Your Vote Does Count!

I know many people are finding themselves concerned with reports the last couple of days of Trump indicating there will not be a peaceful transition of power. The very fact the administration is suggesting this is even more reason to get out and vote!

Be sure of one thing, contested or not, if Trump loses the election on November 3rd, he must vacate the White House on January 20, 2021. This is Constitutional law! If the results are still contested and a winner has not yet been determined, the rules of succession would go into effect at that point to determine an interim President. Seeing as Vice-President Pence will also no longer have a claim to his office, this will fall on the Speaker of the House which will be determined by January 11, 2021, when the House comes into session after the elections. If Trump and his administration refuse to leave the White House, Constitutional law allows for them to forcefully be removed by military forces, and any person still serving Trump (including Trump himself) can be charged with treason.

Granted, the GOP is trying to stack the deck as we speak to try to put a wrinkle in this process. Seriously, anything can happen following November 3rd. This is why we MUST get out and vote. I know we are in the middle of a pandemic, but I do not believe we can trust mail-in ballots as long as this administration continues to attack their validity. We must don our masks, carry our hand sanitizer, wait in line as long as we may have to, and cast our votes in person! We must turn out to the polls!

Do not let the media, the administration, or your neighbors deter you from voting. Your vote does count. Your vote will be counted. We have to get out there and make sure that we have the numbers to show undeniably who the winner of the election is. We can't give them any excuses to throw out votes.

At polling stations this year, you may be met with resistance. I fully anticipate people showing up at the polls intent on discouraging people from voting, especially people of color. Hopefully, we will not see any violence at the polls, but surely anything is possible this election year. Even with the possibility, your vote is important, and the very fact that someone would be dead set on trying to stop you from casting your vote should give you an idea of how important your vote really is!

There is so much at stake this election. Civil rights, women's rights, LBGTQ+ rights, immigration rights, our right to free speech, our right to freedom of religion...all of these things are on the table, now. It does not matter if a precedent has already been set in prior laws and decisions. As proven through these past 4 years, these things can be thrown out of the window! How many Obama-era policies were thrown out with the stroke of a pen? If this administration is successful in filling the vacant Supreme Court seat before the end of the year, how many rulings are set to be overturned by a conservative majority? Roe v Wade? Decisions on what the Civil Rights Act actually protects? Anything not firmly written into law can be challenged. A prior court decision in itself is not law...it is merely an interpretation of the law, and can be challenged and overturned at any time with the right combination of Justices.

If we do not turn out to vote and take back the country FOR THE PEOPLE, we risk being at the mercy of Trump, his family, and the GOP for a very long time. The only way we can restore checks and balances is to vote this administration out of the White House.

Mask up, rise up, and vote!