this is meant to be a safe zone
Hello from a poll warden in Massachusetts! We’ve had to ask three people remove their MAGA hats as of 10:30 am, but the general vibe has been good. LOTS of first time and infrequent voters!
I’m the guy who makes sure everyone who’s on the list gets to vote for my district of about 2000 voters - and who figures out whether people who aren’t on the list should be (and gets their votes counted!). I’m a nonpartisan city employee, just for the day!
Today I thanked a whole bunch of the poll workers at my precinct as I was going through. I'm in a "swing state" at a point where there could be a lot of contention between different perspectives (and a lot of opposing political signs abound), but even then I still have faith in a rational, calm election and we'll see what results are collected from all of the votes.
That’s interesting. I’m English but live in New Zealand now. An England election day always had a party atmosphere with cars driving round the streets with megaphones urging people to vote and people even going door to door to remind people. There was always a group of ‘tellers’ outside polling booths with the rosettes of their respective parties (usually quite cordial with one another too). I loved all that. Here in NZ anything related to a candidate has to come down by midnight the night before polling day and there’s none of the rallying the masses to vote activity or political colours on show at the polling stations. I find it all rather flat and dull - although I was glad to see the back of the Labour placard in our garden last time because we had creeps climbing onto our front wall at night several times to deface it with abuse. It was quite disturbing - especially as I found myself contemplating spraying the wall with cooking oil or scattering broken glass onto it.
Yes the NZ rules still require no campaigning as of midnight before Election Day (even though campaigning continues as normal throughout the Early Voting period). However, political parties ARE permitted to (and the Labour Party always do) go doorknocking (wearing a rosette or small badge is the only party identifier allowed to validate your identity, no candidate names) to encourage people to get out and cast their vote before the ballot closes, and to indicate where the closest polling stations are - but we are not permitted to say anything (including no answering of questions) about which party or candidate voters should vote for, same as the rules have always been for Election Day. The introduction of early voting in general electorates in NZ has made it much easier for busy people to vote, which is good, so doorknocking on Election Day to encourage the undecideds and too-busy-and-forgot voters to go and cast their very important ballot, is not the mad scramble it used to be.
I always feel a slight bit of relief when I pass those signs that are the border from the campaigning happening outside and the point at which that ceases.
Heading out to Huntington Beach with Jess, my wonderful kiwi friend who's in town from Roswell (she does all our Webworm merch and she's great and always up for weird).
This is the first time I’ve felt anxiety about an election. Usually I feel anticipation and pride to live in a country where we are lucky enough to have the right to free impartial elections. Today I’m just anxious.. like waiting for a call from your doctor with test results..because Trump is actually the least of our worries .. he is just the poster boy for a very dangerous movement. So I’m going to walk my dog bake some cookies and focus on good things. Hang in there friends.
I am curious how long we are going to be stuck in this anxiety. Would be really nice if it's all over today - but I imagine like January next year at the earliest?
I’m not sure it will stop then at least for me.. if Trump wins we are opening a floodgate to all the movements that hide under him. That’s what is so frightening about this election..I think there is a group of Trump supporters who still see him as he was the first time he ran and won .. the charismatic businessman reality show character.. what they aren’t seeing is he no longer has control over the other movements .. project 2025. Those voters may not agree with the sub groups but don’t see that they are just using him to secure votes to push their agendas. The stress is never the devil you know it’s the unknown
Right? I heard somewhere that the reason Trump's first (and hopefully last) presidency was so relatively benign is because even his own damn supporters really didn't expect him to win. So the GoP didn't really have a plan in place for if he did win.
This time they do. Project 2025.
I wish I could say that down here in lil ol' New Zealand we're unaffected, but unfortunately, a number of right-wing politicians here want to bring US style politics here and model a LOT of their policies on US ones.
It was on US election day in 2016, 8 years ago, that I met my now-husband for our first date - as the day unfolded we were texting in disbelief at the results, and he asked me out for “end of the world drinks”. We met at the Green Beacon brewery in Brisbane and chatted for hours (only a little bit about US politics).
Now we’re married with a child and while the US elections have been so acrimonious, they always remind me of this very happy turning point in my life! May you all find a moment of happiness and love in the chaos of the day. 🥰
I decided to spend today within the belly of the beast, so I’m walking around Washington D.C. and just…taking it all in.
BUT I am wearing my Dolly Parton For President shirt in case all hell breaks loose, because after a ton of travel, I’ve found a love for her to be a common thread among voters of every kind.
Hello from a little blue bubble surrounded by an ocean of red that is Birmingham, Alabama! Just waited in a very long line to cast my vote. Vibes were good in the line, lot's of people wearing blue (myself included lol). Granted I did peep a woman's ballot as I got in line to submit mine - she had circled the bubble Trump/Vance.. IMO it's such a huge slap in the face to every woman in the US knowing that there really are women out there casting a vote for these two vile humans. We have so much work to do regardless of the outcome, but I'm still "nauseously hopeful" about the results.
It would be so amazing if that poll was correct for Iowa (I'm cynical that it's just an outlier.. but.. you never know). I'm a kiwi, but my sister lives in Iowa, and this is the first time that she and my niece are eligible to vote over there. So there's two new blue votes in the Iowa pot :-) Every vote counts!
Polls, especially the closer we get to a big election, have a tendency to trend towards a consensus. Selzer is one of the best political pollsters. Her company is also based in Iowa and is particularly reputable for the state.
She may be wrong, of course. But I'm hoping that the gap represents other polls trending towards consensus, and more accurate data and a better methodology from Selzer rather than it being an outlier.
Another thing my sister mentioned, is that there's a lot fewer Trump signs and flags in people's yards in her area this election, compared to previous years. So that's another hopeful sign.
I'm expecting we'll see some very interesting results where people voting R in general just skip the Governor race because they're not willing to mark for him. Should be pretty visible in some of the overall counts.
There's another angle for some segment of voters. Even though NC doesn't have an option to vote straight party, a lot of voters still do that obviously. And voting behavior is weird, so a change to Stein over Robinson might also swing someone's vote to Harris.
I’m sitting up here in Canada being very anxious and hoping I don’t have to chug the entire bottle of nice bourbon I just bought. Though if Kamala wins I guess I have to try and get my life together lol.
Please Americans, don’t unleash an authoritarian USA on the world.
I work for the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood and this was my first election season working in advocacy. I have knocked hundreds of doors, made likely over 1,000 phone calls, sent hundreds of post cards, in order to reach people who might otherwise be less likely to show up to the polls.
I live in Indiana, a red state with a republican supermajority, and I’m so tired! 😭 Not just of the election, but always fighting an uphill battle while knowing what’s at stake. And while it’s the work I do all day, it’s not like I can ever stop thinking about it on a personal level either, so right now it’s totally overwhelming. I just want to hibernate for the rest of the week!
I am so nervous about the election that I am too nervous to attend therapy. Which seems ridiculous?
I love my home and community but I am starting to spiral and think that if Trump wins my wife and I should sell our place and move to Finland. Is that giving up? Stupid because crazy people are everywhere? I can not even think straight. This post contains zero helpful information for anyone.
Agreed. I did go to therapy and just talked about new art I like with my therapist instead of anything too important. She did tell me to take a walk so I’m now on a walk with one of our cats. I’m sure everyone has been waiting for this very important update lol
I’m mostly disassociating today. Still have to go to class and do homework and have my therapy appointment and drop off my ballot.
The last election I voted from Ireland where I was living at the time and because of the time difference and the fact that trump had so royally screwed up during his tenure, I didn’t have any anxiety about it.
I do worry he will win this one though. If Harris had welcomed Palestinian speakers to the DNC stage, or had done anything besides openly supporting Israel, I wouldn’t be as worried.
Just letting you know that I ducked out to see my New Zealand friend this morning, and as we were walking bumped into Johnny from HEALTH (if you know, you know) - and he had voting papers in hand and was OFF TO THE BOOTH!
That’s amazing!! Rat wars is so great. I blast it at the record shop whenever I’m working.
P.s. thanks for the shoutout on flightless bird today. I’m the guy who convinced those girls I was Taylor Hanson. Just wanted to follow up and let you know I was 14 in 1997 when I did it. I had recently become a world class shit disturber. So it was just teenage stupidity.
I woke up at 4am with a bad feeling, pit in the stomach you might say that the unthinkable has happened… it has. Americans dropped the ball hard, and have allowed a tyrant once again into our highest seat of power. God fucking damnit, I’m furious!!
god america, what the fuck
I'm an Australian, and I feel physically ill.
- Awful news for women everywhere
- Awful news for Palestinians
- Awful news for Ukrainians
- Awful news for people of colour
- Awful news for scientists
- Awful news for civil servants
- Awful news for immigrants
- Awful news for the sick
- Awful news for those in poverty
- Honestly, awful news for the entire world.
What. The. Fuck. America.
And the climate
And bizarrely American "patriots" given his previous generals and SoD call him a threat to democracy
Canadian here, absolutely gutted. My faith in humanity is gone. And now this bullshit will trickle into the next Canadian election. I want off of this planet.
somehow I manage to keep finding capacity for sheer disappointment in my fellow man. writing this off as a bunch of ignorance or party-line stuff is copium for the reality... actually I won't finish that sentence since this is meant to be a safe zone
My feelings exactly
Hello from a poll warden in Massachusetts! We’ve had to ask three people remove their MAGA hats as of 10:30 am, but the general vibe has been good. LOTS of first time and infrequent voters!
Welcome, poll warden! Can you please explain to me, a silly New Zealander, what a "poll warden" is?
I’m the guy who makes sure everyone who’s on the list gets to vote for my district of about 2000 voters - and who figures out whether people who aren’t on the list should be (and gets their votes counted!). I’m a nonpartisan city employee, just for the day!
Thank you!
Thank you for your efforts!!
Today I thanked a whole bunch of the poll workers at my precinct as I was going through. I'm in a "swing state" at a point where there could be a lot of contention between different perspectives (and a lot of opposing political signs abound), but even then I still have faith in a rational, calm election and we'll see what results are collected from all of the votes.
Thank you for your work. Stay safe.
Fingers crossed there isn't too much trouble! Thank you for doing a super important and valuable job.
Thank you for doing such an important job❤️
Hello fellow Mass resident!! Stay strong over there! We're gonna be ok ❤️❤️
Is partisan apparel not allowed?
Nope! Nothing with any candidate or issue on the current ballot is allowed within 100 ft of the polling place!
That’s interesting. I’m English but live in New Zealand now. An England election day always had a party atmosphere with cars driving round the streets with megaphones urging people to vote and people even going door to door to remind people. There was always a group of ‘tellers’ outside polling booths with the rosettes of their respective parties (usually quite cordial with one another too). I loved all that. Here in NZ anything related to a candidate has to come down by midnight the night before polling day and there’s none of the rallying the masses to vote activity or political colours on show at the polling stations. I find it all rather flat and dull - although I was glad to see the back of the Labour placard in our garden last time because we had creeps climbing onto our front wall at night several times to deface it with abuse. It was quite disturbing - especially as I found myself contemplating spraying the wall with cooking oil or scattering broken glass onto it.
Yes the NZ rules still require no campaigning as of midnight before Election Day (even though campaigning continues as normal throughout the Early Voting period). However, political parties ARE permitted to (and the Labour Party always do) go doorknocking (wearing a rosette or small badge is the only party identifier allowed to validate your identity, no candidate names) to encourage people to get out and cast their vote before the ballot closes, and to indicate where the closest polling stations are - but we are not permitted to say anything (including no answering of questions) about which party or candidate voters should vote for, same as the rules have always been for Election Day. The introduction of early voting in general electorates in NZ has made it much easier for busy people to vote, which is good, so doorknocking on Election Day to encourage the undecideds and too-busy-and-forgot voters to go and cast their very important ballot, is not the mad scramble it used to be.
It's state dependent! Some are okay with openly partisan attire, and some want you 50ft from the front door/window. :)
I always feel a slight bit of relief when I pass those signs that are the border from the campaigning happening outside and the point at which that ceases.
Neat! Thanks for helping 💙
Heading out to Huntington Beach with Jess, my wonderful kiwi friend who's in town from Roswell (she does all our Webworm merch and she's great and always up for weird).
I’m glad you have a friend with you. Take care! 💙
This is the first time I’ve felt anxiety about an election. Usually I feel anticipation and pride to live in a country where we are lucky enough to have the right to free impartial elections. Today I’m just anxious.. like waiting for a call from your doctor with test results..because Trump is actually the least of our worries .. he is just the poster boy for a very dangerous movement. So I’m going to walk my dog bake some cookies and focus on good things. Hang in there friends.
I am curious how long we are going to be stuck in this anxiety. Would be really nice if it's all over today - but I imagine like January next year at the earliest?
I’m not sure it will stop then at least for me.. if Trump wins we are opening a floodgate to all the movements that hide under him. That’s what is so frightening about this election..I think there is a group of Trump supporters who still see him as he was the first time he ran and won .. the charismatic businessman reality show character.. what they aren’t seeing is he no longer has control over the other movements .. project 2025. Those voters may not agree with the sub groups but don’t see that they are just using him to secure votes to push their agendas. The stress is never the devil you know it’s the unknown
Right? I heard somewhere that the reason Trump's first (and hopefully last) presidency was so relatively benign is because even his own damn supporters really didn't expect him to win. So the GoP didn't really have a plan in place for if he did win.
This time they do. Project 2025.
I wish I could say that down here in lil ol' New Zealand we're unaffected, but unfortunately, a number of right-wing politicians here want to bring US style politics here and model a LOT of their policies on US ones.
It could be over today, especially for you lucky ducks three hours behind in time. It really depends on how the electoral college shapes up.
(Also: Fuck the electoral college.)
2020 was more terrifying to me but I think it's because I was more worried Trump would pull off a military coup while in office.
It was on US election day in 2016, 8 years ago, that I met my now-husband for our first date - as the day unfolded we were texting in disbelief at the results, and he asked me out for “end of the world drinks”. We met at the Green Beacon brewery in Brisbane and chatted for hours (only a little bit about US politics).
Now we’re married with a child and while the US elections have been so acrimonious, they always remind me of this very happy turning point in my life! May you all find a moment of happiness and love in the chaos of the day. 🥰
This is so sweet and I’m so glad you found light in the darkness❤️
Lovely story! Hope and peace in there 🥰
This is not feeling good so far. No big insight here besides it appears it'll be Trump, right?
I just feel sick.
No. But, yes? But please no. Really, really please no.
Hello from the UK. Watching with interest and really hoping you guys dodge the big orange bullet.
Please stay safe out there, David. I'm very worried that things might get violent.
Thanks for giving us a place to chat, it's hard holding all this anxiety with nowhere to really put it
Oh I found a tweet which actually managed to make me laugh, and I think you'd enjoy it David
https://twitter.com/JurassicPark2go/status/1853817498275020939?t=5rH2K145Czgc5rIVAle5Wg&s=19
Ha! For those who aren't on X - from "Jurassic Park Updates":
"Letting the dinos out regardless of the outcome. Who gives a shit. im so done"
I decided to spend today within the belly of the beast, so I’m walking around Washington D.C. and just…taking it all in.
BUT I am wearing my Dolly Parton For President shirt in case all hell breaks loose, because after a ton of travel, I’ve found a love for her to be a common thread among voters of every kind.
In times of moral dilemma, it's always best to stop and think "What would Dolly do?"
Hello from a little blue bubble surrounded by an ocean of red that is Birmingham, Alabama! Just waited in a very long line to cast my vote. Vibes were good in the line, lot's of people wearing blue (myself included lol). Granted I did peep a woman's ballot as I got in line to submit mine - she had circled the bubble Trump/Vance.. IMO it's such a huge slap in the face to every woman in the US knowing that there really are women out there casting a vote for these two vile humans. We have so much work to do regardless of the outcome, but I'm still "nauseously hopeful" about the results.
I've been glued to poll analysis (Selzer please be right about Iowa), but it's all been surreal.
Then I saw his fucking name on the ballot.
Again.
It suddenly became real. I might live in a country that elects this insane narcissist for a second term as president.
My one solace today is knowing that Mark Robinson is definitely not getting elected for NC governor.
It would be so amazing if that poll was correct for Iowa (I'm cynical that it's just an outlier.. but.. you never know). I'm a kiwi, but my sister lives in Iowa, and this is the first time that she and my niece are eligible to vote over there. So there's two new blue votes in the Iowa pot :-) Every vote counts!
Polls, especially the closer we get to a big election, have a tendency to trend towards a consensus. Selzer is one of the best political pollsters. Her company is also based in Iowa and is particularly reputable for the state.
She may be wrong, of course. But I'm hoping that the gap represents other polls trending towards consensus, and more accurate data and a better methodology from Selzer rather than it being an outlier.
We'll find out soon! 🫠
That does sound pretty solid :-)
Another thing my sister mentioned, is that there's a lot fewer Trump signs and flags in people's yards in her area this election, compared to previous years. So that's another hopeful sign.
That Selzer poll got me through the weekend!
As a North Carolinian, I'm hoping that other MAGA downballot races here don't get in as a result of their ties to Mark.
I'm expecting we'll see some very interesting results where people voting R in general just skip the Governor race because they're not willing to mark for him. Should be pretty visible in some of the overall counts.
There's another angle for some segment of voters. Even though NC doesn't have an option to vote straight party, a lot of voters still do that obviously. And voting behavior is weird, so a change to Stein over Robinson might also swing someone's vote to Harris.
I’m rooting for Jeff
There's no way Robinson is getting elected.
I’m sitting up here in Canada being very anxious and hoping I don’t have to chug the entire bottle of nice bourbon I just bought. Though if Kamala wins I guess I have to try and get my life together lol.
Please Americans, don’t unleash an authoritarian USA on the world.
WE ARE REALLY TRYING!! I PROMISE!! I don't know what half this country is thinking, it's truly mind boggling.
I work for the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood and this was my first election season working in advocacy. I have knocked hundreds of doors, made likely over 1,000 phone calls, sent hundreds of post cards, in order to reach people who might otherwise be less likely to show up to the polls.
I live in Indiana, a red state with a republican supermajority, and I’m so tired! 😭 Not just of the election, but always fighting an uphill battle while knowing what’s at stake. And while it’s the work I do all day, it’s not like I can ever stop thinking about it on a personal level either, so right now it’s totally overwhelming. I just want to hibernate for the rest of the week!
You are amazing. I hope you can sit back and take a breath at SOME point today.
I am so nervous about the election that I am too nervous to attend therapy. Which seems ridiculous?
I love my home and community but I am starting to spiral and think that if Trump wins my wife and I should sell our place and move to Finland. Is that giving up? Stupid because crazy people are everywhere? I can not even think straight. This post contains zero helpful information for anyone.
Your anxiety brain telling you not to therapy is lying! But you are not alone and among friends.
Agreed. I did go to therapy and just talked about new art I like with my therapist instead of anything too important. She did tell me to take a walk so I’m now on a walk with one of our cats. I’m sure everyone has been waiting for this very important update lol
hei kiitos. miksi kirjoitimme englanniksi lol? toivottavasti saat nukuttua 💛
This post is helpful because you are not alone!
I’m mostly disassociating today. Still have to go to class and do homework and have my therapy appointment and drop off my ballot.
The last election I voted from Ireland where I was living at the time and because of the time difference and the fact that trump had so royally screwed up during his tenure, I didn’t have any anxiety about it.
I do worry he will win this one though. If Harris had welcomed Palestinian speakers to the DNC stage, or had done anything besides openly supporting Israel, I wouldn’t be as worried.
That's the power of AIPAC for you.