This Year Is a Year When You Should Vote
--guest post by Eli Shannon, Local 328 unit steward and executive-board member--
Disillusionment. Disenfranchisement. Lack of real change. Frustration. Feeling like the system is rigged. In a normal year, I could list more reasons not to vote than to vote. No doubt, some of you who have never voted or rarely vote could name more. This article is for the non-voters (everyone else: the other articles are for you). In a more perfect world, I would have written this before the registration deadline, but fortunately, in Oregon, if you have an ID or driver’s license, you are automatically registered to vote (unless you have opted out of that system).
Maybe, like me, you feel alienated by a two-party system in which you do not see your ideals reflected. Maybe, because you know the state you live in will “go blue,” you abstain from voting and don’t worry about the consequences. Depending on how old you are, you’ve possibly heard the argument that “this year is different” -- 2004 & 2016 come to mind. Some of you are even more disillusioned with our system than I am. I understand where you are coming from, and I am still going to try to convince you that this year is a year when you should vote.
I understand your position. Despite my terror of Trump remaining president, I had to rustle up a commitment to vote for Biden, daily, until my ballot arrived and I could do the thing and be done with it. Unlike some, I will not blame you on November 4 or January 20, 2021, or October 2024, if you still choose not to participate in this election. (I might slightly resent your decision, but I will not blame you.) I blame the system, and many other factors that are not up for debate right now.
2020 is not a normal year. I don’t think in our most creative imaginations, we could have imagined back in 2016 how not normal 2020 would be, though many things that people predicted or worried about have happened. I am asking you to consider, in this topsy-turvy timeline, what your vote could mean.
We are health-care workers -- another term for Trump will make our jobs harder and more dangerous. We are union members -- another term for Trump will erode our rights as workers, for the long haul. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I am terrified of what another four years of Trump will mean for me and others in the community. Even so, I am aware that I am not likely to be the most harmed -- I am far more conscious of the fact that four more years of Trump will be devastating to BIPOC individuals and communities, especially those with intersecting marginalized identities. As someone who believes Black Lives Matter and Trans Black Lives Matter, I am voting because it will save lives. I am aware every day that the economic thread that many of us are balancing on is about to break. I am aware of the daily risks and dangers and dehumanization that our houseless neighbors live with.
I also know that the fight for people’s lives, safety and real freedom must continue after the election, no matter the outcome. But that fight will be easier if the Democratic Party wins the presidential election, without question. Unfortunately, there are lots of questions, but there is good reason to think that high voter turnout and a popular vote that sends a clear message to Trump that his time in office is over will have an impact. I am asking you to put aside the frustration you feel with a system, and to please cast a ballot for Biden this year.
Like many of us, I am also afraid of what will happen in the many possible scenarios where Trump does not win. Portland, and the whole Pacific Northwest, has been terrorized by white-supremacist and far-right groups for years -- that will not end on November 4, regardless of the election result. If it has not already become your practice, talk to your families and neighbors about these threats and about what possible scenarios could play out in November and beyond. If you aren’t already familiar with the issues, many local community groups (e.g., Portland United Against Hate, Jobs with Justice, Popular Mobilization) have published lots of information for you to read. Come up with a plan to protect yourself and your community, and inform yourself on how others will be doing the same. And keep an eye on this blog. As always, solidarity is our most powerful tool.