Voters Move From ‘A Plan’ To The Polls, Standing In Line For Hours

Election Day is in less than three weeks, but in some states where early voting is allowed millions have already gone, standing in line for hours to vote. Social media feeds are filled with videos and pictures of Black Americans masked up and waiting patiently. One voter in Georgia said he waited eight hours, others counted 10.

Questions have already been raised about attempts to suppress Democratic votes by limiting the number of polling places. And, in California the Republican Party has placed deceptively labeled “official” gray drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange Counties. According to the New York Times, most voters would find these boxes “virtually indistinguishable from drop-off sites sanctioned by the state.” Republicans are refusing to remove them.

The Democratic Party in California is now working to inform voters of the misleading information.

Talk of having a plan to vote, first started by former First Lady Michelle Obama, dominates conversations among family and friends with the photos of Black Americans standing in long lines reinforcing the suggestion to “bring comfortable shoes” and “pack a snack.”

In Wisconsin, one of the six battleground states, former President Barack Obama urged voters in a videotaped message to make a plan.

“So much is at stake in this election — from getting the pandemic under control to building a fairer economy to taking on climate change to protecting our health care,” he says in the video. “History shows that the easiest way to make sure that you and your friends vote is to make a plan. And when it comes to voting this year, having a plan has never been more important.”

The months-long messaging appears to be working with polls indicating that Democrats have cast 75% of the early ballots in Pennsylvania, another key battleground state.

As supporters of President Trump are reportedly receive training as poll watchers, Philadelphia’s district attorney says he and his office “well-prepared” to protect voters from intimidation tactics. The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, and other intelligence officials are urging calm on Election Day and the days after if votes are still being counted for president.