• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Election Dissection>
  3. race>

Closing arguments: Join the joyful resistance

Laura Williamson
November 02, 2020
‘Joy To The Polls’ Entertaining Early Voters In Philadelphia
www.youtube.com

Voting in 2020 was never going to be easy. Even before Covid-19 hit, President Trump was seeding fears about this election's integrity, and right-wing operatives were laying plans to suppress Black and Latino votes.

Yet here we are. Nearly 100 million voters have already cast ballots even before Election Day. That's nearly three quarters of all ballots cast in 2016.

This remarkable reality comes amid another resurgence of coronavirus cases. There's record turnout even though Republican lawmakers and elected officials have pulled out all the stops to suppress and silence voters. And it's in the face of violent repression, like that faced by voters in Graham, N.C., over the weekend, when police pepper sprayed a crowd of marchers, including children, on their way to the polls.


Why have Americans faced down disease, complicated and changing election procedures, and the specter of white supremacist violence to vote?

Because we are fed up. Our family members, friends and neighbors are dying — more than 230,000 already. We're facing down the most inequitable economic recovery in modern history. Even with millions rising up in the streets, Black lives are still under attack, and those taking them face few consequences. Our rights to agency in health care are hanging by a thread. Our planet is burning.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

And, because we know voting is an act of resistance. But especially this year, voting is an act of joyful resistance. Voting has always been one of the most powerful tools of a justice-seeking people determined to defeat oppression and its propagators. It's how you build a more just, inclusive society. While 2020 may feel unique, the reality is the masses of voters turning out this year are part of a long history. Led primarily by Black Americans, and at times also by indigenous people, Latino people, and other communities of color, there's been a push toward a more equitable, democratic future. We continue making history and building that future by being part of what is likely to be a record turnout.

If you haven't voted yet, join the joyful masses headed to the polls. And, if necessary, join the masses mobilizing in the streets after tomorrow to continue to resist injustice and demand a democracy that works for all of us. After all, voting — coupled with mass mobilization — is what democracy looks like.

Laura Williamson is a senior policy analyst working on voting rights and democracy at Demos. Read more from The Fulcrum's Election Dissection blog.

From Your Site Articles
  • Preparing for potential election crises - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democracy reform groups tie their cause to racial protests - The ... ›
  • Youth protesting racism are the civic educators we need - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Get Out the Vote ›
  • Everything You Need to Vote - Vote.org ›
  • The Election That Could Break America ›
race
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

We are not helpless

Eric Liu

Why gun control laws don’t pass Congress, despite public support and repeated outrage over mass shootings

Monika L. McDermott
David R. Jones

Courting theocracy

Lawrence Goldstone

But what can I do?

Pedro Silva

Are large donor networks still needed to win in a fairer election system?

Paige Chan

Independent voters want to be heard. Is anybody listening?

David Thornburgh
John Opdycke
latest News

Wedge issue focus: Guns in America

Our Staff
5h

After mass shootings like Uvalde, national gun control fails – but states often loosen gun laws

Christopher Poliquin
6h

Ask Joe: Talking to people who believe voting has become pointless

Joe Weston
7h

Podcast: Broken news

Our Staff
8h

Biden follows Trump’s lead in expanding use of executive orders

Reya Kumar
20h

Podcast: 100% Democracy

Our Staff
26 May
Videos

Video: Helping loved ones divided by politics

Our Staff

Video: What happened in Virginia?

Our Staff

Video: Infrastructure past, present, and future

Our Staff

Video: Beyond the headlines SCOTUS 2021 - 2022

Our Staff

Video: Should we even have a debt limit

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirstFriday Yap Politics

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Did economists move the Democrats to the right?

Our Staff
02 May

Podcast: The future of depolarization

Our Staff
11 February

Podcast: Sore losers are bad for democracy

Our Staff
20 January

Deconstructed Podcast from IVN

Our Staff
08 November 2021
Recommended
Come and Take It flag

We are not helpless

Leveraging big ideas

Wedge issue focus: Guns in America

Family grieves in Uvalde, Texas

After mass shootings like Uvalde, national gun control fails – but states often loosen gun laws

State
Uvalde newspaper

Why gun control laws don’t pass Congress, despite public support and repeated outrage over mass shootings

Congress
Ask Joe: Talking to people who believe voting has become pointless

Ask Joe: Talking to people who believe voting has become pointless

Ask Joe
Podcast: Broken news

Podcast: Broken news

Media