hMy drawing and paintings are on Instagram @klonskyart
We are in the midst of Illinois early voting. It is party primaries in state and congressional races and some judges.
Sadly, voting turnout is headed for a record low.
Illinois has one of the most open voting processes in the country.
But so far, the highest turnout has been among inmates in Cook County jail.
The problem may stem from the fact that Democratic Party voters, which include most of the voters in this blue state, will face state-wide races on the Democratic side that are mostly uncontested.
On the Republican side it has just been weird. Trumper against Trumper against a Democratic Aurora mayor turned Trumper.
Billionaires Ken Griffin and Richard Uihlein have dumped millions into the Republican races.
Griffin alone has given $50 million to a Republican candidate for governor who will lose, probably in the primary. He can afford it, but the sound of his money being flushed down the toilet is still gratifying.
I will vote today.
I’m mainly interested in re-electing progressive Cook County Tax Assessor Fritz Kaegi and Delia Ramirez as our new 3rd District Congresswoman.
I used to be in Congressman Chuy Garcia’s 4th CD. But the legislature created another Latinx seat because of the huge growth in Latinx voting strength in Illinois, at least in northern Illinois and Cook County.
I’m in the new district.
My brother posts on national voter suppression this morning.
The failure of Congress to pass the John Lewis voting rights bill back in January has left dark clouds hanging over the horizon for the upcoming mid-term elections and beyond. Republican 2020 election deniers are already taking advantage of the failure in order to sabotage elections, reduce voter turnout and cause chaos in the vote counts.
Mike’s focus is on how the MAGA movement has taken advantage of the failure of the voting rights bill on developments in New Mexico.
Let me talk about Nevada.
Nevada Republicans joined the growing national push to install election deniers in positions with authority over state elections, choosing a candidate for secretary of state on Tuesday who has embraced former president Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud — and who has vowed to try to block a result he deems was rigged.
Jim Marchant, a former state assemblyman who has said he opposed the certification of Joe Biden’s win in Nevada, is among several election deniers to win primaries for statewide offices, including secretaries of state, attorneys general and governors. The victories have come in swing states that could play a major role in the 2024 presidential election, including Nevada, which Biden narrowly won. (Washington Post).
Across the country Republican voters have nominated over 100 candidates for state and federal office who echo Trump that the 2020 election was stolen.
At every level, for a variety of offices, including those who are personally responsible for counting the vote, the GOP is putting up candidates for offices that echo the Trump lies that directly led to the Capitol Insurrection.
The MAGA attempt to stop the 2020 count failed. Now the primary goal is to limit voter access in the November mid-terms and in 2024.