We are acutely aware that we are living through history right now. It’s hard to stare down the unknown and feel prepared for what may come next. At Down Home, we’re grounding ourselves in the reason why we do this work— our communities. Our folks in rural North Carolina are worth protecting and fighting for. Their needs and interests should be represented in government by folks who know who they are and what they’re facing.
Although much is uncertain right now, we can ground ourselves in what we know to be true.
One truth is that that elections are never called on Election Day. With less voting sites than ever before, there’s a good chance that people will still be waiting to vote late into the night. This isn’t something to fear. Every vote must be counted.
We also know that we will be dealing with disinformation well after Election Day as the votes are counted. There are bad actors both foreign and domestic that are depending on us to be tense and fearful, and they will try to exploit that by distorting the truth. When you’re getting information about voting results, always check in with your local BOE first.
There will also be attempts to discount votes. In Texas, the GOP is already working to discount 100,000 votes just because people wanted to stay in their cars during a pandemic.
This is why we’re voting. If your vote wasn’t powerful, there wouldn’t be so many bad actors trying to discourage you or outright seek to strip that power from you. We won’t let people take our vote with chaos and fear. Just yesterday, we were with our community in Alamance county to march to the polls. We saw up close and personal what lengths people will go to in order to maintain the status quo. At Down Home, we refuse to tolerate this and defend our communities with care and intention. Join us and prepare to take action by arming yourself with information.