election checklist, week fifteen.

November 2, 2020

We have 1 day until the 2020 election in the US. For the past fifteen weeks I’ve been trying my damnedest to get leaders elected who will move the dial toward equity, inclusion, and progressive policies that will do the least harm and the greatest good. Electoral politics won’t solve everything, but voting is a tool in the box and it needs to be sharpened, oiled, and ready for action. I hope we see the beginnings of the change we need.

Week Fifteen: Take care.

Calder has a little cough. Yesterday afternoon Silas developed a low-grade fever. (Faye developed nothing but an even more ardent desire to do the monkey bars on repeat.) We’re trying to hit the moving target of doing the right thing, so we’re keeping everyone home and last night, before dinner and after dark, we went to get tested for Covid.

The clinic where we went, and the shops across the street, were boarded up with plywood. We assume it is some kind of cautionary measure should election-related violence break out, but we never asked. We were preoccupied with cotton swabs and the nose bleeds and the cries from kids wanting to know why what they’d been told would merely be uncomfortable actually hurt like hell.

Tomorrow is Election Day. The past four years have hurt like hell. I wish I had words of comfort or inspiration to send out to the world, but I really only have a message of care. May we all take care, may we extend care, may we value the care we receive from others.

If you haven’t cast your vote to get the current administration out of office, I hope you do.

If you have time to remind other folks to do so, there are so many ways to get involved, here are a few:

+ Care in Action

+ Vote Save America

+ MomsRising

+ Working Families Party

+ Supermajority

+ SwingLeft

If you voted by mail or by drop box and would like to check on your ballot, you can.

Beaming out love, fueled by fury.

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25 Comments

  • Reply Stéphanie November 2, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    Oh Erin I hope your Covid results come back negative and election day (and the coming weeks of uncertainty whilst awaiting the full count) are peaceful. Or at least better than anticipated.

    2
  • Reply Sid November 2, 2020 at 3:04 pm

    Maybe it’s just my little bubble in Canada but it feels like the whole world is watching the US right now with a tensely held breath. Sending love and hope in your direction.

    7
  • Reply Judith Ross November 2, 2020 at 3:05 pm

    Hope everyone is okay. Please take care. Thank you for pushing us all into action.

    2
    • Reply Judith Ross November 2, 2020 at 3:07 pm

      Oh, and no matter who wins, let’s keep fighting for the country we want, not just the one we think we can get.

      18
  • Reply Aude November 2, 2020 at 4:38 pm

    From one side of the ocean to the other, sending hope.
    There is always hope.
    ❤️

    8
  • Reply greta November 2, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    sending love and prayers to you and your family. we’re holding our breath here too, trying to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. we voted three weeks ago, tracked our ballots and all is well.

    0
  • Reply Kylee November 2, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    If you were near the testing spot in Atlantic then the stores are possibly boarded up post the recent BLM protest violence ( even the windows of poor Sahadis were smashed)
    Fingers crossed for negative Covid tests!! (And healthy kids very soon)

    0
    • Reply ERIN BOYLE November 3, 2020 at 7:33 am

      False reports re: Sahadi’s windows! There was some graffiti on neighboring shops, but no damage to Sahadi’s windows or facade!

      3
      • Reply Kylee November 3, 2020 at 9:17 am

        Well I’m relieved about that!! Thanks for the good news!

        0
  • Reply Marisa November 2, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    Sending love & care to your family and all over this planet tonight. Ready to tip the day-of vote two more toward Biden bright and early in Michigan tomorrow. Thank you for all that you do, Erin!

    0
  • Reply Laura November 2, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    I hope you all are well!! This is such a scary moment. Sending you all healing vibes. Stay safe!

    0
  • Reply gm November 2, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    I have done everything I can. I voted, I tracked our family’s ballots, I got my college daughter to register at school in MN instead of here in CA because we are not a swing state, I did 100 Postcards to Voters, I donated locally and to Biden Harris and to Lincoln Project and Meidas Touch and Sojourners, I bugged friends and relatives whose “I voted” photos have been rolling in. And being a Lefty Catholic, I’ve said my prayers. Now I’m just hoping.

    8
  • Reply Sue Hall November 3, 2020 at 5:42 am

    Hope you are yours are safe and the results come back negative, it’s such a worrying time.

    You have done so well inspiring others to vote and getting people thinking. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed and our heads held hopefully high while the results come in. I’m hoping for a happy outcome for your country, you deserve some good leadership for the next few years not a tweeting social butterfly with little political sense and the rest of the world laughing at him.

    1
  • Reply Erin November 3, 2020 at 9:13 am

    I am thinking of you and your family. Thank you so much for sharing the momsrising and cnn links also. You are such a beautiful and inspiring person and I always look to your site and insta for hope and fire and honesty. We were saying our prayer last night before dinner and my husband, who most of the time grits his teeth and smiles through it, after I had said a little “and please bless our country “ says with a tone I haven’t heard “and power to the light “. May we all raise each other in love and care and yes… power to the light. Take care of yourself and your family. ❤️

    3
  • Reply Lauren November 3, 2020 at 11:06 am

    Voted in person for Trump this morning!

    9
    • Reply ERIN BOYLE November 3, 2020 at 1:19 pm

      So sorry to hear that.

      54
      • Reply rue November 3, 2020 at 8:39 pm

        you shouldn’t. you sadly live in an echo chamber and espouse the ideology that whiteness is evil, that America is an oppressive place beating marginalized people back into the earth. which is utterly hilarious coming from a girl who is ivy educated and living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. you don’t know oppression. none of your friends know oppression. if you were born and raised in this country you are not a victim of the country, nor are you oppressed. wake up erin. i hope and pray your children don’t grow up with your neurotic and victimizing values.

        5
        • Reply ERIN BOYLE November 4, 2020 at 8:18 am

          this line of argument is so damning. the fact that i’m a white person with a tremendous amount of privilege doesn’t prevent me from acknowledging and understanding and working to dismantle the systems that benefit me and harm others. it’s possible and prudent to understand both things at the same time. as for the other comment you’ve attempted to post with an alias, I’ll refrain.

          33
  • Reply Clare November 3, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    I feel nauseous from here in London so can only imagine the intensity for you. Sending love and solidarity, whatever both sets of results bring – whilst furiously hoping they’re both as you wish.

    0
  • Reply Jill Palumbo November 3, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    Thinking healthy thoughts for your sweet family. Hopefully we will have good news all around soon! I’m so on edge, just praying for a turn around for our country……..

    1
  • Reply Laurel Tincher November 3, 2020 at 3:56 pm

    Wow, how did we get here? Isn’t it crazy how shops have to board up like this? I hope your littles feel better soon. We are in this together. Care and love to all ❤️

    0
  • Reply Hayley November 4, 2020 at 3:06 am

    Thinking of you Erin, I woke up (in UK) praying that the news would be good for you. Glued to the radio hoping and praying xxx

    0
  • Reply BRI November 4, 2020 at 8:13 am

    Wishing you well in the US. Hoping that discernment is strong and goodness prevails.

    2
  • Reply maria November 5, 2020 at 11:32 am

    thank you for this sticky note – i really needed to see it today, Nov 5. it’s such a hard week [year!] and we are all so hard on ourselves with regard to our ability to just keep going as usual through it – to be strong. but we need to admit we all need a bit more care right now and give ourselves and everyone else some leeway. best wishes for a healthy family.

    2
  • Reply Lesley November 5, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    Erin, thank you for all of the effort you have put into this election while worrying about Covid to boot. I hope that your family stays healthy. Your generation gives me hope for the future.

    0
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