Random musings, week 3 of October 2018

• Native Americans are being denied the vote in South Dakota
• African Americans are being pulled off of buses on their way to vote
• Elizabeth Warren announces her DNA test at the same time as Native Americans are being denied the right to vote.
• Trump is under trial in New York State for tax evasion
• There is a pending case in front of the Supreme Court to give the President the ability to pardon state level crimes
• After racking up hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, the Republicans are now targeting Medicare and Medicaid.
• The Mueller Probe is ongoing.
• Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior, is under investigation.
• US banned visas for same-sex partners of diplomats
• Hundreds of voting polls have been closed before the upcoming election, mostly targeting minorities. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/kz58qx/how-the-gutting-of-the-voting-rights-act-led-to-closed-polls
• Washington State Legislature is held by the Democrats by a thread, this election could significantly increase their advantage after record primaries with people voting for Democrats. Democrats have a 25-23-Sheldon majority in the Senate and a 50-48 majority in the House.
• Republican Governors are up in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. They will be able to approve or veto redistricting maps which will impact their state legislatures and about 100 representatives in the US house from the 2022 to 2030 elections.
• The Colorado Legislature is the closest legislature in America today, and half of the Senate is up for election in three weeks, and every seat in the House. Republicans have a 18-16-1 seat majority in the Senate right now. Democrats have a 36-29 majority in the House.
• The US representative seat from Alaska is essentially a toss-up, among many other traditionally Republican seats.
• The way we name our house districts is the way the French do it (State - #), Commonwealth countries and Germany call their districts by the name of their location (Abbotsford).

Republican State governors projected to flip by Nate Silver:

• Iowa
• Michigan
• Illinois
• Maine
• New Mexico

Republican Governors in toss-up territory:

• Nevada
• Kansas
• Wisconsin
• Ohio
• Florida
• Georgia

Every Democratic Governor is safe.

This would mean that the governorships will be divided 50/50 with 25 governorships being held by each party. More Americans will be in Democratic states though, so more seats in the House during the 2020 redistricting will be signed or vetoed by a Democratic Governor. Having more favorable legislature maps for the Democrats will have impacts on every issue in America, and effect everybody's lives.

There is a lot going on. It is easy to get overwhelmed.

But, when you get your ballot, remember to vote. That is how we are going to fix the problems this article starts with.