covid diary: day 91

Just a perfectly normal radar image showing a tropical

storm making landfall in Michigan after crossing 

Lake Superior. Just like you see every year at this time. Sure.

Yesterday was primary day in a few states, and mostly it went smoothly, with one glaring exception: Georgia. If you'll recall, in 2018, the last election Georgia had, the Republican secretary of state, Brian Kemp, was running for governor while simultaneously overseeing the election. He refused to recuse himself, which is bad enough, but he also ensured his own victory by removing hundreds of thousands of names from the voter rolls. And I'm not exaggerating that number: it was at least 340,000. And those are just the ones that were improperly purged; another 200,000 or so were properly purged. Also he blocked the registration of more than 50,000 new voters that year. You'll never, ever, ever guess what most of those voters had in common. (If you guessed that most of them are not white, you are correct.) Ugly story short, this bullshit worked, and Kemp was sworn in as governor. I refuse to say he won, and Stacey Abrams, the Democrat in the race, never conceded either, because she also knew it was bullshit.

Anyway. 2020 is a new year, right? We're living in the future now. But because of the utterly terrible way the 2018 Georgia election was conducted, courts ordered Georgia to get new voting machines. The contract went to a politically connected (by which I mean connected to Brian Kemp) firm, and the rollout of the new system has been an unmitigated disaster (by design). People were waiting in line for hours and hours, many polling places were closed entirely, others didn't have any (!!!!) voting machines or paper ballots. The last voter in the state cast a ballot at 12:37 a.m., technically not even Election Day anymore. That's 5 hours and 37 minutes after the polls officially closed. And as you may know, you have to be in line before poll closing and stay in line in order to get your vote counted. So that person was there, standing in line, for AT LEAST 5 hours and 38 minutes. Here's today's front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Yep, just a normal day in America.

This kind of chaos isn't new (see the Wisconsin primary), and it's 100% designed to suppress turnout to advantage Republicans. There is absolutely no doubt. But these true patriots were determined to have their voices heard, and I'm thankful for each and every one of them. So is Chef Jose Andres:

I will definitely be donating to help support that effort. Listen, we live in a red state, so we don't have to worry about a lot of this crap (because Republicans *want* Hoosiers to vote since they're largely conservative). Mike and I both voted by mail in the primary. It was so easy! And the only reason we can't have that on a national level is that Republicans know they can't win fairly, so they'll cheat their way to every advantage. And they'll keep a straight face as they claim the mantle of honor, patriotism, law, and order.

One last piece of news for today: Governor Holcomb just announced that as of Friday, Indiana will move into phase four of Racing to the Second Wave Back on Track Indiana. Two days early, you guys! Because we've done SO WELL at flattening the curve. Or something. Take comfort, Hoosiers! You are now allowed to have gatherings of up to 250 people, just in time for those June weddings! Restaurants can operate at 75 percent capacity! Bars, nightclubs, museums, zoos, and movie theaters can operate at 50 percent capacity! The all-important auto and bike racing venues can operate at 50 percent capacity! You can take your kids to the playground now because they're all REOPENING! And last but not least, get ready to LOSE SOME MONEY, because casinos are opening back up, baby!

Nationwide cases: 1,996,980. Deaths: 112,726.