Plog Number 38
Voter Suppression
Hello ploggers. I hope this plog finds you feeling well and making progress in whatever you choose. Each day that I wake up I consider some progress has been made right there. God allowed me to see another day and that’s a good thing. But Baby Steps still count.
Earlier this evening I voted in the second primary election. The vote was pretty uneventful but the voting place kind of ticked me off. I vote at John Carroll University. It has been my polling place for several years. I headed to the usual place where we vote in the big auditorium. When we got there it was empty. My daughter had said that she saw some voting signs but I didn’t see them. And why did I even need to look, because I knew where I should be going from past elections. Once we got inside the young man at the desk said something like “you have to get in your car and drive down to the right and go to the "other building". Instantly I was livid😠. I said loud and clear to the kid behind the desk “This is VOTER SUPRESSION”. Already it was close to the closing of the polls and all I wanted was to get back home and chill, but I had to find this "other place". The young kid looked shocked and said he didn’t even know it was an election day. I think I scared him.
So my daughter and I drove to the main part of the campus and found the Vote Aqui Here signs and went in. There were no people standing around trying to thrust literature at us. There was a sign that said no Campaigning after this point, so we kept going. Then once inside we noticed a few volunteers motioning us over to them. The place was dead. We went to them and they had the usual hard time finding my name because I hyphenate. I turned around and said to my daughter “if they cant find me and try to send me somewhere else I am going to go off”. She rolled her eyes at me. She hates it when I get so “triggered”. But they found me and gave me my ballot. I was in and out of there and got my little OhIo Voted sticker and left. So I was ready for a fight for nothing. But I am hyper vigilant about voter suppression. I am pretty sure we have all seen people waiting in lines at crowded polls. Or heard about the laws that have been passed in Georgia not allowing anyone to offer water or snacks to people waiting in line to vote. I suddenly thought that I was being messed with in Ohio in an effort to stop my vote. I was not. All went well for me. But since the stakes are so high this year, I am expecting to hear lots more of these stories. It is evident that many people do not want us to vote.
By the way John Carroll changed the voting place because they are doing some work on the gym floor. They did not send out a notice but they had a big light bulb sign up about the change. Sophie saw that sign, I did not. The volunteers told us that they will be at the same place in November. There was no sinister plot involved. But, had they tried me…I was ready for them. All of this political strife is turning me into a modern day protester. If things go wrong I will not go quietly. I will be prepared and I will RECLAIM.
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