46th LD Blog

It’s here.  The Election Day of our lifetime.

If you are older, you know there has never been an election day like this one in our lifetimes, and if you are younger, you will be telling your grandchildren about this day sometime in the future.

At the bottom of this message are things that you can do today to still help, but first, let's think about the enormity of this day.

Our Communications Co-Chair and UW professor, Jay Johnson, has shared some thoughts for this historic event:

Today, We Preserve Our Democracy with Our Vote

We currently live under minority rule.  The 53 Republican Senators represent 15 million fewer people that the 47 Democratic Senators.  The President of the United States was not the winner of the popular vote by three million votes.

Your political involvement these past years, months, and weeks, and importantly, today, could end minority rule.

“Either we become a truly multiracial democracy, or we cease to be a democracy at all.”

So say Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard professors of government and authors of “How Democracies Die”, cited in a recent Op Ed piece in the New York Times (25 Oct. 2020).

In their book, they quote E.B. White, the celebrated author of Charlotte’s Web, who wrote the following response to the U.S. Federal Government Writers’ Board, when he was asked this question during World War II:

What is Democracy?

Surely the Board knows what democracy is.

It is the line that forms on the right. It is the “don’t” in don’t shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat.

Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere.

Democracy is a letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea which hasn’t been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad.

It’s the mustard on the hot dog and the cream in the rationed coffee. Democracy is a request from a War Board, in the middle of a morning in the middle of a war, wanting to know what Democracy is.

Today is our last chance to make sure you, and every registered voter you know, votes.

Democracy will be preserved, and the majority will thank you.

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What can you do today, election day?

Check with your friends and family here and all over the nation – did they vote?

• If they live here in Washington, now is the time to take their ballot to a drop box.  Don’t mail your ballot today – take it to a drop box.  A list of all drop boxes in the state can be found by clicking here.  King County drop boxes can be found here.
• If they need a replacement ballot, they can print one out by clicking here and filling in their information.  Votewa.gov
• If they need to register to vote, and they live in King County they can head to a local vote center, which can be found by clicking here.
• If they live in another county, they should head to their county auditor’s election office, a list of which are found here.
• If they live in another state, you can find resources for all 50 states by clicking here.  In some it is too late to register, but if registered, voters can go vote.  In others, you can still register today.  Check the resource linked for the situation in each state.
• If they need help with local endorsements, our endorsements are here:  https://www.46dems.org/2020_endorsements

Consider helping today with an election day phonebank!

• If you would like to remind local 46^th LD voters who had not voted as of Saturday, consider taking on an “orphan” precinct, that is, one without a PCO.  These are relatively short lists, and they are all folks here in the 46^th.  Link here:  https://www.openvpb.com/vpb_bycode/14CAB4G-667422
• Or, Join hundreds of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris supporters as we call voters in key swing states on election day. We will be using the DemDialer to reach voters and make sure they support Joe Biden and have all the information they need to vote! And don't worry, if you have not made calls with us before, there will be a short training at the beginning. WA for Biden: https://www.mobilize.us/2020victory/event/334061/
• And, for Washington state coordinated campaign phone banks to help candidates around Washington State, go here to sign up: https://www.wa-democrats.org/organizingevents/

Join other Democrats statewide after the polls close:

We can’t hold a traditional election night party at the Westin in person this year -- but we can still be together online!

That’s exactly what we’ll do together with the Washington State Democratic Party on election night. 

It all gets started at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday night on Facebook Live and YouTube. Just click here RSVP and be notified of how to watch!

We’ll be joined by Governor Jay Inslee, Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, the Washington Democratic congressional caucus, statewide candidates, local House and Senate candidates, our Washington Democratic Party State Chair Tina Podlodowski, and musical guests Lady A and more!

You won’t want to miss it -- RSVP to join us at the Washington State Democrats Virtual Election Night Party. 

We’ll see you on Tuesday night to celebrate all our hard work this year.

The 2020 General Election Ballots have all arrived!

Oct 27 update to Oct 16 & 19 posts:  If you have not received your ballot, call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683) to check your registration and check that a ballot was mailed to you.  King County will be able to re-issue you a ballot or tell you how to replace your ballot in time to be voted and counted.

For a full Endorsement list in larger type, click here.

This year, we encourage you to:

1)  Vote your Ballot Early!

• Avoid any delay in the mail by voting and returning your ballot as soon as you possibly can.
• You can return your ballot by mail (no postage needed) or,
• You can return your ballot at an official King County Elections drop box.
• For a list and map of drop boxes, click here.
• If you do not receive your ballot by October 20, call King County Elections voter hotline at 206-296-VOTE (8683)

2) Vote your WHOLE ballot

• Every Presidential year, many voters skip the races farther down the ballot, and just vote for President and Governor. 
• All of the offices on your ballot are critical to the well-being of our government, and the passage or failure all of the ballot measures will have significant impact.
• We urge you to use our recommendations, found here:  Ballot recommendations General Election 2020

3)  Be sure to sign and date your outer envelope and use blue or black ink!

• Each general election, thousands of ballots cannot be counted because the voter forgot to sign their envelope.  Be sure to sign yours!
• Also be sure to date your envelope. If the postmark is unreadable, under state law the election office uses the handwritten date to determine if the ballot can be counted as on time.
• Fill in your ovals completely, and use ONLY blue or black ink.  Other colors cannot be read clearly by the tabulation scanner.

4)  Vote as early as you can, but no later than 8:00pm on November 3rd!

• After October 27, we recommend strongly that you drop your ballot in a drop box instead of mailing it.
• The ballot drop boxes close at 8pm SHARP on November 3rd.