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  • Politics Is Like Hiring A Hitman
    by Scott Woods inPolitical on2020-08-13

    For me, politics is like hiring a hitman. I have values and things I care about. I care enough about them to at least bother voting for 5 minutes every year for one issue or another. And because I care at least that much, I vote for people who align with the ability to realize the things I care about.

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  • Punching Above Our Weight
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-07-24

    I believe our vote is the punctuation of our voice. Without that resounding exclamation mark, I believe our voices are just incoherent noise.

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  • BLACK PROGRESS AMIDST SOCIAL CHAOS
    by Roger Madison Jr. inPolitical on2020-06-16

    Recent events have raised the profile of historical injustice and inequities here in the USA. The entire world has taken note of the fact that BLACK LIVES MATTER.   We invite all of our friends to engage in actions that result in the greatest movement for change in our history. It is imperative that we take advantage of this opportunity to affect a positive change by ACTING IN OUR SELF-INTERESTS.

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  • Living in a Black No-Man's Land
    by Roger Madison Jr. inOur Community on2019-10-28

    There are many narratives that define the Black experience in America in this 2nd decade of the 21st century. Our striving over the centuries of our sojourn in this nation is a tapestry of every human experience -- oppression, enslavement, forced assimilation, dehumanization, exclusion, segregation, isolation, struggle, perseverance, achievement, excellence, celebration, mourning, despair, progress, setbacks, lynching, assassination, genocide, terror, self-hatred, low esteem, pride,...

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  • Fighting Racism
    by Scott Woods inOur Community on2018-10-25

    I had a boss who was racist. Not an outright bigot, of course; her toolbox was more subtle than most. We bumped heads a lot over inconsequential things. She frequently couldn’t keep my name out her mouth. Lot of gaslighting. You know…2018 style. I tried a lot of ways to combat or navigate her issues. None of them worked, and that’s saying a lot because I’m really good at fighting racism. But at the end of the day – every day – she was my boss, I had to deal with her, and that was that. Finally I...

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Obama vs. McCain -- 35 days to go. Nov. 4 Isn't the Only Election Day

Yesterday opened Ohio's unusual week-long window in which voters can register and cast absentee ballots at the same time. Hundreds arrived in steady streams, part of a first wave of people already voting across the country, five weeks before Election Day.

Nationally, early voting, by mail or in person, is becoming more common and is likely to account for one-third of all votes cast in the November elections, up from 14 percent in 2000, predicts Paul Gronke, a researcher with the Early Voting Information Center in Portland, Ore. 

 Thirty-one states -- not including Maryland, Virginia or the District -- allow no-excuse early voting. Others allow absentee voting, by mail or in person, only with an excuse. In Oregon, all voting is done by mail.  Click here for more details: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/absentearly.htm

All states offer voters the option of voting prior to the election.  In some states, the ballots are returned by mail.  This is referred to as absentee voting.  Other states permit voters to vote in person at the offices of county clerks or at other satellite voting locations.  This is referred to as early voting or in-person absentee voting.

Absentee voting is conducted by mail-in paper ballot prior to the day of the election.  While all states offer some version of it, there is quite a lot of variation in states' procedures for absentee voting.  For instance, some states offer "no-excuse" absentee voting, allowing any registered voter to vote absentee without requiring that the voter state a reason for his/her desire to vote absentee.  Other states permit voters to vote absentee only under a limited set of circumstances.

No-Excuse Absentee Voting
The following states permit any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot.  Voters are not required to state their reason or excuse for voting by absentee ballot.
 
Alaska
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Maine
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Carolina
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon*
South Dakota
Utah
Vermont
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
 
Vote early if you can.  This election is going to be the highest turnout in recent history.  Avoid the lines, and take advantage of the early voting in your state.  For more details go to  http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/absentearly.htm.