Midterm Election 2022 Turn-Out-The-Vote and Be The Change You Want to See: Vote In Every Election, National, State, and Local!

The 2022 Midterm elections are upon us! With the increasing violation of our voting rights and the threat to our democracy, starting exploring "who is who" is up for election in the upcoming November 8^th, 2022 midterm elections ahead of the game isn’t a new normal but a game-changer when you know who is running, when to head to the polls, where are the polling stations, what is at stake-your issues you care about and what the candidate stand for, why voting is not just a right and a duty, but your voice; and how your vote can make the change you want to see! Of course, when you embrace the 5Ws + 1H and vote in every election, national, state, and local, you will be the change you want to see!

Turn-out-the-vote isn’t limited to presidential elections only, but all elections-National, State, and Local. Helping citizens to be eligible voters isn’t enough! Teaching them how to vote on the issues that are at stake, who is up for election, and what the candidate stands for is the most crucial part of ensuring your vote is not wasted but count in a way that speaks to your voice/represent your ideas/issues.

In the upcoming November 8^th, 2022, midterm election at the national level there are a total of 469 seats for US Congress that are up for election. 34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats are up for election in November 2022.

Voters tend to pay little attention to state politics but at the state level there are State Executives, Legislatures, and State Judges-36 Gubernatorial seats and 30 Lieutenant Gubernatorial seats up for election, 30 Attorney General seats, and 27 Secretary of State. Thus, 239 state Executives are up for elections across 44 states in 2022.

When it comes to local officials the number of people who get involved with local politics is even less than state or national politics even though everything starts at the local level, and Americans are more trusting of local government than of their state government. New Gallup survey found that 72% of American adults trust their local government compared with 63% who said they trust their state government.

At the local level, 88 counties out of 99 are up for election 2022-that include municipal election by states and mayors of the 100 largest cities.

 

Who Is Running for Midterm Election 2022?

The best source of information on elections in your area is your local elections office and your State website. Also, information about elections can be found on many election websites such as https://www.usa.gov/midterm-state-and-local-lections, and or https://ballotpedia.org.

Having volunteered in the election arenas, both national and midterm elections, I have seen many people arriving at the polling stations not knowing who to vote for or what are the issues on the ballot, hence, they ended up with a guessing vote, unsure whether it was a right choice for the right candidate.

It is worth noting that, voting for a wrong candidate simply because the voter did not have prior knowledge of who to vote for and what the issues the candidate stand for is very common, and a problem that needs a solution because your vote must reflect your true choice and the representation you deserve.

To turn out the vote in a right and correct way on November 8th, 2022, it’s better to get familiar with your national, state, and local elected leaders/candidates well and where they stand on the issues that affect you and your community. For example, if your issue of concern is the increase of gun violence in your community, find out what the candidate who represents you stands for on gun control measures, and whether the candidate stands for or against the NRA regarding guns control measures. Same for other issues such as affordable healthcare, college education, housing, and or increasing the minimum wage; know where your candidate stands on these issues and many more that affect you and your community on daily basis.

“Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities began to show up in the polls”.

A research survey conducted by the Pew Research Center find out that about 44% of regularly voters know little about their candidate, while 13% think voting doesn’t change things-this are most likely the group of people who are not bothered about who is the right candidate or what are the issues at stake!

 It is true that if you cast your vote to the wrong candidate, it’s a wasted vote because it may come to haunt you. Informed voters are likely to make the best choices of the candidates who will represent them and their issues.

 

Does Your Vote Matter?

Former President Barack Obama once said, “There is no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter. It all matters.”

Certainly, your vote may matter to you or to others depending on whether you did your voting homework well.

It doesn’t matter whether you are affiliated with Democrat or a Republican party, for it mostly identifies you with the issues you stand for. Voting either Democrat or Republican is up to the voter’s understanding of how his/her vote may affect him/her depending on the choices he/she make either to support a candidate who share the same issues/values as yours or instead of voting for a candidate that has the opposing view from yours and your vote, in this case, may not matter to you the best way because you choose your opponent.

Vote411.org site can provide voters with worth information to get familiar with who is who in your local, state, and national politics.

Likewise, listen to your local volunteers who help to simplify the issues at stake and who are the candidates up for election, and what is on the ballot to be aware of.

In the era of disinformation as a tool to lure voters, find reliable sources of information. An informed friend, co-worker, or a neighbor can be more helpful if you share the same beliefs than relying on TV ads and social media sources which have become increasingly misleading, confusing, and deliver falsehoods on both candidates and the issues they stand for or on the ballot, leaving voters confused than ever about where the candidates stand on the issues.

Know Your Candidate Well Enough to Deserve Your Vote

If there are lessons from Democrat Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona who joined Republicans and voted against their party’s agenda, Build Back Batter Act and Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, both bills are favored by most American people and wanted these bills to pass on the Senate floor, however, the bills were killed by the minority group after the two democrats sided with the Republicans. The defeat of the most popular bills that are supported by most Americans left many voters reflecting on how they voted their leaders to the offices. Perhaps a working call for the upcoming midterm elections to think twice on who to vote for.

What electro prospects one has that motivates or discourages one to vote to depend solely on the understanding of real issues and their base support on those issues either by tricks or manipulating voters.

Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema holding hostage and perhaps kill the key legislation the country needs the most to address the crises the country currently facing, from erosion of democracy, violation of voting rights, the threat posed by climate change; to income inequality which all affect all American people except the 1% wealthy people was a slap on the voters’ face, particularly those of West Virginia and Arizona.

Democrats of West Virginia and Arizona have a lot to think about their votes to these two candidates who represent them yet their votes to these two candidates have not yielded the desired outcome they voted for!

It is up to voters to decide if such obstruction of social and economic progress can be avoided by electing candidates who are attuned to peoples’ issues and need to serve the American people more and better than serving the interest groups and big corporations that funds their campaign. Find more about issues and candidates on the issues at https://onTheissues.org/

Let’s all remember that bad politicians are elected by good citizens who do not vote often and are not well informed to make the best decisions and choices with their votes, but it doesn’t mean that their leaders should take their votes for granted and go against their voters’ will.

 

 Turn-Out-The-votes In 2022 Midterm Elections!

“Every election is determined by the people who showed up.”

Women and the youth are two groups of people that are most vulnerable as they are mostly affected by the policies government implements, whether it is reproductive rights, the equal jobs for equal pay, affordable housing, high cost of college, minimum wage, gun violence in schools and inequity in education among the schools and students or available jobs for the young people after graduating, etc.

These groups suffer injustices and gender discrimination, and the only way to fight back is through the power of the vote by turnout massively to the polls on November 8^th, 2022, to surpass the 2018 midterm election.

In 2018 midterm elections was the highest voters turnout in decades according to the US Census Bureau. Voter turnout among all eligible voters and major racial and ethnic groups reach the historic point of 11% higher than the last midterm election in 2014. 53% of the citizen voting-age population voted in 2018.

In the 2020 presidential election, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump brought new voters into the political process than any other presidential election in the history of the presidential elections, a total of 66% of US eligible voters cast a ballot in the 2020 election.

In many ways, the turn-out-the-vote campaigns were at an all-time high, and volunteers worked hard to register new voters and targeted the registered voters to get out and vote. The four years of Donald Trump's unconventional and unpresidential behaviors helped to fuel the voters' turnout. When voters consciously and regardless of their party affiliation put their mind into what is proper and necessary, they vote with conscience, not their party.

Democrat party outreach outweighed the Republicans for encouraging new political comers and was all-time higher which paid off, Joe Biden is president because of such effort to turn out the vote.

Fortunately, numbers don’t lie, they expand or shrink! So, for those who suspected their loss and started to engage in creating a mountain of lies that election was stolen from them and continue to repeat the lies with the intent to confuse and antagonize the public was and still is a bad political game for it went violent and led to January 6^th Capital Hill attack due to “Big Lie” about the stolen election.

Rather than focus on how to turn out the vote in proper and legitimate ways, which means for Republicans to redesign/reinvent their political ideology to attract newcomers, and to recruits and integrate the party members, instead of relying on tricks and manipulations, and or violations of minority voting rights and frankly, “voters stealing” as they intend to continue spreading big lies and violence as a “legitimate political discourse”.

The dynamics of an ever-changing society demand the acceptance of diversity and inclusion. To continue to deny diversity and inclusion in the political parties is setting your party for failure for it won’t be relevant or present with the dynamics of the 21st Century society.

If anything, the 2020 presidential election will be remembered in the history of the US as a tumultuous year in review for so many reasons, including, the ending of Donald Trump presidency craziness, failed attempt to stole election from Joe Biden by staging an attack at capitol Hill Jan. 6^th during the certification of states electors, refusal to concede the defeat and hand over power as traditionally done since the formation of the republic; and the continuation of Republicans defiance of the rule of law, their action that threatens the US democracy, and the massive state laws that violate the voting rights of the minority groups.

All these still playing in the heads of most decent Americans who are ready to defend and protect the ideals and principles the American is founded on, such as fighting to protect voting rights will motivate them to another record-setting of turning out the votes in 2022 because the stakes have never been so higher with one major party involved in violation of voting rights, attacking democratic institutions, and engaging into authoritarian tactics.

 

In a nutshell

The 2020 election was bombarded by allegations that were fabricated or manufactured with the intent to enable a real steal of election to occur.  “Stop the Steal” was a prank orchestrated by “Big Lie” was probably more than a year in the making or perhaps of the four years of Donald Trump rule which was characterized by unpresidential behaviors perhaps because of the “Big Lie” they had in mind?

However, they miscalculated the power of the people that even their Big Lie could not sustain the power of the people. They thought because they messed up the 2016 election, they could do the same in 2020. But people were awake in 2020 and fought back with their vote. 

Even though to date, the public continues to be stunned by the magnitude of the political lies, and now the declaration that Jan. 6^th insurrection was a “legitimate political discourse” continues to remind voters of the importance of turn-out-the-vote in 2022.

 Every eligible voter should vote in every election because your vote matter! Your vote is a powerful weapon you can use to influence the outcome of the election. Your vote is your negotiation power in making the change you want to see.

Get ready to make November 8^th, 20202 a referendum on those engaging in voters’ suppression and violation of voting rights of the minority groups. Once again demonstrate through the-get-out-the -votes that the government is for the people, not the party.

It’s Ironic when you think of the 40^th Republican President, Ronald Reagan who once said, “For this nation to remain true to its people, we can not allow any Americans vote to be denied, diluted, or defiled. The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished.” But it’s the Republican party leaders that are now engaged in passing laws that violate voting rights. The voters must resist by turnout massively to vote in the midterm election 2022 to send a message that our voting rights must be protected not violated.