You of course understand that most such abstentions are in states where the outcome is already determined. What would a democratic vote in Pittsburgh do for your presidential votescolding?
Ohio used to be a swing state! Florida used to be a swing state! You don’t get to sit this shit out when vindictive white baby boomers are the most consistently reliable voting demographic! That’s how people end up with Ted Fucking Cruz and a gerrymandered state legislature outlawing abortion and transgender health care!
Also, let’s say you’re right, and there is genuinely no chance to flip your district from red to blue. It is still important to vote. Because if the Republicans know your district is absolutely safe, they don’t have to spend any money to keep their guy in office, they can spend the money on the place where their guy is in danger.
If your district has a rise in the number of people voting Democrat, all of a sudden your district isn’t looking that safe any longer. And they have to spend money there on ads and shit to make sure it stays safe. And that’s money they’re not spending in swing districts. That makes it easier for Democrats elsewhere to get elected.
Also, local offices are on the ballot. And local offices need a lot fewer votes to win an election than national offices.
If you have, for example, two judge positions and one of them is “tough on crime” and one of them talks about “wanting to make sure that all people get justice regardless of race or gender or any other factor” it will make a big difference to your community which one of them gets elected.
If you have two candidates for school board and one is advocating for book bans and the other one isn’t, it will make a big difference to your community which one of them gets elected.
Isn’t Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania which is a swing state? Doesn’t turning a state from firmly Democratic to firmly swing require one or both of more Republican and fewer Democratic voters?
Yes, Ohio was a swing state. Not even that long ago, seriously. Eight years.
Kansas used to be Bright Fucking Red. Now it’s trending toward maroon. We have a democrat governor. Wichita KS elected an openly trans councilwoman. We kept abortion safe and legal here. Because we fucking showed up at the polls. Sure, our piddly little two electoral votes don’t “matter” in the presidential election, but that other shit? That Fucking Matters. We have more work to do, for sure, but showing up and voting is the first step.
amhrancas 