Election news

[owlmoose]

I spent a fair amount of the evening checking in on Twitter for news about today's election. While not everything went the Democrats' way, getting control of both houses of Virginia's legislature is a pretty huge win. A Democratic trifecta in Virginia has implications for gun control, voting rights, and control of redistricting in the state. On a national level, I've also heard talk that Virginia is now in a position to ratify the Equal Right Amendment, making them the 38th state to do so... and that would put the ERA over the finish line to be an official part of the US Constitution. It's not a guarantee, because when Congress passed the ERA in 1972, they put a seven year limit on ratification. Whether Congress has the right to remove that time limit is a big old open question, so who knows how it would actually play out. A story to watch, anyway.

Also, Kentucky appears to have elected a Democratic governor, although it's super close and likely to go to a recount. But it's harder to see that one as a harbinger for big Democratic gains next year, since every other statewide office went to the GOP by a comfortable margin. The Republican incumbent governor was *wildly* unpopular, in part because he said things about teachers that even his GOP colleagues thought went too far. Still, Mitch McConnell is almost as unpopular, so can we dare to hope? If nothing else I expect the Democrats will make a credible run for his seat next year. Another story to watch.

San Francisco had a municipal election today -- for some unfathomable reason, our citywide officials are all elected in off years, so we get to have an election every single November. Lucky us. Anyway, the most important race is an open seat for District Attorney; because we use ranked choice voting and there are four candidates, all with some shot of winning, we won't know the outcome for awhile. There were also some propositions because of course there are some propositions. The one that's gotten the most buzz was Proposition C, an attempt by Juul to take out a ban on selling vaping products that was passed by our Board of Supervisors last year. It's failing, badly, as expected. One proposition that might pass is a hefty tax on Uber and Lyft -- as of this writing, it's running ahead, at exactly the 66.6% that it needs to pass. My issues with the ride hailing companies are legion, too much to go into right now (but if you want to hear the rant another day, let me know); for now let's just say I'll be very happy if this goes into effect.

What does not make me happy is low voter turnout. I made it to the polls less than an hour before they closed, and according to the voting machine, I was the 27th person to vote in my precinct. A lot of Californians vote by mail -- you're allowed to be a permanent absentee voter here -- but still, that seems pretty shameful. In my wealthy/upper middle class neighborhood, in a state with some of the strongest voting rights laws in the country, the most likely cause of low turnout is apathy, and there's no excuse for that. Let's hope it doesn't persist into 2020.

Comments

[conuly]

Let's hope that in 2020, the only low turnout voters are the MAGA asshats. I don't usually say things in that vein, but omg.

[owlmoose]

Yeah, I hear you on that one.

[oracne]

Philly had way better turnout than usual, but a few polling places apparently had trouble coping with the lines. We also had new voting machines, which worked, but people have to get used to them.

[owlmoose]

You had a hotly contested city council seat, right? A race that's in the news a lot can draw out the voters. We had a special election for mayor last year that I think got bigger turnout than usual for a special election, although I can't remember exactly. I just wish more people cared about local elections that weren't in the news.

[zahraa]

Thanks for the update. Good to hear some good news. I would so love to see McConnell voted out. It would be so much too little, too late, but it would still be so wildly satisfying.

[cynthia1960]

I want that deadline for ERA ratification shot into the heart of the Sun.

[ladythmpr]

When I went to vote, and signed the voter book, the vast majority of the book indicated that the voter was sent a ballot by mail. I'm old school, I like to go to the polls to vote, but apparently, I'm in the minority, because at 6pm, I was voter #50. The only time I voted using an absentee ballot, I was actually going to be away on Election Day.