During my lifetime, there have been presidents I couldn’t stand. Nixon was that POTUS for my teenage self. I also despised Ronald Reagan and his dog-whistle racism.
But Donald Trump is on another level. I despise his racist and transphobic behind to the point that my mission in this 2020 political cycle is to make him a one-term occupant of the White House, and punish at the polls every Republican who has colluded with him.
It also doesn’t help that literally everything I care about as a liberal, progressive person is on the ballot. Health care is on the ballot. Women’s rights are on the ballot. Police reform is on the ballot. A fairer economy is on the ballot. Human rights are on the ballot.
And yes, TBLGQ rights are on the ballot.
The clock is inexorably ticking toward the 2020 November election. If you’re not registered to vote in the Lone Star State, you have until October 5 to do so. Early voting is starting on October 13, unless the reprehensible Steven Hotze’s lawsuit to eliminate the extra six days of early voting (added by Governor Abbott back in July) is successful.
Early voting is scheduled to end on October 30. During the early-voting period, seven 24-hour voting locations will also be available from 7 a.m. on October 29 until 7 p.m. on October 30. They are scattered around Harris County at NRG Arena, Kashmere Gardens Multi-Service Center, McGovern Texas Medical Center Commons, East Harris County Activity Center, Tracy Gee Community Center, Juergen’s Hall Community Center, and at the Victory Houston church.
Harris County will also have nine drive-thru voting centers scattered across the area: NRG Arena Blue Lot 16, Toyota Center Parking Garage, Fallbrook Church, Kingdom Builders Center, Houston Food Bank, HCC West Loop, HCC Alief Bissonnet, Humble Civic Center, and Resurrection MCC.
Toyota Center will also be a Harris County voting center for the 2020 election. It will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. October 13–30 and on November 3, and parking in the Toyota Center garage will be free.
Yes, people, this November 3 election is that serious. It is the most important election of not only my 58 years on this planet, but in American history.
Some of you may be upset that Joe Biden ended up being the Democratic nominee instead of the candidate you were supporting. Joe Biden, however, is now the only man standing between the American people and Trump’s fascist American dictatorship. You may think that’s hyperbole, but those of you who have been paying attention to this misadministration for the last four years know that it isn’t.
It’s not simply Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump. It’s democracy vs. dictatorship. It’s the question of whether the United States survives as a democratic republic.
This article appears in the October 2020 edition of OutSmart magazine.
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