Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Tuesday, Nov. 8. I’m Jeanette Marantos, a Lifestyle feature writer who mostly writes about gardening and plants, but this morning I’m here to trumpet the news (in case you’ve been binge-watching “West Wing” or “Gunsmoke” with blinders for the last 12 months): Today is election day!
And thank God the midterms are nearly over. … Except, are they, really? Because these days we can’t even agree on when elections are done. I mean, good grief. How many more conspiracies, analyses and righteously indignant reactions can our fragile democracy/constitutional republic bear?
So I’m been thinking, there must be something we can do. Even my most politically rabid friends have started playing online mah-jongg or taken a deep dive into the history of Spam (the meat, not the mail), anything to avoid another word involving election news.
And that’s when it came to me, the super binder that can bring us together, the one thing we can all agree is true:
Our nation has some really big problems.
I know, my ideas about the problems are likely different from yours, and that’s OK. We can agree to disagree on the details as long as we can come together on at least one important issue: Something stinks.
What really matters is that this is a place where we can all converge. And when it comes to pinpointing the details, as in, “What’s causing all this stink?” I’d like to remind everyone about this amazingly quiet, secret way to have our voices heard:
It’s called V-O-T-I-N-G, and in California, every U.S. citizen who resides in the state and is 18 or older as of today can cast a ballot, according to the California secretary of state, as long as they’re not serving prison time for a felony or deemed mentally incompetent by a court.
Even qualified people who didn’t pre-register to vote 14 days before the election can cast a provisional ballot today by contacting their county elections office and using same-day voter registration.
Or, if you prefer to go online, you can check your voter registration status or get a list of early voting locations that allow eligible people to cast a provisional ballot on election day. (There are dozens of locations in L.A. County alone.) Those provisional ballots will be counted as long as voting officials verify your identity and confirm that you didn’t try to vote more than once someplace else.
One other note: If you’re one of those last-minute voters who hasn’t already dropped off their mail-in ballot or plans to actually vote in person at a polling place (watch out, rain is in the forecast), there’s information that can help you too.
Unsure about where to cast your vote? Contact your county election office.
Confused about the issues? Go to votersedge.org/ca, enter your ZIP Code and get a full list of the candidates and issues on your local ballot. Or read our editorial board’s comprehensive coverage of the issues, in The Times’ electoral endorsements, or utility journalism editor Jon Healey’s breakdown of the roles of city councils, the Los Angeles mayor, the county and state, for those wanting to know more.
But coming together like this, sharing our despair, that’s got to count for something, right? Even if we never agree about problems, at least we’re pulling together to fix a country we love. That sounds pretty corny and simplistic, I know — “Plant a seed, grow a garden!” — but it’s a start. And really, isn’t that what voting is all about: you voting your issues, me voting mine, and hoping that somehow we’ll find a solution for the collective good?
So help me out on my unity bid. If you haven’t already, make time today to pinpoint what you see as our nation’s problems and vote to set them right.
I’ll be dropping off my ballot today too, so maybe, just maybe we can erase our national stink together.
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