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Today, let's talk about the midterm elections. Let's get started. Hello and welcome back. Today, we're talking about the midterm elections, and in case you were unaware, it's less than four weeks away, November 8.
And so for this episode, I am joined with my bestie. Hey, love. Hey, Tweed Trends family. And we just went and voted.
We did the whole early voting thing. And we're actually celebrating today because today marks the first time my husband has voted in person. In ever. So let's not get it twisted.
He's a voter. He votes. But because of when he graduated and when he went into the military, he has always been an absentee voter. Always, yep.
So this was his first time actually going to a place. And so it's still different because this is not like real time voting day voting. This is early voting, but still voting in person nonetheless. So how was this experience for you today?
So it was weird because, again, I know me sit at home. I have my idea of who I'm going to mark. I mark it, put it in the mail, and the magic happens. And so to go to the place and have all the stuff explained and to see what the booths look like in person, they still weren't what I thought that they would be.
And maybe that's just a set up at that location. I'm expecting this huge curtain and people taking your DNA and retina scans before you go in and confirm who you are. And you go in and fill out your ballot and come out. So that's pretty cool though, to then you'll scan a document through and see the lights up green, saying you vote, discount it and the paper doesn't come out to wonder what's going to happen to it.
So that was pretty cool. And you got your sticker. And I got a sticker. I never got a sticker for.
Oh my gosh. This was an amazing event. And then the other part of it too is because you voted in person, you got to see what happens on the outside in a small scale. So as we approached the building, there were some people standing out there that had literature.
And one lady actually engaged us in conversation. She engaged you. Because I could barely hear her. She was very mousie.
I'm like, you don't want to leave. You don't want to run. You just hoping to get a few votes here and there. I was right next to you.
I couldn't hear her. You are. I agree. Well, and I think, I don't know, maybe that was her way of trying to do a little Jedi mind trick or something.
Then if she talks really soft, then we were going to have to lean in. And then we'd be so touched by her story. And basically, she was running for school board. And she was saying that they have children with IEPs or individual education plans.
And because of that, they had a bad experience with it. And then so because of that, she decided that she was going to run for school board. I don't know how I felt about that simply because there are other steps that you take in getting the satisfaction that you need. And I hear that she wants to advocate for students with special needs.
But I also need to know that you're looking out for the black and brown children and everybody in the school building. And not just your focus is on, let me do all I can for the students with IEPs. Right. She didn't have a strong elevator pitch to say, hey, this person here may be neutral.
Maybe this way or that way. Let me let her know that I'm here to work and possibly on her behalf. And I just, like I said, because I could barely hear her, I couldn't. I didn't get that vibe.
I thought it was a hopefully a vote for me, so I can fix my issue. And that just didn't work. Yeah, I got that kind of sense from her, too. But nonetheless, we had a great experience.
My husband got to vote in person for the first time. Yeah, first time. And so we got some more stuff, though, to cover on the topic of voting. The main idea behind today's episode is early voting is good.
Go do it if you have it available to you, because there's so many reasons why it makes so much sense to go ahead and vote early. For the simple fact of one, you don't want to get to the day of and then realize that there's something wrong with your information. Make sure that your voter registration stuff is valid. Make sure that you have the proper ID that you need to take with you when you go to vote.
And if you do it early and there's a problem, guess what? You still got time. That's it. Exactly.
You don't want to be in one of these long lines at the polls on election day and then realize that there's a problem, because nine times out of ten, you're going to be so done with it that you might just kind of be like, whatever. Right. So I totally agree with you. And I think just having that margin of error, just at a critical time, we look at the last election and the plethora of states and the hash and the anti-annigans following that, whereas changing voting laws or requirements, because there's an issue that's been identified, that's one thing.
But when you make changes that are effectively more restrictive, for no real reason, you want to put yourself in the best spot to make sure that you're a candidate or a candidate, get your vote and not be subjective to, again, all the things that you just mentioned. Yeah, definitely, definitely. And the other good thing I think about voting early is that usually there's one location that caters to multiple districts or precincts. Right.
So in our area, I agree. In our area where we would vote on voting day, we didn't have to go there. And again, same like you, whereas you were waiting earlier, if you go to a location that you thought was supposed to be your voting place where your polls are, you find out that day that you're in a wrong location, that could cause all sorts of feelings, frustration, it may be a time constraint that you may not be able to meet depending on modes of transportation and where it is. So going now afforded us the opportunity to go to the one location where voting is occurring, regardless of which precinct we were in, and make sure that vote gets counted.
Right. So we wanted to, unless we went to the completely wrong building, and of course, there'd be no voting. Right. So, duh, you know.
So I'm begging you, please, ma'am, please, sirs, go ahead, get it off the plate now. Go ahead, eat the vegetables first. And part of eating the vegetables is to make sure that you look ahead at your candidates and understand who they vote for. They're siced out there, and I'm not endorsing this one, but I've used it.
Valdapedia is a good place to at least see the names out there, and that the candidates have an opportunity to put some information about themselves there as well. So as much research as you can to understand what it is that they're running for, what's their platform, and how does that benefit you and your interest? That's part of eating the vegetables as well. Yeah, because you got to do your homework.
Don't just go there and wait for the people standing outside to give you something and be like here, vote straight, Democrat, vote straight Republican, like, yeah, don't wait. Do your homework ahead of time. And then that way, when it's time for you to go and cast your ballot, you just go. You do it.
Get it done. Okay, babe. So in all discussions about elections and voting, there's always some type of controversy, some type of grandstanding emotions run high. Right.
Got your moments. Yeah. Well, I've got to hop up on my soapbox real quick. Let me help you out there.
Okay, thank you. Thank you. All right, appreciate it. Now, in our cul-de-sac, there is a family.
You know, we're going with this, don't you? I see where you're going with this one. There is a family. They have two children, school-aged children, and they have two signs in their yard for school board candidates.
School board that they don't participate in. Hold on. I got that bar yet. Sorry.
Sorry. They're two children are homeschooled. So they don't have a nickel in this dime. But yet they are supporting visually in their yard to school board candidates.
And I am all up in my feelings about this. I feel some type of way. Well, that's clearly I think for us because we don't have a high traffic street that leads into our cul-de-sac. And then of course, the people that normally come in the cul-de-sac are delivery folks and us, you know, the families right here.
We just don't have a lot of traffic. So who is it that you're advertising to for those candidates on behalf of those candidates? Yeah, I definitely peep that. You guys can't be serious.
Yeah. So it has rubbed me the wrong way because initially it was only one sign. And then it got bumped up to two signs. And so I did a little research on the candidates, not a fan.
You know, the types of stuff that they're putting out there. And then to say that these people are backing them with zero skin in the game. You're not letting your kids come to school, period. Well, they let me kiss a bunch of stuff like wear shoes and it's cold outside.
Oh, wait, sorry. We're on topic, different shows. All right, go back, go back. Yeah.
So, but it really bothers me. And I know that, you know, you have the people that are like, oh, I'm a taxpayer and I'm mad that my tax dollars are going to school because I don't have kids, you know, and people feel that kind of way about putting money into a system that they're not getting anything out of. Right. And it's kind of like, oh, well, but you are because the better the school systems are, I feel the better the product is the citizen that comes out on the other side.
And therefore, there is benefit for supporting the schools in your area. However, however, when you have children, you won't send them to school, but yet you want to back a candidate, I feel some type of way about that. Two candidates. Is it wrong?
I mean, it feel that way. Not at all. Well, so the thing about it, too, is right there, their kids play with ours. We've loosely engaged them with the occasional, you know, a hand up acknowledgement.
So it's not like with, with our other neighbors, what we've actually had, you know, conversations or chat it, there's little to no conversation there. And that's fine. But then like you say, you put the sign up and it's like, so who in this cul-de-sac did you actually talk to that message is for? Yeah, because once again, we are not on the main drag.
The only people that come to the cul-de-sac are the people that live in it and the people are delivering things to it. So yeah, can you help me down? Yes, let's get out of the slow box. Can you help me out the slow box?
I got you, we're down. Okay, thank you. Okay, well that was today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us.
As a reminder, don't wait. Just go do it now. Do your early voting if you have that opportunity so that you don't have to wait in the long lines. There are no surprises if there's something wrong with your voter registration information.
If you happen to forget something. If you have an issue with an ID, you have time to get that resolved. Right, just all of those things. If you do it now, it'll save you a headache in the long run.
Right, so get out those young people to vote. Make sure that they understand the importance of the midterm election, the school board and the city council elections, all your local elections, all of them have a part in what their tomorrow looks like. For our seniors out there, let's make sure that they are being taken care of with their voter registration that they have transportation. And so as far as transportation, it may actually benefit you earlier to help them because the earlier you go, the less time you'll actually have to spend in line.
So taking a lunch break, taking a self-care day, any of those things to take a few moments out to get it done, you can definitely take a shorter period of time to do. Well, but before you even do all of that stuff, do your homework. Make sure you know who the candidates are and who you're voting for. Don't take the young person to the polls and don't have that conversation with them about voting and who the candidates are because that's pointless.
Correct. And they're going to look crazy like, I'm just going to blin some names. Let me see, my friend, last name is young. I'm going to vote here.
No, no, we're not doing that. We are doing our due diligence. We're doing our homework. Voting with intentionality.
Yes. Because we all know that the glamor is in presidential elections, but where the work takes place is when we get to these midterms, these people that we're putting in office on our local levels. Correct. So there's plenty of other ways to find things out.
I know for one, when we all vote has a Twitter account and they get information out there as far as voting in various areas are put you in contact with the people in your specific area so that you can get any issues resolved or any questions answered. You have ballot PD as we spoke about earlier. There's just tons of things that you can do a search on to get the right information. So yes, ballot of PD is actually the app is called My Vote.
And then for when we all vote, you can find them on Twitter at when we all vote. Simple as that. You can find out all of the information you need. It's right there, guys.
Take the time, get the information, and then go rock the vote.