November 20th
Dear ones,
It’s Friday, but there is no relief in sight (sorry). I find it ironic and upsetting that we are discussing orange zones and orange alerts today.
New York City is headed into the Governor’s orange zone status, which is based on a rolling 10-day average of virus positivity over 3%. We are no longer surprised that the city and the state cannot even agree on how to determine this rate, with the state calculating its rate on the date when tests are reported rather than the day the tests were performed. The orange zone status would force the closure of private schools, indoor dining, and limit the size of religious gatherings. This will not be the PAUSE of the spring, but you might want to get a haircut, because “gyms, fitness centers, barber shops, spas, tattoo and piercing parlors, nail salons, and laser hair removal providers” will also close. Or you can let your hair reflect the state of the nation, as I have chosen to do.
Choose Democracy has not yet elevated the coup-o-meter to orange alert — attempted coup — in spite of the president’s outrageous efforts to overturn the election results. The Times’ David E. Sanger called the president out for “an even more audacious use of brute political force” than the machinations on behalf of Rutherford B. Hayes, whose election in 1876 ushered in the period of violence and repression that ended Reconstruction. Little history lesson: Two sets of electoral votes came from Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina and the compromise produced by an Electoral Commission, after a protracted process, gave the presidency to Hayes, who had lost the popular vote and the did not have an electoral majority before the disputed returns were counted in his favor. This shit can’t happen…until it happens.
My private orange alert continues, sustained by the analysis in The Guardian (bold type is theirs):
Typically, a state certifies a Republican or Democratic slate of electors based on which candidate won the popular vote. Electors convene on 14 December to formally select the president, and the results are sent to Congress to tally on 6 January. On 20 January, one presidential term ends and the next begins.
Delaying or blocking the state certification process could potentially clear the way for legislators to appoint electors pledged to Trump, even in states where Biden won the popular vote.
Usually, the secretary of state or governor certifies the vote. State legislators generally have no role in the process. But Trump supporters have seized on language in the US Constitution that says each state shall appoint electors “in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.”
The tenor of this election season is the other reason for my private orange alert. The Arizona Secretary of State, Katie Hobbs issued a statement about the threats of violence that have been directed against her and her family:
These actions are … a symptom of a deeper problem in our state and country—the consistent and systematic undermining of trust in each other and our democratic process.
This does not excuse the perpetrators. Their continued intimidation tactics will not prevent me from performing the duties I swore an oath to do. Our democracy is tested constantly, it continues to prevail, and it will not falter under my watch.
But there are those, including the president, members of Congress and other elected officials, who are perpetuating misinformation and are encouraging others to distrust the election results in a manner that violates the oath of office they took. It is well past time that they stop.
Hobbs ended her statement by thanking election workers and voters. Please thank the election officials working at the county and state level for their work and pass this link on to friends and family around the country. We have time to express a little gratitude to public servants working through a pandemic and contending with unprecedented hostility.
Your weekend homework is to sign up to phone-bank, text-bank, and or write postcards to support GOTV efforts in the Georgia run-off. The run-off system is designed to depress turnout, so we need to get to work.
It is going to be a beautiful day. I’m planning to walk with a friend. I encourage you to do the same.
with love,
L