I've been reading right-wing conspiracies online about UOCAVA voters -- or those who vote under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Yes, that includes me and Dave. We are proud UOCAVA voters.
The conspiracists are convinced that UOCAVA ballots are the device by which the Democrats plan to "steal" the election. They are suspicious of the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of American citizens who live overseas and rightfully wish to weigh in on the presidential race. They seem to think we don't really exist, or at least not in the numbers that we do.
Some right-wingers express hostility that we're able to vote at all -- even though we're citizens and we file American taxes -- as if moving off American soil somehow turns us into instant traitors. (Of course their skepticism doesn't extend to the military -- military voters and their families are given a complete pass. It's only civilians like me who worry them.)
They also seem perplexed that a high percentage of overseas voters cast ballots for the Democrats. Assuming that's true, I suspect it's because overseas voters are more educated and less nationalistic by nature, having become used to crossing international boundaries and living among different kinds of people with different laws, cultures and political systems. We are the dreaded globalists, in other words. We're not flying "Don't Tread on Me" flags and waving badly misunderstood copies of the U.S. Constitution.
So I'm here to say yes, I am a UOCAVA voter. I vote Democrat. We do exist. And according to my voting jurisdiction in the United States, my ballot has been received and counted.
Here's one of our newest books in the school library -- co-written by fellow blogger 37 Paddington, otherwise known as Rosemarie. Woo hoo! It was exciting to label, cover and shelve a book by someone I know, even just virtually.
The flowers on our Thanksgiving (Christmas? Halloween?) cacti are beginning to open! This one and a second pink one, which you can see in the background at upper left, are blooming. My other three cacti are coming along more slowly, but we'll see what the future brings.
(Top photo: The Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate on my walk home last night.)
The cacti look fabulous. I'm glad your votes got counted and the conspiracy theorists can all take a trip in Elon Musk's next spaceship.
ReplyDeleteThey can form a conspiracist moon colony where they invent stories about each other!
DeleteThe pot plant looks great
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
DeleteIf "The Pussy Grabber" gets in, he will round up the non-military UOCAVA voters the minute they step back on American soil. They will be rounded up and placed in a huge detention camp in the middle of Montana and forced to wear Trump T-shirts and red MAGA caps.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure many of Trump's followers would like to put me in a camp, for a variety of reasons.
DeleteThere's a move against the votes of military people and their families. Repeated efforts, unsuccessful up to now, to invalidate their voting, because they're not on American soil at the time of voting! Desperate moves to steal an election.
ReplyDeleteThe book is exciting. Mary Moon has been celebrating it, too.
The right-wingers I read insist they're not trying to disenfranchise the military -- that's a Democrat distortion, they say. But of course the rules against UOCAVA that they're proposing couldn't help but affect overseas military and their families.
DeleteOverseas based Australians can vote in elections, yet unlike Americans, we don't pay Australian income tax when we are earning money overseas. It would be outrageous that you would be paying federal tax in America yet not be entitled to vote.
ReplyDeleteWe are exempt from paying US taxes on a certain amount of overseas income. But we still have to declare the income so the government knows about it, and after that threshold is surpassed we pay taxes.
DeleteI love your cactus blossoms. Mine are a few days behind.
ReplyDeleteEvery year I'm surprised at how early these pink ones bloom!
DeleteThe wingnuts are looking for any excuse to cry election foul. Now it's Americans living overseas and weren't there Americans living overseas in 2020 and 2016 though no one cried foul???
ReplyDeleteThey're seeing monsters under every bed.
DeleteI see a lot of hostility all around and often receive some of it for suggesting compromise on such issues. While I think UOCAVA voters deserve the right to vote, I think the entire system of mailing ballots back and forth across seas is ripe for bad actors to take advantage. I would imagine it is hard to prove that an ex-pat is still alive and voting from an ocean away when we struggle doing this domestically. My own state, just this week, found over 2000 people who registered to vote in this election who said themselves said they weren't U.S. Citizens, 87 of them who have already voted illegally in past elections. I'm sure other states fight this as well. Do they sway an election? I don't think so but I think it shows that we need to stay vigilant and have these sorts of discussions/investigations. If we just turn a blind eye and assume only legitimate people will cast ballots all the time, we are just opening ourselves up to having a dictator like Putin/Trump exploit our system and someday truly rig a vote in their favor.
ReplyDeleteOf course I think it's fine that states take reasonable steps to make sure their UOCAVA voters are entitled to vote. But I bristle when people suggest (as some have) that I shouldn't be voting at all. I'm not sure what the alternative is to mailing ballots. Online voting would surely be challenged for its vulnerability.
DeleteMy vote if for online. I securely file my taxes online every year after establishing my identity. Why we can't do the same for voting bogles my mind. But in this day of age with numerous website hacks on a daily basis, I'm not sure if will bring the sense of warm and fuzzies of a "safe" election the right wing people are seeking.
Delete87 non citizens have voted. The 2,000 unconfirmed is from old DMV listings, including people who may have been naturalized since. Sec of State Pate has not released his methodology. Nor has he updated his numbers to reflect an accurate count.
DeleteYeah, I think the risk of non-voters casting ballots is vastly overstated. The problem with online voting isn't that it wouldn't work, but that many people would never trust the results, believing them to be "hacked" (whether they actually are or not). I suppose overseas voters could go to their embassy or consulate to vote, but if you live in a remote area that's a real hardship.
DeleteThank you for voting, Steve. I voted early and am glad to have it done! I voted Blue up and down the ballot and am hoping that the majority of voters does the same.
ReplyDeleteI read that book already and was impressed by the achievements of the "Lovely One"!
I haven't read it yet but I intend to!
DeleteIf I read those websites I would lose my mind. What mind I have left to lose, that is.
ReplyDeleteI would much rather read about Katanji Brown Jackson which I did read and it is a beautiful book about an amazing woman.
Your cactus is really just showing off now. I love it!
The websites annoy me but I always feel like it's important to know what's being said, what the "other side" is thinking. They can also be fun in a twisted sort of way, because they're SO crazy.
DeleteLovely cactus! And I was like - I know that book! Ha! And voter suppression is rampant - drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteOur goal should always be to get MORE people to vote, not less!
DeleteYour Christmas cactus is looking very pretty. And those buildings in your top photo remind me of a building that was near the hotel where I stayed last year. I think that building was part of the University of London.
ReplyDeleteI love that one of your followers co-wrote that book. I'm looking forward to reading it.
Yeah, there are many concrete Brutalist buildings in and around the part of London where you stayed -- mostly residential, I think.
Deletethe only way right wingers can win is through voter suppression. like Mary, I would be so angry all the time if I read their crap but we do need to be aware of what they are pushing for.
ReplyDeletethose concrete estates just look so depressing to me.
I find it weirdly fun to read all that conspiracy craziness. It just leaves me in a perpetual state of awe that people can be so goofy. But of course it's dangerous for the rest of us!
DeleteYou can find someone who is disagreeable to something or other wherever you look. Sad!
ReplyDeleteJust me, or people in general? LOL
DeleteYour Halloween cactus is beautiful. A shame the blooms aren't orange!
ReplyDeleteRight?! I have one that's salmon-colored, so a bit more orange, but not truly orange.
DeleteMy 'Christmas cactus' has more blooms than I have ever seen on it, EVER. It really is gorgeous. I think I learned about Thanksgiving cacti on your blog, actually, and I'm choosing to see this as an omen that we are about to have a lot to be thankful for...and none of it has to do with orange!
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so!!!!
DeleteYour cacti are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe only way the right can win anything is to lie, cheat and steal!! Thanks for voting Blue!!! Harris-Walz just have to win! Fascism is just not acceptable!!!
I hope you're right, Marcia! I am certainly holding out hope that sanity prevails.
DeleteBeautiful cactus. Plants love you. It's so amazing to me that there are so many people in this country with limited critical thinking skills. You didn't give up your citizenship, therefore you get to vote. Aaaargh.
ReplyDeleteIt's astonishing how people think, really. I keep telling Dave that the whole Trump phenomenon is really a statement about the failures of education.
DeleteThese right-wing morons can find a conspiracy in just about anything, as Allison said, the lack of critical thinking skills in the US is simply appalling. "Shakes head in disbelief"
ReplyDeleteIt IS appalling, I agree. I don't know how some of these people ever got out of school.
DeleteThe stuff (insert stronger swear word) that the right wingnuts are coming up with--it blows my mind! And scares me to death.
ReplyDeleteIt IS scary, especially how some truly fringe thinking has slowly become more and more part of the Republican platform.
DeleteThanking for voting and your service in saving America. #fingerscrossed
ReplyDeleteThank you too, and all other responsible voters! Let's hope for the best!
DeleteThese days, right wing tactics exceed all expectations. Sadly, there are no limits. Buyer beware is most important.
ReplyDeleteThere really ARE no limits, are there? These people will say and do anything in service of their distorted philosophies.
DeleteI was shocked today, voting early, when I saw on the ballot a referendum to deny Americans living abroad the right to vote. I thought it just another conspiracy story. I live in Wisconsin. I hope the referendum fails.
ReplyDeleteWow! Well, that's crazy. Even if it passes it's blatantly unconstitutional. How can anyone deny an American citizen their right to vote? It seems to violate equal protection at the very least.
DeleteSuper exciting about Rosemarie's book! Well done! My friend in Canada has been dealing with that issue, too. And the only sea she's across is Lake Ontario!
ReplyDelete