From Thursday:

 

10 days later and no ballot. This is BY DESIGN because Louis DeJoy’s operation to sabotage Election 2020 spilled over to 2021 municipal elections and, if he’s not fired or indicted beforehand, 2022 midterms. Ballots are gathering dust all around the country and, somehow, Lou DeJoy still has a job

Following up on that post with an update: received my absentee ballot *10 days* later, arriving on the last day I could deposit the absentee ballot in-person. Under normal circumstances, non-DeJoy USPS would’ve delivered the ballot within 2-3 days and I then I’d turn around and mail back in time for receipt deadline.

We don’t live in that kinda world right now.

So I was faced with the following choices (all bad):

• wait on horribly long line and ask pollworkers to shred my paper ballot
• pop my ballot in the mail and hope USPS delivers within 3 days
• drive to Buckhead Library (10 mi. there and back) and drop the ballot off
• vote on election day

These terrible choices are happening all across the country right now. And I realize Georgia republicans DGAF about urban centers but here’s the tea: we in City of Atlanta are choosing our next mayor and THERE ARE NO BALLOT DROPBOXES WITHIN CITY CENTER.

All by design.

And so. I drove up to Buckhead—on a Friday; in a rainstorm; during construction; in rush hour—to pop my ballot in a dropbox hidden in a room in back of the library.

I’m only telling this story because it’s happening everywhere: ballots are either painfully slow or gathering dust in Post Office holding stations everywhere. In Atlanta and Charlottesville, Virginia; in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Virginia Dems even had to sue.

The tag-team of Republican suppression laws; DeJoy’s sabotage; and election “Fraudits” are all designed to work in tandem to reduce confidence and strangle voting in the bathtub before voters even think about going to a polling place. And sometimes not even then.

Future is not DeJoy

How much longer are we gonna tolerate a person whose family has already gotten rich off a weakened USPS? It’d be one thing if Lou DeJoy was a logistics expert working to streamline operations (he hired PR firms to tell lies about his prowess); but his sabotage hampers USPS deliveries, which has the weird knock-on effect of boosting USPS-competitor XPO, his previous company.

Neighbor and Twitter gal pal Angie had this to say about what in-person voting was like:

Blowing up the filibuster to pass voting rights is urgent. Prosecuting potential election-fraud crimes should also be a priority. Republicans will only stop their election fraud (sometimes the fraud they invent) until they fear prosecution—and maybe not even then. 🔴

(Writer’s note: I wrote to Senate GOP Leadership fund asking for Robert “Mike” Duncan’s contact info. I intend to track him down and ask questions that clear the air about why he chose DeJoy in the first place. Watch this space.)

‘I want you to breathe’: My miraculous call with Fulton County Elections after DeJoy ratf**ked my ballot

 

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Will Pollock is a perpetually cranky New York City escapee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst and author of two books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way.

In 2001, Will earned his Masters from The Medill School of Journalism, graduating with highest honors from the magazine sequence. As permanent member of Journalism’s National Honors Society, he’s been active in monitoring, writing and blogging about media and journalism ever since he graduated.

Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He’s a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and helps you cure crankies by finding the nut in every story.

As for-profit media continues to fail us, it’s more important than ever to find reliable sources. Authentic storytelling exists—you just have to look for it. On this blog you’ll get ideas, not ideology. Sass with class. Reporting with rapport. Evidence with a touch of evil. You get the idea.

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