#every vote counts

[thebluestockingfirefly]

Phryne and Cimorene would like to remind everyone in the US to go VOTE today. If you're eligible to vote, GET THEE TO THE POLLS!

#vote #go vote #every vote counts #cats #cats of tumblr #cat #kitties #kitty #kitties of tumblr #usa #american election #pets #animals #cute cats #cute #cute pets #cute animals #pets of tumblr #pets of the week #animals of tumblr #sister #cats of hufflepuff #hufflepuff #cats of slytherin #slytherin #cimorene #phryne #vote vote vote #maine coons #midterm elections

[coochiequeens]

Ladies, vote for yourself and those denied the right

Dhurnal (Pakistan) (AFP) – Perched on her traditional charpai bed, Naeem Kausir says she would like to vote in Pakistan's upcoming election -- if only the men in her family would let her.

Issued on: 05/02/2024 - 08:41

In  the village of Dhurnal in Punjab, spread across crop fields and home to several thousand people, men profess myriad reasons why women should not be allowed to vote © Farooq NAEEM / AFP

Like all the women in her town, the 60-year-old former headmistress and her seven daughters -- six already university educated -- are forbidden from voting by their male elders.

"Whether by her husband, father, son or brother, a woman is forced. She lacks the autonomy to make decisions independently," said Kausir, covered in a veil in the courtyard of her home.

"These men lack the courage to grant women their rights," the widow told AFP.

Although voting is a constitutional right for all adults in Pakistan, some rural areas in the socially conservative country are still ruled by a patriarchal system of male village elders who wield significant influence in their communities.

In the village of Dhurnal in Punjab, spread across crop fields and home to several thousand people, men profess myriad reasons for the ban of more than 50 years.

"Several years ago, during a period of low literacy rates, a council chairman decreed that if men went out to vote, and women followed suit, who would manage the household and childcare responsibilities?" said Malik Muhammad, a member of the village council.

"This disruption, just for one vote, was deemed unnecessary," he concluded.

Robina Kausir, a healthcare worker, talks to AFP in Dhurnal of Punjab province, ahead of the upcoming general election © Farooq NAEEM / AFP

Muhammad Aslam, a shopkeeper, claims it is to protect women from "local hostilities" about politics, including a distant occasion that few seem to remember in the village when an argument broke out at a polling station.

Others told AFP it was simply down to "tradition".

First Muslim woman leader

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has stressed that it has the authority to declare the process null and void in any constituency where women are barred from participating.

In reality, progress has been slow outside of cities and in areas that operate under tribal norms, with millions of women still missing from the electoral rolls.

Muhammad Aslam, a shopkeeper, claims a ban on women voting is to protect them from "local hostilities" about politics © Farooq NAEEM / AFP

The elders in Dhurnal rely on neighbouring villages to fill a government-imposed quota which maintains that 10 percent of votes cast in every constituency must be by women.

Those who are allowed to vote are often pressured to pick a candidate of a male relative's choice.

In the mountainous region of Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province home to almost 800,000 people, religious clerics last month decreed it un-Islamic for women to take part in electoral campaigns.

Although voting is a constitutional right for all adults in Pakistan, some rural areas in the socially conservative country are still ruled by a patriarchal system of male village elders who wield significant influence in their communities © Farooq NAEEM / AFP

Fatima Tu Zara Butt, a legal expert and a women's rights activist, said women are allowed to vote in Islam, but that religion is often exploited or misunderstood in Pakistan.

"Regardless of their level of education or financial stability, women in Pakistan can only make decisions with the 'support' of the men around them," she said.

Pakistan famously elected the world's first Muslim woman leader in 1988 -- Benazir Bhutto, who introduced policies that boosted education and access to money for women, and fought against religious extremism after military dictator Zia ul-Haq had introduced a new era of Islamisation that rolled back women's rights.

However, more than 30 years later, only 355 women are competing for national assembly seats in Thursday's election, compared to 6,094 men, the election commission has said.

Pakistan reserves 60 of the 342 National Assembly seats for women and 10 for religious minorities in the Muslim-majority country, but political parties rarely allow women to contest outside of this quota.

Those who do stand often do so only with the backing of male relatives who are already established in local politics.

"I have never seen any independent candidates contesting elections on their own," Zara Butt added.

'Everyone's right'

Forty-year-old Robina Kausir, a healthcare worker, said a growing number of women in Dhurnal want to exercise their right to vote but they fear backlash from the community if they do -- particularly the looming threat of divorce, a matter of great shame in Pakistani culture.

She credits part of the shift to access to information as a result of the rising use of smartphones and social media.

"These men instil fear in their women – many threaten their wives," she told AFP.

Robina, backed by her husband, is one of the few prepared to take the risk.

When cricketing legend Imran Khan swept to power in the 2018 election, Robina arranged for a minibus to take women to the local polling station.

Only a handful joined her, but she still marked it as a success and will do the same on Thursday's election.

"I was abused but I do not care, I will keep fighting for everyone's right to vote," Robina said.

#pakistan #Every vote counts #Men making up bs to prevent women from voting #Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) #Men protecting women........from exercising their right to vote #Benazir Bhutto #only 355 women are competing for national assembly seats in Thursday's election compared to 6094 men

[8-rock]

On this election day, there are lots of forces at work to keep Black people from getting to the polls. Or, if we do cast a vote, to keep that vote from being counted. Let's not make it easy. Turn up at the polls and bring a friend (or two or three).  

VOTE! #Election2022 

Voting While Black: https://bit.ly/LWBlack

#vote #please vote #black voters #black votes matter #black voices #ajuan mance #living while black #voting while black #black lives matter #black lives #election #election day #digital art #black art #black artist #your vote #your vote matters #your vote counts #every vote counts

[whenweallvote]

Arizona 🏜️ is one the most tightly-divided swing states in the 2024 elections. Between elected officials and ballot measures, there’s a lot at stake for Arizona voters.

Swipe 👉🏽 to learn more about what Arizona voters may see on their ballots this November.

Don’t let anyone tell you your vote doesn’t count. Voters in Arizona will help determine the future of their state and the country. Make sure you are ready to make your voice heard at weall.vote/register!

#arizona #AZ #arizona voters #vote #voting #president #senator #house of representatives #congress #abortion #abortion access #register to vote #every vote counts

[operationmorewhitecollar]

Double Duty

Today (January 16), votes on the People's Choice site are DOUBLED, so be sure to cast your vote for Matt!

#Matt Bomer #people's choice awards #the tv performance #Hawkins Fuller #Fellow Travelers #every vote counts #let's show Matt all the love #white collar cast

[kingsonne-zedecks]

Well fuck.

I guess I just learned the tactic that is going to be used to discourage democrat voter participation.

I just saw a couple of posts on other social media sites talking about "respecting people's decision to follow their conscience in not voting for Biden in the 2024 presidential election due to his actions and stance regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict."

I cannot possibly understate just how bad faith this stance is. The main people pushing this idea don't care about anyone in Israel or Palestine. They care about preventing your vote by playing to your sense of justice. They care about harnessing that sense of justice to get you to convince other people not to vote.

There is no true moral backbone to this stance. It hides beneath the idea that you can serve your conscience by not voting in a time when every vote counts and Facism sits on the doorstep. I must emphasize that things would be horrifically worse if the Facists were in control of the country. By not voting you would be abandoning your easiest and most essential way to speak out against this.

Its okay to hate the democratic party for not doing enough and for doing bad things. Its not okay to abandon your civic duty at the influence of bad actors.

I don't want to vote for Joe Biden. I am mad that its no support from the Democratic Party for a real primary with alternative candidates to Biden. I would much rather have someone better than Biden. But I would also much rather have Biden than someone worse than Biden and I will vote to make sure that this happens.

If this continues to get pushed you're going to see a big resurgence of arguments how a vote for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil. It will claim that voting for a lesser evil is a concession, a statement that you are okay with any bad things done by Biden (or any other candidate where this tactic is employed.) This simply is not true. A vote never has been and never will be a blank endorsement for all opinions and policies of a politician.

Abstaining from voting is not the moral high ground. Its only half a step away from Both Sides centrism.

As a moral stance it doesn't say "Here I am, I am righteous and will not support the unrighteous"

It says

"Here I sit. I do not care if the Facists win." The moral highground of the stance is an illusion. The stance looks in the face of every individual who will suffer and die under Facism and pats them on the head and says I'm sorry you are going to suffer and die, but it was worth it for me to feel good about myself.

The bad actors don't want you to think about these things. They will keep the attention on ever failure of the Democratic party and ask you if you condone them. They will accuse you of approving of these actions and showing them with your vote.

There might be people you trust who become convinced by this and share these feelings in what they feel is good faith. They might be convinced and upset if you don't agree with them. It won't be pleasant.

Please look into efforts within your state to overturn First Past the Post voting. Oregon has put Ranked Choice Voting on the ballot for 2024 and the people will get to decide against the system that let's this lesser of two evils argument exist. Instant Runoff Voting is not the only valid form of ranked voting or otherwise non FPTP voting. Look at your state and check to see if there is a petition to get a new voting method on the ballot. Oregon's legislature placed Ranked Choice on the ballot, but a petition was already in place to accomplish the same thing if they didn't. The same might be going on in your state.

Politics sucks and I wish we didn't have to deal with things like this. But we do. Doubt anything someone says that discourages you from voting.

#politics #2024 elections #election interference #every vote counts #civic duty #us politics #fight facism #please vote #vote #I feel like we were just talking about how election interference on Tumblr #How its main goal was to convince people not to vote

[simonsapelsin]

#well damn #every vote counts

[labelleizzy]

#vote 2022 #every vote counts #vote vote vote #for the love of fucking jesus vote blue #voteblue #voter registration #vote like your life depends on it #uspol #us politics

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

#midterm elections #colorado #adam frisch #lauren boebert #vote 2022 #election results #every vote counts

[ducktalk]

please participate thanks

#polls #poll #tumblr polls #tumblr poll #winking #tumblr #wink #please vote #every vote counts #i need to know

[beautifulterriblequeen]

convinced a friend who was so deep in the political mire of "my vote doesn't count so why bother, and everyone's the same anyway" to actually pull out her primary ballot and use it. the rest is in chad's hands but I feel pretty good for helping shift one person's perspective just a little bit in the right direction

#every vote counts #vote guys it's so important #i'm helping my oldest vote for the first time too #ain't raising no slackers here #it doesn't have to be your wholeass identity to vote #just do it while you listen to a podcast and move on with your life #if you want better local stuff then vote for it #if you want better federal stuff then vote for it

[cawfeepawt]

#wendy's #jack in the box #fast food #poll #vs #show a friend?? pls? /hj #every vote counts

[shelbgrey]

#The Outsiders #Sodapop Curtis X reader #The lost boys #David x reader #Seeley Booth x reader #Bones #bones tv show #Stand by me #Ace Merrill x reader #Poll #Vote for the next fic #Every vote counts

[violetsandfluff]

#Harry styles #Harry’s House #polls #poll #leaving this open for a week #every vote counts

[ms-anthrope-cellaneous]

HELLO,

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE TO VOTE?

DID YOU GO OUT AND VOTE?

IF NOT GO OUT AND VOTE BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

EVEN IF YOU DO NOT LIKE POLITICS!

BECAUSE EVERY VOTE COUNTS!

AND WILL HELP DETERMINE HOW THIS COUNTRY RUNS!

PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL OF PEOPLES DECISIONS!

AND REMEMBER, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE WHO YOU VOTED FOR IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO!

JUST GO VOTE AND BE KIND!

#please vote #because #every vote counts

[stormsoftears]

Willow Project

Please we need change to happen and we are so close to the goal. Sign this and share it with your friends. What use is money if the world is dying from our greed. Your signature could be the difference we need. Don't think someone else will sign for you or it wont effect me this is the future that I will have to grow with and so will so many other people. THIS IS OUR FUTURE NOT A 80 YEAR OLD WHITE MAN MAKING MONEY.

Even if you just share we need awareness and we need to stop it, this could be the cause that stopes all our efforts we've made so far.

#willow project #save the planet #help #please we need to try and do something #every vote counts