Okay I wanna piggy back off of the previous reply to show yâall something real quick. I live in New York state, in The City(yes, that one). One of those âmy vote will never matter because the state always goes blue!â states.Â
Hereâs the map of the results for New York state in the 2016 presidential election:
Now I know youâre thinking - holy shit balls thatâs a lot of red!Â
And youâre fucking goddamn right it is! Trump had 36% of the vote in New York in 2016. For reference, although thatâs about the percentage that usually goes to the republican candidate, here are the maps for 2008 and 2012 respectively:
Before I get into the main part of this post, wanna know WHY all those areas that were blue in 2008 and 2012 were suddenly red in 2016? In 2008 and 2012, Independents got less than 2% of the total votes. In 2016? Almost 6%. Not a big difference in the grand scheme, but this is a really great example of how even a small number can make a huge difference.
Now, see that teeny, tiny, area of dark blue down at the bottom? Thatâs New York City. New York City is literally the only reason New York State always goes blue. This ONE FUCKING CITY is the reason people are so sure that New York - which holds 29 electoral votes - will never, ever, go to a republican. And under normal circumstances, while that doesnât make me comfortable, it does hold a certain amount of weight. Itâs also why in the 2016 election I voted in my home county of Schoharie - one of those nice bright red areas up north.
Except hereâs the thing about 2020. New York City is fucking empty.Â
24,000 people died of coronavirus in New York City alone this summer.Â
An additional estimated 500,000 - no you are not reading that number wrong - have either moved out or been evicted. I work as a dog walker, and a full 60% of my client base has left the city and told me they are not planning to come back. Theyâve left for places like Connecticut(7 electoral votes), or Massachusetts(11), or Vermont(3) or Florida or Texas or - you get my point. Now that they have been unemployed for six+ months, and the eviction freeze has been lifted, a shit ton of people are being forced to leave, and people with kids are also abandoning the city for somewhere less populated.Â
And even further? No one I know has received their requested mail-in ballots yet. No one. Not a single person. The virus is still active(and yeah, weâre down to <1% infection rate, but schools are about to open back up so :) ) Voting takes place in schools. it is likely many people will not be able to risk voting in person - especially if we see an uptick in cases as kids return. Which means if their mail in ballots donât arrive in time, they may not be able to vote at all.Â
Hilary had around 4.5 million votes from New York - 2 million of those came from NYC and the surrounding boroughs. She won the popular vote in this state by 1.8 million votes.
Now, yes, a small number of the people who have left NYC are also Trump Voters. Something like 15% of NYCâs vote went to Trump. But a much higher percentage are democratic - and committedly democratic - votes. Healthcare workers suffered disproportionately from CV deaths. Startups, Small business owners, College and recent college grads, Theatre workers? Theyâre all gone.
New York State can, honestly, no longer be counted on to go blue no matter who abstains from voting or who votes third party because of the toll the virus has taken on the city. We really do need every single person who is able to vote, to do so. Not because itâs fun, or it makes you happy. Not because you believe 100% in the american democratic system. Because the people you - yes - you, the abstainers - have counted on to uphold your few, dwindling democratic freedoms, can no longer be counted on to do so alone.
Gerrymandering sucks. The electoral college needs to be abolished. But it is specifically because those things are still in place that you need to vote if you are able. We absolutely should be fighting the system. But we cannot abandon it to let it fall to ruin and leave the people affected by that fallout to die because of it while we gather our strength. And yes. People will die. If this summer has taught us anything, let it be that elections fucking matter and in the coming years, our leadership absolutely has the ability to determine how many of us survive.
TL;DR: If you have the ability to vote please fucking use it. This is not a normal election year, and the safeguards that have been in place are no longer to be relied upon.
We havenât forgotten how 2016 went down - when we say vote itâs because we remember how much of a difference a very small number of people could have made, and we know that this year, that difference is even more important.
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