ELECTION DAY: Vote to Save American Democracy From Those Who Want To Destroy It

James McHenry (1753-1816) was a Maryland delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He kept a journal of the Constitutional convention. On the page where McHenry records the events of the last day of the convention, September 18, 1787, he wrote: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin, ‘Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy?’ – ‘A republic‘ replied the Doctor ‘if you can keep it.’”

Every generation of Americans is called upon to preserve, protect and defend our constitutional democracy. Generations of Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice of fighting and dying to preserve, protect and defend our constitutional democracy. All you are being asked to do today is to vote to save American democracy, if you have not already done so. Do not fail the memory of the generations of Americans who have gone before you. You do not want to  be the generation that failed American democracy.

Your choice is easy. The Democratic Party is the defender of American democracy. The former Republican Party has been hollowed out by far-right extremist parasites in the White Nationalist, Christian Nationalist, Neo-Confederate, Neo-Fascist, QAnon conspiracy and personality cult of Donald Trump. This is NOT your father’s GOP. It is an anti-democracy, authoritarian extremist threat to the survival of our American democracy.

The Sedition Party already waged a violent armed insurrection to overthrow American democracy on January 6, 2021 in a failed coup d’état. A failed coup d’état is practice for the next coup d’état. This time the Sedition Party is trying to rig the election process from the inside to produce a vote in favor of fascism, thus ending our American experiment in constitutional democracy. You need to overwhelm this strategy with a massive turnout of a vote to preserve, protect and defend our constitutional democracy.

None of the 147 Republican lawmakers who still objected to the election results even after the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021 should be returned to office. Some of them were co-conspirators in the Coup plot, and all of them provided “aid and comfort” to the MAGA/QAnon insurrectionists with their vote – insurrectionists who only hours before sought to execute the vice-president of the United States and Democratic members of Congress. They failed in their objective only because of the bravery of the Capitol Police and D.C Metropolitan Police. That they did not succeed should not detract from their intended objective.

These 147 Republican members of Congress, Donald Trump and all of his Coup Plotters should be charged with insurrection, 18 U.S. Code § 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection:

Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment also disqualifies the Sedition Party from holding office:

Section 3.

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, too slowly. It is now in your hands to hold the Sedition Party accountable. If you want to preserve, protect and defend our constitutional democracy, you cannot vote for any Republican candidate: the openly seditious “election deniers,” nor the craven cowards who fail to object and go along. A vote for any Republican is a vote against American democracy.

Do not be complicit in ending American democracy for the darkness of fascism.

NB: Now that Election Day is here, the DOJ policy of not indicting politicians in the 90 days before an election which may affect the outcome of an election is now expired. The criminal grand juries sitting on Donald Trump and his Coup Plotters are now free to issue indictments.

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There are bound to be MAGA/QAnon thugs intimidating voters, poll workers and election officials today.

If you see something, say something.

From the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office:

Reporting Voter Intimidation and Other Unlawful Conduct

If you witness voter intimidation or other unlawful conduct at the polls, we recommend the following steps:

• First, inform a poll worker at the voting location, who will work to resolve any problems and call your county election officials and/or local law enforcement if needed. However, if you or anyone else is in immediate danger, call 911 first and then inform a poll worker if possible.
• Document what you see as much as possible, including the who, what, when, and where of the incident. (But keep in mind that taking photos or video is prohibited inside the 75-foot limit of a voting location.)

Click here to report the incident to the Secretary of State’s Office

You can also call 1-877-THE-VOTE. We will follow up with county election officials and federal, state, or local law enforcement entities if needed.

If you experience an incident when dropping off your ballot or going to vote, you can report it to your county elections officials or at our incident form: https://t.co/5TJGcnoEyp #TrustedInfo2022 pic.twitter.com/dfyN0tB19x

— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) August 2, 2022

From the U.S. Attorney For Arizona:

Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Sean Lokey has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer for the District of Arizona, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of complaints of voting rights violations and election fraud in consultation with Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

AUSA Lokey can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: 602-514-7516.

The FBI will also have special agents available in the Phoenix Field Division to receive allegations of election abuses on election day. FBI in Arizona can be reached by phone at 623-466-1999 or online at https://tips.fbi.gov/.

Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C. by phone at 800-253-3931 or by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/ .

In the case of a crime of violence, call 911 immediately. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places.

Finally there is the completely useless Election Integrity Unit (EIU) in the Arizona Attorney General’s office. They only take online complaints, and are of no assistance.

There is also the Election Protection Hotline:

Counting ballots may take about 10 days before the vote can be certified. Especially since the election deniers are encouraging the MAGA/QAnon cult to vote late today, i.e., turn in their early ballots which need to be verified before being counted, and there will also be provisional ballots to be verified and counted.

A brief PSA:

You don't have to like that Arizona will take about a week to finish counting the early vote drop offs.

It is a function of statute. So next week, please think before suggesting on here it is due to incompetence or fraud.

It is neither.

— The AZ – abc15 – Data Guru (@Garrett_Archer) November 5, 2022

The MAGA/QAnon cult will claim that this “delay” (normal process) in counting the vote – exacerbated by their own actions – is proof of election fraud. BTW, if there is a race within one-half of one percent, under a new state law, an automatic recount will not occur until December.