Election Day was…long. Report time was 5:45 a.m. We dropped off the memory cards and assorted supplies back at the Board of Elections around 9 p.m.
Then I went home.
Working an election is not what you’d call fun, but it does make one feel like you’re part of the solution. When you’re that tired, the drama of certain races just becomes a blur. I went to bed learning Abdul el-Sayed had a comfortable lead over Haley Stevens, and woke up learning the lead had shrunk, but was still probably solid. And it was.
Given that was really the only race where the result wasn’t a foregone conclusion, I’ve been reading the reaction pieces today. The race was tighter than anyone thought it would be — the Stevens camp thought she had it in the bag, and vice versa. It turned out to be around 1 percent. So now we’re gonna have think pieces for a few weeks, and then the polling will start, and yadda yadda, etc.
All I know is, it’s gotta work. Abdul has charm, intelligence, a touch of arrogance yes but a thousand times more charisma than Stevens. And how long have progressives been holding their noses and voting for moderates? A very long time. It’s for some favor returning.
I will be getting a new congressman. The extremely weird Shri Thanedar fell to a primary challenge from Donavan McKinney, a DSA candidate for sure. By the end of the campaign, we were getting two anti-McKinney mailers a day, but I voted for him anyway. Thanedar wasn’t much of a rep, and I’ve of a mind it’s time for a change.
As for the gubernatorial race, it’s Jocelyn Benson vs. John James. Of James, he puts me in mind of Jon Stewart’s line about Rudi Giuliani: His campaign consists of a noun, a verb and 9/11. In James’ case, it’s a noun, a verb and a helicopter — he’s one of those guys who looks like he was grown in a lab designed to produce the ultimate urban Republican. Brown skin, white teeth, insincerity seeping from him like water from a sponge. West Point, Iraq war (that’s where the helicopter comes from) and it gets mentioned constantly. He’s like a Harvard grad who figures out how to tell you they went to Harvard in the first 10 minutes of meeting you. When I was flying helicopters in Iraq, etc.
For now, I’m taking a break from caring until Labor Day. Still tired, still want to enjoy what’s left of summer.
In the meantime, even though it’s irrelevant, here’s an amusing story about Haley Stevens’ Meeechigan eeahhhcent. Thick as Mackinac Island fudge.
Still tired.
Brandon said on August 6, 2026 at 2:48 am
Maybe it’s his hairstyle or facial expression, but Shri looks like:
https://tenor.com/view/not-amused-boy-blink-not-in-the-mood-gif-16085593
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David C said on August 6, 2026 at 6:02 am
I wish I could spend the next three months dead to avoid election BS. Wake me up when my ballot comes in the mail. I’ll fill it out and go back to being dead until November 4th. There’s nothing any ad is going to do to change my mind on who I’m voting for. They might give me a heart attack though.
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ROGirl said on August 6, 2026 at 7:51 am
I would have voted for McMorrow (she was my state rep), but since she dropped out of the race, I ended up going with Stevens, in part because I figured Abdul would win anyway, but also because I think she would have had a better chance of winning in November. We’ll see.
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Julie Robinson said on August 6, 2026 at 9:28 am
My election day schedule will be the same, plus picking up my tablet and helping with set up the day before. It’s killer, but I want to be on the inside and let everyone one how cleanly it’s being run.
For a primary, we have some big races, including Orange County mayor, which is nonpartisan. Four candidates, so will probably have a runoff in the general election.
A Moms for Liberty crazy lady is running for school board chair, also nonpartisan so everyone will vote in that race.
Then we have the Democratic Senate primary, where the leading candidate refuses to debate his opponent and has literally run away from reporters asking him questions.
But he must be running scared, because his wife has started attacking his opponent, accusing her of dressing unprofessionally and telling her to buy better shoes. It’s a dog whistle, basically saying she’s ghetto, since she’s black.
In response, our feisty Angie Nixon has done fit checks, telling us which thrift store she bought each item from and how much it cost. Yesterday she got a flat on the way to a campaign event and posted video of herself jacking up her car.
For sure politics is never dull in Florida. But I have the sense that increasingly, Democrats are not interested in the safe, middle ground candidates. They don’t always win and when they do they’re too corporate and beholden to developers and special interests.
If you’re under 50, you aren’t scared of the label of socialist, you wear it with pride. And many of us older folk too. The Mamdani and el-Sayed victories show me how the winds of change are blowing and give me hope.
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alex said on August 6, 2026 at 9:58 am
Well good ol’ Rand Paul just rammed through a committee vote to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress, a Congress most deserving of not only his contempt but ours. Fortunately for Fauci, it would take 60 votes in the Senate to make it stick, and that ain’t happening.
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Dorothy said on August 6, 2026 at 10:01 am
There really is no way to ‘train’ to work Election Day but you rely on your memories of doing it in the past (if you’re not a first timer). I like doing it. You’re right. It’s not fun, but it’s encouraging and engaging and makes you feel like you’re doing something kind of important. I wanna know why you get to arrive at 5:45?! (JOKING). We have to arrive at 5:30. I was the ride along after we shut down the polls twice but I”m not doing that anymore. Makes a loooong day much too long. I might have a different job in November – I said I was sort of tired of doing the Paper Ballot Judge position and if you want me to consider being the VLM someday, well then you need to teach me how to do other positions. We’ll see.
I’m keeping a sharp eye on my emails so I get to sign up at my own polling location. I procrastinated a couple years ago and ended up working at a different location. Then at our primary a few months ago some guy sidled up to my seat and said “ohhh, so YOU got my job!!” I wanted to say “Ahh, ex-squeeze me?!” Apparently he’d been the paper ballot judge at the previous election. “Well” I said “I’ve been the paper ballot judge for three of the last four elections and I hope to be back here.” So he keeps whining “Well, this is my church and I know so many people who vote here …” Yadda yadda yadda. Buddy you can pull up a chair outside and greet all your cronies, but you ain’t taking over my election day job, not if I can help it! I just smiled at him and kept it plastered on my face to make him go away.
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Julie Robinson said on August 6, 2026 at 10:40 am
We make it as fun as possible at our precinct, which is our church. We’re mostly members and neighbors so we know each other, and we text around potluck contributions since we aren’t allowed to leave the building. We celebrate each new voter with applause. Since the voters are neighbors you can catch a quick conversation if it isn’t too busy. Last election they wanted to send me to a different precinct and I said nope. I can’t see to drive at 5:45 in the morning or 9 at night. No way.
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Deborah said on August 6, 2026 at 3:38 pm
We have about 4 weeks left in NM, we go back to Chicago on Sept 2nd. It will still be hot in Chicago then but we have a ton of stuff going on in Sept and Oct for our dementia center project. There’s going to be an event in the site at the end of October, we’re calling it “First Look”. There will be a mock-up of some of the elements that will be in the finished space for key people to see and comment on before official construction begins in December. There will be about a 100 people at the event and it’s going to have a lot going on. I’m looking forward to having lots to do to keep my mind off of politics.
It’s an existing space in downtown Evanston that is being completely renovated inside and on the street front exterior. This is what we’ve been calling a “mistake place” where we will learn what works and doesn’t work so when the new free standing facility is designed and constructed there will be real tried solutions. That’s the plan now anyway. I’m going to be a really old lady before this is over, I may be a patient in the facility myself by then. It’s not a place to live, it’s a place for clinical support and help for caregivers as well as community education and involvement.
The day after that event we leave for our annual fall trip to Boston and this time Vermont after that, so we will have to vote early before we leave, we usually vote early anyway.
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Deborah said on August 7, 2026 at 9:52 am
Paul Krugman has an excellent Substack today called “Lying Liars Lie to Each Other Too”. It’s about how his lackeys are keeping the truth from Trump and each other about all kinds of things like available defense munitions, foreign investments etc making everything even more incompetent and downright dangerous. Even little things like the reflecting pool turn into fiascos when everyone is busy trying to deflect blame. When sycophants are keen on pleasing their master it gets secretive and ass covering fast, resulting in chaos and scandal.
There’s a paywall and I don’t think there’s a way to gift link to the piece, sorry.
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basset said on August 7, 2026 at 11:15 am
Had to give up working at our polling place so I could look after Mrs. B, and I miss it; time passed slowly, but the conversation was good and once in awhile someone interesting would come through, like the angry old woman who complained that the election was “rigged” because “there’s nowhere to vote for Trump.”
And under election rules we couldn’t explain to her that it was a Democratic primary and why that was important.
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Jakash said on August 7, 2026 at 2:01 pm
“And how long have progressives been holding their noses and voting for moderates? A very long time. It’s for some favor returning.” That sounds reasonable to me, but I’m very concerned that it won’t work, and that the Democratic Socialists already (pretty logically) being compared to communists is not going to help encourage the credulous squishy middle in this country to steer clear of their inclination to vote for Republicans.
I’m just an over-the-hill white guy, so my opinion can be readily discounted, but I’m not encouraged by the success of the Democratic Socialists. If they’d stick with being socialists, it would be problematic enough, in this benighted country. But their “Program,” being widely quoted from, goes well beyond attempts at common-sense reforms to the rampant abuses inflicted on the country by the mobster-in-chief.
“Workers demand more!” Check. “Establish public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries to ensure democratic control and accountability to the people.” Uh, isn’t that communism, rather than socialism?
Let’s see, a solid majority of the country is very disturbed by this administration’s clear preference for fascism and cronyism. I don’t think that countering it with “Right on! Let’s switch to communism, instead” is going to be appealing to nearly enough folks across the country to flip the Congress.
Obviously, they’ve had amazing successes in a number of races. I like Mamdani, but some of his ideas are much more radical than many realize. This country couldn’t manage to elect Kamala, when the alternative was Project 2025 and supporting an unbelievably corrupt felon to implement it.
I just don’t think that motivating young people who are rightfully upset about Gaza and about the Kakistocracy running things here is going to be enough to flip things, if the candidates and programs they support alienate many core Democrats, including many Black voters, who are essential to winning.
I’m a “Vote Blue, no matter who” type, but the ability of the Democratic Party to take conditions that should make for a sure thing and somehow fuck them up scares me. It’s easy to make fun of James Carville (I’ve been doing it since the Clinton administration), and Rahm Emanuel is not the answer to what ails this nation, but can’t we find some middle ground between fascism and communism?
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Icarus said on August 7, 2026 at 3:16 pm
I posted this on Eric Zorn’s Picayune Sentinel:
Democrats have watered down their message in an attempt to appeal to centrists. But that hasn’t seemed to work out very well. People, especially young people, don’t want compromise. They want someone to make radical changes to fix the country.
I look at DSP as any typical politician telling voters what they want to hear, whether they have any intention of keeping those promises or not.
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Deborah said on August 7, 2026 at 4:00 pm
Democrats wring their hands and sweat bullets on how progressive or moderate candidates need to be meanwhile MAGA Republicans who are about as radical and un-centered as you can get, plow on. Yes Trump lost in 2020 but we were in the middle of a pandemic that he fucked up royally. Now we’re in the middle of all kinds of shit so maybe the Dems will win the majority in the midterms.
Our upstairs neighbors voted for Jill Stein in the 2024 election which stunned us, but they’re like a lot of young progressives out there who seem to have it in their heads that they’d rather punish the country or something if they don’t get their way.
So far more centrist candidates aren’t necessarily winning elections, like Hillary and Kamela. Although many people through Kamala was too extreme. So whatever.
I’m more progressive than centrist these days. I’m very willing to let the Bernie types have a chance to govern, especially younger ones.
The right has no problem promising the sun and the moon and then pulling the rug out from under that after they get elected. Look at Trump and all of his promises for lower costs and no wars etc, obviously.
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Bruce Fields said on August 7, 2026 at 4:27 pm
It was about 6am-9pm for me, an exhausting day, but I enjoyed it.
Even though most voted early or by mail, we still had nearly 500 voters on election day at our west-side-of-Ann-Arbor precinct.
Tip: if you get an absentee ballot and then decide you want to vote in person, you can bring your absentee ballot with you, and either use it to vote or get a new ballot.
(And that saves a little time because if you leave the absentee ballot at home, we first have to check with the clerk’s office to make sure that ballot can’t be used.)
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Julie Robinson said on August 7, 2026 at 5:18 pm
Bruce, here you cannot use your absentee ballot to vote, you must surrender it. And you can’t take it back to the booth to look at while you fill out the new ballot. These things piss off people, because now everything will take longer.
We can allow them to take a picture of the old ballot. The tablet would tell us if they already turned in an absentee ballot as it tells us they received one. The tablets have been updated after early voters and mail-ins have been turned in, that’s why I can’t pick it up until the day before. It also prevents someone from voting at their old address, then coming in and telling us they moved.
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Deborah said on August 8, 2026 at 9:03 pm
Are there anymore primaries left in the country? Maybe a few? Why don’t Dems keep their traps shut about their differences and do what the Republicans do which is to support the candidates that win primaries, then they go on and win elections? Why all of this in-fighting? It just makes them all look bad. The communities have spoken about who they want to represent them, back them and help get them elected. Winning elections, isn’t that what it’s all about? What in the heck is going on? Wake up folks.
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Brandon said on August 9, 2026 at 1:14 am
Are there anymore primaries left in the country?
The Hawaii primary election was today.
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David C said on August 9, 2026 at 5:57 am
There are a few more primaries left. The last one is Delaware on Sept. 15. I have no idea why any state would want that to drag on so long.
I think the problem with Democrats is too many value their purity over anything else. Can’t vote for Al Gore. He’s boring and said he invented the internet. I’ll vote for Nader. So we get W. Congrats purity freaks. Can’t vote for Shillary. She’s a corrupt corporatist. I’ll vote for Jill Stein. So we get Trump. Congrats purity freaks. Can’t vote for Kamala. She works for genocide Joe. I’ll vote for Jill Stein. We get more Trump. Congrats purity freaks. One winnable Presidential elections lost to one of the worst Presidents ever. Two lost to the worst. But by whatever, I’m pure. They’ll never admit that things are so messed up because of their actions. But they most certainly deserve their share of the blame.
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susan said on August 9, 2026 at 12:22 pm
The Minnesota primary is this Tuesday, August 11.
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Bruce Fields said on August 9, 2026 at 5:53 pm
Thanks, Julie, I forget that of course not everybody here is commenting from Michigan!
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