Ooh, this is awesome. Activists have made a free font called Gerry that is made from the shapes of gerrymandered congressional districts. They encourage you to use it to write your representative.
The Next Web:
The font’s creators, Ben Doessel and James Lee, made it to raise awareness and provide a method for disenfranchised voters to protest partisan gerrymandering. The duo, in a press release provided to the media, stated:
"After seeing how janky our Illinois 4th district had become, we became interested in this issue. We noticed our district’s vague, but shaky U-shape, then after seeing other letters on the map, the idea hit us, let’s create a typeface so our districts can become digital graffiti that voters and politicians can’t ignore."
For those unfamiliar with gerrymandering, it’s the process by which US voting districts use increasingly nonsensical borders to disenfranchise voters and limit who they can vote for by party lines instead of geography.
(The Week)
Thanks, Veek!
screenshot via UglyGerry.com Read the rest
Spread The Vote is a non-profit that works to help educate and empower voters on the voting and political process. Boing Boing invited the group to help everyone understand how primary elections work, and how you can participate in them if you are an eligible U.S. voter. Sign up for their state-specific voter education packages, which are really an amazing educational resource. —Xeni Jardin
UNDERSTANDING PRIMARY ELECTIONS,
from SPREAD THE VOTE.
When most voters think of election day, they likely imagine a general election where they vote to determine which candidate on the ballot will win the position of elected office. However, voters may be less familiar with primary elections. This may explain, in part, why voter turnout is so different for general and primary elections. That’s where Spread The Vote comes in. We want every eligible voter to understand and participate in primary elections because they are such an important element of our democracy. Read the rest
“We believe voting is the sacred right of every American, and every American should be able to exercise it.” — spreadthevote.org.
Help a disadvantaged fellow American obtain an ID to get a job, a safe place to live, and so they can vote.
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog went to Texas to get close to the Democratic and Republican Senate race candidates. He first visited Beto O'Rourke's rally where he landed a short interview. Then he went to Ted Cruz's where he, amazingly, got some face time. Oh, the burn... Read the rest
For all of you in the U.S., no doubt your feeds are filling up with your friends showing off their "I Voted" stickers (and if they're not, uh, better get some new friends). But are their stickers as cool as the ones from Alaska?
Artist Pat Race of Juneau was hired to design these little "I Voted" beauties for the State of Alaska Division of Elections. Race's pro-voting animals not only appeared on the Land of the Midnight Sun's stickers but also on their Official Election Pamphlets.
At least one Alaskan is trying to collect all eight designs:
Prints of the designs are available directly from the artist. Prices start at $10.
image via Kyle Miller Read the rest
Californian vote-by-mail voters can check with their county to ensure their vote was received and counted. Read the rest
Why does Ivanka Trump need trademarks for nursing homes, sausage casing, and *voting machines* in China? Or do we not want to know. Read the rest
Carl Reiner is disgusted with what's happening in the United States these days. In this heartfelt PSA, the accomplished nonagenarian shares his thoughts on what Americans can do to change what's happening. In short, vote!
Read the rest
Today Jimmy Carter, a former US President who also served as Governor of Georgia, has called for Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp's resignation. Kemp is accused of viciously robbing Georgians of their right to vote.
Conveniently, most of the people Kemp is accused of disenfranchising are in demographics largely assumed to be voting for his opponent.
Via NPR:
In his letter to Kemp, Carter said it was his decades of experience assisting elections abroad that persuaded him to wade into the bitter dispute now roiling the Georgia gubernatorial race. Kemp has been under fire for deciding to purge tens of thousands of voters from the voter rolls — months after declaring his intent to run for governor.
"In Georgia's upcoming gubernatorial election, popular confidence is threatened not only by the undeniable racial discrimination of the past and the serious questions that the federal courts have raised about the security of Georgia's voting machines, but also because you are now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate," wrote Carter, who served as Democratic governor of Georgia himself before winning the presidency in 1976.
Read the rest
Filmmaker and designer Helen Stickler of Providence, RI has repurposed vintage matchbook propaganda art into swell political memes supporting #VoteBlue, #GOTV, and Democrats.
She writes that she'll be posting them individually on her Facebook page until the midterm election.
I'm particularly sweet on this one:
Thanks, Margot!
Previously: Street artists leave 'Please Clean Up After Your Democracy' signs to encourage voting Read the rest
A record number of women are running on the Democratic ticket for Congressional office, over 200 in fact. This scarf depicts each and every one of these sheroes in hand-drawn illustrations by artist Alexandra Posen. The Herwave silk wrap is available for $125 at Resistance By Design. 100% of its profits will go to organizations supporting Democratic women in government.
View this post on Instagram
#HERWAVE2018 @notoriousrbyd
A post shared by Alexandra Posen (@alexoposen) on Oct 12, 2018 at 3:13pm PDT
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thrilling to see first print strike-offs of the HERWAVE2018 project I’ve been working on. Needed strength and hope after such dark days. #herwave2018 #electwomen #thefutureisfemale #voteblue
A post shared by Alexandra Posen (@alexoposen) on Sep 29, 2018 at 11:25am PDT
(swissmiss) Read the rest
A street art collective known as ArtBitch, currently operating as VoteBitch, has been droplifting humorous pro-voting signs up in a bunch of public Bay Area locations.
Each sign shows a figure holding up a dog poop bag in one hand and a leash attached to the United States in the other, with the word "VOTE" and the hashtag #itactuallymatters underneath it.
The group has made the sign's art a free download on their site.
You pick up your mess – why should the neighbors sit home watching football while you rock the whole civic duty thing? Tell folks to get with the program with this chipper yet irony-laden “Vote” sign.
Vote! It does actually matter.
View this post on Instagram
Pick it up! Want a free PDF of this? Print your own dang sign by emailing me thru the website (link in profile). #vote #itactuallymatters #streetart #culturejamming #adbusters #art #Election #elections #elections2018 #election2018 #registertovote #register #bluewave #blacklivesmatter #politics #TheFutureIsVoting #BeAVoter #CivicMinded #Civilrights #2018Election #rockthevote #bluewave #rememberinnovember #moveon #democracy #democracynow #leagueofwomenvoters #feminist #feminism #activism
A post shared by VoteBitch (@votebitch2020) on Oct 13, 2018 at 12:27pm PDT
photo by Rusty Blazenhoff (VoteBitch tipped me off on a few of the locations so I could photograph the signs. The lead image was captured at the bus stop on Webster Street near the corner of Atlantic Avenue in Alameda.) Read the rest
With midterms around the corner, McSweeney's has gathered 112 of Donald Trump's "worst cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes." The list is the first in a series. It begins in 2011, well before he got into office, and ends with his February 2017 atrocities. Next week they will share "Atrocities 113-192."
It's a drag to see, honestly, but I'm glad someone is keeping track.
(Nag on the Lake) Read the rest
Voting rights advocacy groups are suing the state of Georgia to reinstate 53,000 blocked voter registrations, 70% of which are from African American voters, saying the current policy violates the U.S. Voting Rights Act and The National Voter Registration Act. Read the rest
Taylor Swift may speak to her home state, but MTv's former presidential hopeful Randee of the Redwoods may be more effective to rally Happy Mutant voters!
Randee reminds us of our youth, while encouraging everyone to register and to vote.
Just say "Whoa!"
Read the rest
These senior citizens have a message for the young folks in America: "Don't vote."
This country belongs to whomever shows up. And do you know who shows up for every election? Old people. But only 46% of people 18-34 years old voted in the last election.
So the elderly have a disproportionate influence on our politics and our country. And a lot of them would like to keep it that way.
Message heard loud and clear, and I'm not even that young.
Are you registered to vote?
(Daring Fireball) Read the rest
