I have no idea what’s going to happen today. Neither do you.
Maybe it’ll be a quiet day. Maybe voters will line up, take their turn in the voting booth, greet each other like good citizens, then patiently wait to see the results of the election. Maybe everybody will accept those results. Maybe. But probably not.
Maybe we’ll get to see the blue wave we’ve heard so much about. Maybe Democratic voters will turn out in such massive numbers that despite the monstrous gerrymandered voting districts, Democrats will retain control of both houses of Congress. Maybe some of the worst GOP assholes will be handed their hats and told to go home. Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe Republicans are right. Maybe voters are so afraid of imaginary enemies–of Antifa and BLM, of caravans of infected drug-toting immigrant rapists from South and Central America, of gay teachers brainwashing white hetero Christian students into becoming trans furries who drink soy lattes while using the litterbox–that they’ll vote for authoritarian leaders who’ll protect them from…something. Maybe. I hope not, but maybe.
Maybe there’ll be violence at polling sites. Long lines, political hatred, the easy availability of firearms, the loosening of restrictions limiting who can own and carry a gun and where they can legally carry them–all those things contribute to the probability of mayhem. And if schools and churches and supermarkets are vulnerable to mass shooting incidents (I fucking hate the term ‘incidents’ to describe these), will anybody be surprised to hear about one at a polling site? Maybe blood will be shed today. Maybe. Again, I hope not. But only an idiot would dismiss the possibility.
I don’t know what’s going to happen today. I don’t know what’s going to happen today partly because I don’t quite recognize the nation we’ve become.
I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I know this: I voted. I voted for the nation I hope still exists. I voted for the nation I want us to become.
Maybe it’ll happen. Maybe not.
If you haven’t voted yet, go vote now. Vote for your lives.
gregfallis.com 
I’m very worried about the outcome too. So much rides on it. Ukraine, the copy-catting that’s happening in the UK. World stability. I really hope the Democrats hang on.
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really hope the Democrats hang on
It appears they may have actually done that…hung on. We still don’t have the final results, but they’re certainly better (for Democrats, for the nation, for the world) than polls suggested. Maybe the biggest surprise is that SOME of the GOP election deniers are conceding they’ve lost.
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I voted yesterday. On the walk over to city hall to drop off my ballot, I chatted with neighbors (one of whom I’m sure voted the other way). It was a beautiful afternoon. It is lovely to be alive. And I am… is terrified too strong a word? terrified at the direction this country is taking. Terrified and utterly bewildered.
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Happy to say your terror was unwarranted. Even if Democrats do lose control of both houses of Congress (which is still possible), the fact that we’ve done as well as we have is a victory.
On the other hand, Iowa (the state in which I currently live) has sadly trended more toward a weird sort of Midwestern fascism. Until relatively recently (well, at some point during the Obama years), the state fostered a comfortable mixture of pragmatic progressives and pragmatic conservatives. But now it’s becoming more mean-spirited.
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I voted…with dreams and hopes that every intelligent human being in the United States votes as well. We will see…..results are starting to filter in….we will see.
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Results will continue to filter in for hours. Days, even. Maybe weeks. Democrats have done better than expected (at least better than the polling indicated). I’m inclined to think that’s because of abortion rights coupled with really fucking extreme GOP candidates. It bodes well for the next election.
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