If you live in a poor or even a middle class neighborhood, Donald Trump does not want you to vote, and if you do vote, he does not want your vote counted. Greg Palast, in his new book “How Trump Stole 2020” estimates that, in Georgia alone in the governors election (2018) 665,677 voters were purged, which equates to 2/3 of a million voters, or 1 in 8 Georgians.  Of those 340,134 voters were wrongly purged who had not moved from their last registered address. 

This is the playbook that the white racist Republican party has been using to steal elections over the last 20 or more years, ruling over minority citizens with a whip in hand.    Palast reports that purged voter numbers to date in 2020 are Ohio= 432,000, North Carolina=576,534, Arizona=258,008 and Wisconsin=99,000 (in progress).   

But you are not rich. You support the Black Lives Matter movement. You believe everyone should have access to health care. You are outraged at Trump's treatment of migrants, asylum seekers, and his cruel torture of children being separated from their parents. You have had to suffer through 4 years of the most racist, ignorant, vile white man who rules the country via chaos and incoherence. You understand that black and minority voters are the target of the massive and treasonous crime of vote suppression. 

What to do?

Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman and the Free Press, as well as author Greg Palast have been advocating for mail-in voting due to the possible danger of voting in person as a result of Covid-19. However, the President of the United States has demonstrated his willingness to disrupt the mail while claiming without evidence that there is a danger of fraud via vote by mail. (Note to reader: this is another false claim). More on the effort to disrupt the mail to follow.

The Free Press is now recommending that voters vote early and in-person rather than by mail (which is still second choice). In Ohio, every county allows early voting starting October 6th and ending on Monday November 2nd . However, early in-person voting is available at only one location per county, often at the County Board of Elections office. In Franklin County, this might require a drive of 30 minutes or more. Franklin County BOE is located at 1700 Morse Rd, Columbus, 43229. With the possible exception of the final weekend, there are few lines. The location is spacious and it is easy to maintain social distance. How far would you drive to put a stake in the heart of Donald Trump?

Initially the Free Press supported as the first choice vote by mail as a reaction to Covid-19, but it is unknown how severely Trump can disrupt mail in voting and we should not be willing to find out the hard way. Besides the recent Saturday Night Massacre at the post office, Trump is actually removing mail sorting equipment, removing post office boxes, and has threatened to simply order the post office not to deliver ballots. Trump's attack on mail-in voting is to be discussed later in this article. So now we must find out if America is really the Home of the Brave. Let me explain.

This author is one of the fortunate ones who, by way of being an essential worker, has not missed a day of work since the arrival of Covid-19. I am a Pharmacist, so while not at the level of danger experienced by physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and EMT workers, I interact with 50 to 100 patients every day, with masks and social distancing and the other safety measures. I have not and do not feel at risk when I leave for work in the morning or when I return in the evening. Nor do I feel the slightest apprehension at the grocery store. I am 66 years old. I understand that many of my associates, friends and family are afflicted with fear of Covid and have been able to sequester themselves in a way I cannot. People have different perspectives on the randomness of the virus, on the effectiveness of masks, of the chance of getting the virus from a surface rather than a droplet, of the chance of infection from asymptomatic carriers, and on and on. My perspective is not yours.

My argument here is that we cannot sacrifice a percentage of the anti-Trump vote by behaving not as a brave Americans but as a cowards in the face of Covid. There should be no doubt that Donald Trump will destroy a percentage of mail-in votes. I am suggesting that those who are most apprehensive of Covid need to consider that effective voting should be no more dangerous than a trip to the grocery store, the pharmacy, or the doctors office. Can we at least be that brave?

Therefore we at the Free Press believe that early, in-person voting is the surest way to have your vote counted in November. It is your first choice. There are essentially four methods for voting, the other three choices discussed here:
 

The second choice is to request a mail-in ballot but drop it off at the County Board of Elections prior to election day rather than use the mail. Although requiring the same effort to get to the BOE in order to vote early, it has the advantage of allowing BOE personnel to verify that the ballot has been completed correctly . Incorrect information on a mail-in ballot is the biggest reason for mail-in ballots to be discarded, even for the most innocent errors which do not affect the integrity of the ballot and should not result in the destruction of your vote.
 

The third choice is to vote by mail using the United States Post Office (USPS), which was at one time the method the Free Press would recommend. But on Friday August 7th, Trump donor and supporter Louis DeJoy, appointed Postmaster General, reassigned or displaced 33 post office executives. This was DeJoy's first step, three months prior to election day, of tampering with the election. Since then, he is removing mail sorting machines and drop off boxes, as discussed earlier. Most of these post office executives reassigned were responsible for the effectiveness of the day to day operational systems that allow the post office to deliver mail quickly and efficiently, even to the far reaches of rural America.
 

To understand this, even before DeJoy was hired to ruin the post office, 512,966 Georgia mail-in ballots were rejected in the  2018 governor election, as reported by Greg Palast.
 

If you choose to vote by mail, please consider dropping your ballot in a mailbox in an affluent white suburb, as these zip codes will not be easily targeted for ballot destruction or other malfeasance. We do not know how deep the electoral fraud via USPS might be, but if you feel like your vote against the Orange Menace is important, you are going to have to make an effort to improve the chances of your vote being counted as cast.
 

The final and perhaps the worst choice is to vote in-person on election day. Obviously, Covid 19 is a factor, but not in the white suburbs where social distancing and short lines are easily obtainable. But in the inner city, long lines will be intentionally created by reducing the number of polling locations. This was done most effectively in 2004 and repeated without the BOE having an excuse for the reduction in polling locations, other than claiming mistakes and incompetence. Covid-19 now gives BOE's a ready made excuse for limiting polling locations and creating long lines, overcrowding, and chaos. Creating long lines is the method of choice for discouraging Voting while Black (or voting while Hispanic, Native American, as a student, and as poor person). This method has increased rather than decreased since it was used so effectively in Ohio in 2004, most recently in this year's primary election in Georgia, Texas and other states.

In addition, electronic voting machines can be electronically altered, as has been reported in the Free Press here and here and here. Donald Trump and his henchmen clearly do not believe they can steal the election using this and only this method, thus his brazen attack on the post office. Nonetheless, the Trump-criminals will use all methods available to them.

In summary, Voting Trump out of office will require some courage, with Covid 19 being a minor threat compared to the danger of another Trump administration which would likely end in a Putin-like dictatorship run by a racist, incompetent, narcissistic who wishes only to be King. The courage required will not be anything close to that required of black voters throughout the south (and indeed, the country) between 1955 and 1965.

This then is our recommendation to end the Trumpian nightmare.

1. VOTE EARLY AND IN PERSON. Next best choice is...

2. Vote by mail but drop off ballot at the County BOE. Next best choice is...

3. Vote by mail, using USPS, sending ballots from white suburban zip codes.

4. Vote in person on election day. NOT RECOMMENDED.
    

Be Brave, VOTE, and do the work necessary to make your vote count.