We are ignoring Election Day, and we are sure you are too -- you have already voted early or by mail and you have already insured that your neighbors and community have a way and a plan to vote tomorrow if they haven't joined you in the Already Did It Club. Still, jitters abound and, yeah, maybe we are not so much ignoring Election Day as trying to stay calm about it. We start off with access to good advice about how to beat the jitters, and then move on to news about our state, about the other 49 states, and about the state of the country. Some of it is even not (directly) about Election Day. It's all News You Can Use.
Tomorrow is Election Day. Aiii! We progressives are sure we will win, but still… “No one knows what the outcome of the presidential election will be. And that’s driving a lot of people nuts. If you’re one of them, check out psychologist Shannon Sauer-Zavala’s recommended strategies for dealing with anxiety due to election uncertainty. Therapy advice from The Conversation.
HERE IN MARYLAND
Early Voting Ends With 1 million Votes Cast: Early voting came to an end Thursday night after a busy week where nearly 1 million Marylanders turned out to cast their ballots. About 23 percent of eligible voters in Maryland have already voted in the lead-up to Election Day. And Maryland saw a 14 percent increase in early voter turnout this year compared to 2016. Capital News Service/MarylandReporter.com.
>>There is a slowly growing trend in Maryland toward voting before Election Day, either in person at one of the 97 voting centers around the state that were open for eight days in last month, or by requesting and returning a mail-in ballot. On the first day of early voting, 150,315 Marylanders who cast a ballot. By Oct. 31, the end of the early voting period, a total of 994,663 ballots had been cast at the early voting centers. Maryland Matters.
Hogan, Who Shuns Trump, Touts His Endorsement In Private Call: Maryland GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan touted an endorsement from Donald Trump in a private donor call and suggested it helps him with the former president’s “hard core” supporters, after repeatedly stating that he did not want Trump’s endorsement. /CNN. And from POLITICO Playbook Thursday: Caught On Tape: Despite repeatedly running away from the support of Trump in public, Maryland GOP Senate candidate Larry Hogan in a private call with donors called attention to Trump’s endorsement of his campaign and “suggested it helps him with the former president’s ‘hard core’ supporters,” [CNN] “On the call Wednesday, a local GOP donor asked Hogan about the public perception that Hogan and Trump ‘hate each other.’ The former Maryland governor clarified that he did actually receive Trump’s endorsement, according to a video of the call exclusively obtained by CNN. ‘Donald Trump actually endorsed me,’ Hogan says, interrupting the donor and repeating: ‘Donald Trump actually endorsed me.’”
Moore Takes Swipe at Hogan: Gov. Wes Moore joins Marylander former Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steel on The Weekend to talk national and Maryland politics. He takes a big swipe at Senate candidate and former Gov. Larry Hogan for asking voters to split their ticket between Democrat Kamala Harris for president and him, saying that he finds it absurd considering “Hogan didn't have the courage” to vote for Harris while he said he couldn't vote for Trump. The Weekend/MSNBC.
Maryland Ties with S.C. In Books Banned, Due To Carroll County: Maryland schools banned 64 books in the 2023-24 school year, tied with South Carolina for ninth-most in the nation among 29 states ranked, according to PEN America, which said book banning has grown since it started keeping track three years ago. Maryland’s standing was due largely to Carroll County schools, which the report said banned 59 books last year under an updated policy from the county board of education that said instructional materials deemed “sexually explicit” will not be allowed in schools. Maryland Matters via MD Reporter
BUT: Banned Books: Florida topped every state in the nation for the number of books removed from school libraries during the 2023-2024 school year, the Florida Phoenix reports. That’s 4,500 books from July 2023 to June 2024, according to an annual report from PEN America, a nonprofit advocating for freedom of expression. Stateline Daily
Change In Juvie Laws Likely To Increase Dept Caseloads: Concerning the changes in juvenile justice laws that took effect Friday, some prosecutors, defense attorneys and justice reform advocates agree on one thing: The laws are likely to result in increased caseloads for the Department of Juvenile Services. But whether that will have an effect on crime rates — or deter young offenders — is less clear. Cases already have been rising in Baltimore, according to figures provided by the city State’s Attorney’s Office. Baltimore Sun via MD Reporter.
>>New Law Extends Department Of Juvenile Services’ Reach To Children As Young As 10
Long-awaited commission to assess Maryland’s juvenile justice system finally named, will hold first meeting Nov. 6 (story from Thursday, Oct. 31)
Children as young as 10 can be referred to the juvenile justice system for an expanded list of nonviolent crimes under a comprehensive and controversial juvenile justice law that [took] effect Friday. Besides exposing 10- to 12-year-olds to Department of Juvenile Services supervision — previously 13 was the cutoff age — the law requires that any child charged with motor vehicle theft get a Children in Need of Supervision petition, or CINS petition. While the CINS petition had not been mandatory before, filing one now will also qualify the youth and the youth’s family for a variety of services. Maryland Matters
Maryland Energy Administration’s new grant program focuses on expanding solar power on buildings that benefit low- to moderate-income Marylanders, overburdened neighborhoods
The Maryland Energy Administration today announced the opening of the new Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Commercial Solar Grant Program, which offers major incentives to Maryland businesses and organizations to help pay the costs of solar energy systems that benefit Maryland’s low-to-moderate income, overburdened and underserved communities. “The agency developed the Commercial Solar Grant Program to promote equitable access to commercial-scale solar systems through more meaningful and focused incentives,” said Maryland Energy Administration Director Paul G. Pinsky. “The Commercial Solar Grant Program promotes partnerships with companies and groups led by minorities, veterans and people with disabilities to ensure strong and lasting community benefits.” The FY25 Commercial Solar Program has a budget of $5 million. MEA news release
THE OTHER 49
Election Nerves in CONNECTICUT: Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas’s office shipped fire suppression devices to town clerks last week to place inside absentee ballot drop boxes, after incendiary devices were set off in drop boxes in Washington and Oregon. Thomas said the move was a proactive effort to help towns, rather than a reflection of any present threat. (CT Mirror) via Pluribus
Election Nerves 2 – Transportation Stakes: DECISION ’24: Next President Needs a Vision for America’s Transportation Future
Streetsblog USA asserts “No matter who wins the White House, advocates are ready to push for the transportation system we all deserve — starting with these nine principles.”
Vote like your transportation future depends on it.
A coalition of climate, disability and labor organizers are urging the next president to adopt a transportation agenda that helps accomplish goals from all of their movements — by taking action to end car dependency and build the just, green, accessible mobility system that America deserves.”
Feast/Famine/By The Numbers: 79 -- The average number of contests appearing on a Maricopa County [Phoenix, AZ etc.] ballot this year, stretching the ballot to two pages for the first time in almost two decades. The larger-than-usual ballot has meant a delay in ballot deliveries. (AZ Mirror) via Pluribus
By contrast, those of us [Pluribus folks] in D.C. had just eight races on the ballot, including two shadow representative and senator roles.
Co-Living Could Unlock Office-to-Residential Conversions
New research finds efficient method to add low-cost, downtown housing
The United States’ shortage of 4 million to 7 million homes and, at the same time, an all-time-high office vacancy rate of 20%, means more than a billion square feet of office space is unused. But despite the urgent need for housing—and many local policymakers’ desire to convert underused office space to apartments to help revitalize downtowns that lost residents and businesses during the pandemic—construction costs remain too high to make most such conversions profitable, even with today’s high market rents in many U.S. cities and towns.
But new research from The Pew Charitable Trusts and Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm, has identified a more economically viable approach to office-to-residential conversions using a design that reduces construction costs and enables low rents that are affordable for people earning well below an area’s median income. Rather than conventional apartments, the design calls for converting buildings to co-living dorm-style apartments. Each floor features private, locked “microunits” along the perimeter, with shared kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, and living rooms in the center.
The future of these job-generating gigafactories, many of them in Republican states, could be at risk if the next president tries to wipe out the programs that made them possible. In fact, the United States is in the midst of the biggest boom in clean energy manufacturing investments in history, spurred by laws like the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. These laws have leveraged billions of dollars in government support to drive private sector investments in clean energy supply chains across the country. Route Fifty
WORKFORCE: Take Your Seats… Michigan state Rep. Dylan Wegela (D) has introduced a measure that would require employers to allow workers to sit down on the job so long as it doesn’t interfere with their duties. The “right to sit” bill follows an Ann Arbor city ordinance approved last month. Many states already have “right to sit” laws on the books. (MLive) via Pluribus
Quote of the Day: “I am especially proud of the workers and voters of Western North Carolina. You are an inspiration to us all.”
— North Carolina Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, on massive voter turnout in the 25 western counties hit hardest by Hurricane Helene. Voters in those counties turned out at a higher rate than the state average. (Associated Press) via Pluribus
NATIONAL
Quincy Jones Dead at 91: From bebop to hip-hop, Quincy Jones exemplified the musical producer and arranger as star. He elevated the voices of dozens of entertainers with his unsurpassed artistry in combining jazz, rhythm-and-blues and classical orchestration. By the time of his death on Nov. 3 at 91 at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, he had become a renaissance impresario of music, film and television. WaPo
Canvassers for Elon Musk’s America PAC Were Fired and Stranded in Michigan After Speaking Out
A dozen Black canvassers were tricked, threatened, and driven in seatless U-Haul vans. They were fired after WIRED reported on their plight—some without full pay or a way back home. WIRED
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In a much different people-to-people experience, the executive director of People’s Action, our national affiliate, has a message from “on the ground: In 2025, We Know What to Do!
by Sulma Arias
We stand ready to build a better future after Election Day.
We are hours away from the most consequential election - perhaps the most important choice - of our lifetimes. At People’s Action, we’ve been working hard to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because we know they are the only candidates with a plan to improve our health, our economy, and our future.
If you’ve been reading my columns, you already know a second Trump presidency would be a disaster for our climate, health, economy, workers, immigrants, and government. What Trump wants will be bad for every one of us. But what do we want, and how can we get there?
For months, our deep canvass volunteers have been listening to everyday people all across the country, especially in battleground states, about their hopes and dreams for the future - what we can build together, and how our votes will shape the country we live in.
We’ve already reached out to more than three million undecided voters, and we’ll have many more conversations by Election Day. What we’re hearing is already changing the lives of everyone involved, but it’s also giving us the map for how we come together in 2025 and beyond.
Here’s what we’re hearing: everyone we talk with, whether they support Harris or Trump, wants to save our country. People are struggling to make ends meet. They want to offer their loved ones a brighter future, yet don’t always feel elected officials hear or understand the challenges they face. They are deeply motivated by their values, and many by their faith.
When we talk with our neighbors with open hearts, as these volunteers do, we create common ground. Here’s what some of what they say about their deep canvassing experiences:
"Practicing these conversations has supported me in leading with my heart more in everyday life, and staying in hard conversations,” says Halle, who has been talking with voters in Michigan. “It is also a practice that helps bridge the gaps between a liberatory vision of our world, day-to-day organizing, and community practices with one another."
“Some of the voters at the doors welcome us with open arms, because they have nobody else to talk to,” says Ashlee from North Carolina. “We’re talking about the American Dream, and economic issues, really digging deep and having those emotional conversations. We’re telling our stories and getting them to tell their stories. it’s such a beautiful experience, because people don’t really communicate anymore.”
Conversations like these tell us that no matter what happens on Tuesday, we know exactly what we need to do in 2025. We must continue to organize and build powerful human connections like these. Because only together can we move forward.
We know that when we organize, we can build bridges and be the antidote to divisions and even despair. The powerful weaponize our differences - and even our faith - to keep us apart. They use lies and misinformation to create mistrust. They don’t care about bringing us together, as long as they get more.
The good news is that the uber-rich and powerful don’t get to decide our future: we do. When we vote, we decide who represents us, and if we support good government, our votes empower us to hold every elected official to account and ensure they work for the people, not for themselves and their wealthy friends.
Our work as community organizers truly starts after Election Day, because that’s when each and every one of us will have to turn to our neighbors, join hands, and start to build the future that we want: a brighter future for all of us. At People’s Action, we will work every day with our members in every community to ensure democracy lives up to its promises where we live, and our elected officials work with us to improve all of our lives.
Will you join us?
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And here are more updates from our national affiliate People’s Action – here’s Federal Affairs Director Megan E, writing from the road while doing last-minute electioneering while Congress continues to shirk work…
Fri, Nov. 8th 1pm local: Rising Majority Call: Cross-Movement Arms Embargo Push
Join Rising Majority and partners to learn about an upcoming historic vote to block weapons to Israel, our collective next steps, and how we can keep broadening our reach to secure an arms embargo.
Register Here. In the meantime, here are some tools that are already available from our partners for advancing arms embargo. Please share them widely in your networks and prepare your communities for a historic vote to block weapons to Israel.
- MPowerAction: Tell the Senate: Pass the JRD to Block Weapons to Israel
- USCPR Action: Block $20billion in Weapons to Israel
And (from us at Progressive Maryland) while we are all waiting to see the votes counted (better bring lunch! In fact, better bring about five days’ breakfast, lunch and dinner, at a minimum…) here’s a serious, comprehensive plan for action after the dust settles: The Antidote to Authoritarianism (We all know that some dead-enders will keep pitching fascism no matter who forms the next administration. Be ready.)
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