I’m worried about the election.  No, not that Donald Trump will be elected.  Yes, that’s possible, but I think it’s unlikely.  I’ve seen people from inside the Harris campaign talking about the election.  They all say that the only polling they trust is their internal campaign polling.  And every time I’ve seen a quiet confidence.  Trump has an extremely disorganized get out the vote effort.  Harris, on the other hand, has a great “ground game”.  It’s organized and targeted.  Add in that the early voting numbers are very encouraging.  Somewhere around 25% of the expected votes have been cast.  Women, who historically have supported the Democratic candidate, are outvoting men by margins of up to 10% in key swing states.  What I’ve seen makes me cautiously optimistic.  It looks like Harris campaign is too, yet they can’t show it openly.  This is going to be a close election.  In 2020 we didn’t see a declared winner until the Friday after the election.  I suspect that we’ll be waiting just as long this time around.  Being too optimistic could result in voters staying home.  “When we fight we win”.  When we’re complacent we lose.

So why am I worried?

• A postal worker in Pennsylvania was recorded bringing mail-in ballots into a county office.  It was all legal, he was doing his job.  Yet the video went viral along with the claim that he was a “ballot mule”.  There have been over thirteen millions views.  His life has been threatened.
• Another video claims to show two Haitian men, non-citizens, claiming to have voted multiple times in Georgia.  It’s fake, likely created by Russian disinformation trolls.  Yet it’s been viewed hundreds of thousands it times.
• The governor of Oregon has put the National Guard on alert in anticipation of election related violence.
• There has been fake polling that shows Trump well ahead, winning in almost every state.  It’s been used as “proof” that the only way he can lose is if the election is stolen.
• I’ve lost track of how many times Trump has lied (OK, more honestly, I didn’t even try to count) about the 2020 and 2024 elections.

So why am I worried?  Start with January 6, 2021.  Add in comments I’ve read like this:
“Don’t the Democrats realize that they’ll lose in a civil war?”  (OK, seriously?  If there is a civil war it will be MAGA against the U.S. government)  Consider that Trump likely knows he’s about to lose, that his lies, his rhetoric, are about inciting post-election violence.  We’ve all seen him becoming increasingly unhinged (yet as I’ve said to a friend more than once, why have we never referred to a rational person as being “hinged”.)

I’m worried because people are going to die in support of a lie.

I’m worried that election workers will be hurt and killed.

I’m worried that more drop-off ballot boxes in blue leaning areas will be burned.

I’m worried that the Capitol will be attacked again.

I’m worried that more members of law enforcement will be hurt, some killed.

I’m worried that Trump will declare himself the winner well before the ballots are counted and the results announced.

I’m worried that he will be believed.

I’m scared that too many live in an alternate reality where facts don’t matter.

I’m worried that Russia and others will continue to distort the truth, further destabilizing our country.

And I’m worried because I don’t know what I can do to change things.

Resist

Be the Pebble