I printed out flyers and business cards last week and went up and down the street, knocking on doors. The flyers tell people on my street, in my precinct, when and how and where they can vote. The business cards introduce me:
Hi, Neighbor!
I am Mary Turck. If you want to talk about voting or elections (or even just talk!), you can call me.
I thought about whether it was wise to put my name and phone number on the card. And decided: if I want neighbors to trust me, and I do, I must at least show that much trust in them. So I did.
Maybe they will think I am a crazy lady.
Maybe I am.
I want people to vote. I want them to vote even if I disagree with them. I want them to vote and to believe that voting makes a difference, because if it does not, then we will not have a country much longer. If voting means nothing, then we are headed right down the drain, right into the dictatorship/fascism/authoritarianism that is the alternative to democracy.
Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers cofounder: “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.”
When I was ten years old, I wanted to go door-knocking for JFK. My parents vetoed the idea.
When I was a few years older, I was allowed to go door-knocking with Dad, for good DFL candidates like Alec Olson, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Orville Freeman.
Tonight I went out again. Not for any candidate. Just to ask neighbors to VOTE.
I printed out ten flyers with information about voting rules and voting places. I talked to ten neighbors. I also left a card with my contact information and a promise that if they have any questions, I will try to find the answers.
That felt good. I’m going to do it again. I came home and printed out ten more flyers for another evening.
If you need to know about voting in Minnesota, here’s what I have, with specific information on Ramsey County.
How to Vote
Election Day is November 3. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. If you are in line when the polls close, you can still vote.
Early Votingin person begins September 18 in Minnesota. In Ramsey County, you can vote at election offices at 90 W. Plato Blvd West in St. Paul, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Phone: 651-266-2171
Absentee or Mail-In Ballots are mailed to you after you request them at mnvotes.gov/absentee or in person at your county election office.
Absentee Ballots can be returned by mail, and MUST ARRIVE BY ELECTION DAY to be counted. Absentee Ballots can also be returned in person to any in-person election location during Early Voting hours or to your county election office on Election Day BEFORE 5 PM.
If you vote by absentee or mail-in ballot, you can track when your ballot is received at mnvotes.gov/track. You put in your name, date of birth, and identification number, and this site will tell you whether your ballot has been received. This is only for mail-in ballots. If you vote in person, your ballot is counted when you vote.
You can have someone else drop your ballot off during Early Voting or at Ramsey County Election Office on election day—but each person can drop off only three ballots.
Where to go for accurate information:
For more information, visit mnvotes.gov or call 1-877-600-VOTE.
Who Can Vote?
A voter must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old on Election Day, a resident of Minnesota for 20 days, not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction, and not under a court order that revokes their right to vote.
On Election Day
Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. If you are in line when the polls close, you can still vote.
Only authorized people are allowed inside a polling place during voting hours, such as voters and their minor children, poll workers and someone assisting a voter. People may not gather or linger in the polling place or within 100 feet of the building.
If you are registered to vote at your current address, you do not need to bring identification. If you need to register or to update your registration, you will need to show proof of residence before you vote. For more information, visit mnvotes.gov or call 1-877-600-VOTE.
Yes, You Can Register on Election Day
If you are not yet registered by election day, you can register at the polling place. You will need valid identification or a registered voter in the precinct who can vouch for you.
While the Trump administration wants to change laws about voting, the president has no authority to do so.
Under the U.S. Constitution, voting rules are set by states, not by the federal government. A limited exception allows Congress to make some rules in specific circumstances, but the president has no power over voting.
If you are concerned about whether your mail-in ballot will be delivered on time by the U.S. Postal Service, you can:
· vote early in person
· drop off your mail-in ballot at an early voting location
Will your vote still count in 2026 or in 2028? Trump’s attacks on elections go beyond anything that has been attempted in the United States. He even told Reuters news service in an interview: “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”
This week’s firehose of news threatens to drown us all. I feel like I’m treading water, but even so, a few of the week’s stories stand out: more revelations of massive corruption in the Trump administration, dangerous escalations of electronic surveillance of all of us, a particularly nasty swatting attack on Pete Buttigieg’s family and four-year-old twins, and Timothy Snyder’s cogent analysis of “an alternative Nazi reality.”
Seems like every week brings more news of government surveillance. You’d think the right wing would be up in arms about this government overreach and invasion of privacy—but it’s their folks who are taking the photos and setting up the databases of protesters and immigrants and anyone else who happens to get captured on some law enforcement camera. The primary targets:
Protesters—captured on camera by local ICE and other federal agencies and some local police forces;
Travelers—captured on camera at airports;
Immigrants—anyone who applies for a green card, for asylum, for refugee status, plus anyone who is ever picked up by ICE or the Border Patrol, including children.
Are all of these fed into a gigantic federal database?
No, says ICE. We just take photos and names and other information and keep the records. For at least 15 years.
“Keeping the records” is just another name for maintaining a database.
On June 16, Kash Patel announced on social media that an alleged plot to mount a drone attack on Trump’s UFC fight had been “stopped cold.” And then the story went away. Why?
This attack was not international terrorism. Even Patel could not spin it as a left-wing plot. Those arrested came from home-grown, right-wing accelerationists. Federal authorities were alerted after the mother of 19-year-old Tycen Proper called local police with concerns about her son’s gun-buying and online associates.
Bombing schools and hospitals is a war crime. Deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Yesterday’s fulminations from the Führer in the White House go beyond war crimes to announce that he intends genocide: the wiping out of an entire people and civilization.
ICE is only one of the federal agencies surveilling people. Federal surveillance reaches far beyond immigrants. Federal agents use massive databases, facial recognition, cell phone photos, and license plate records. Beyond surveillance, they target and threaten people involved in protests, bringing the full weight of federal power to bear on individuals. Their actions often remain hidden from public view and from judicial restraint. With seeming impunity, they ignore and violate constitutional mandates protecting freedom of speech, press, and assembly.
Five years after the violent attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, the attacks on democracy and on elected officials continue. Yesterday, two politicians currently under attack by the Trump administration spoke out with anger and eloquence.
The New York Times today has plenty of coverage of who, how, when, and where the United States illegally attacked Venezuela and abducted its president and first lady. But that’s far from the whole story. A few easily overlooked but essential facts:
Trump claims that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez welcomes the intervention and will cooperate with whatever he plans—totally false. At the same hour that he made this preposterous announcement, she was speaking on Venezuelan television to denounce the U.S. actions, insist that Maduro is still the rightful president, and decry the “Zionist undertones” of the U.S. action.
Venezuela actually has a legitimately elected president who is NOT Nicolas Maduro. That is Edmundo González, who won the July 2024 election by a wide margin. Maduro refused to leave office and falsely claimed that he won the election. González is living in exile in Spain. Trump has not mentioned González or made any move to support him.
For informed insights on the consequences of Trump’s attack on Venezuela, see:
Robert Reich’s warning about oil companies, oligarchs, and the looting of both Venezuela and the United States;
Stephen Vladeck’s careful dissection of the legal issues involved in the law-breaking invasion and Trump cabal’s “deeply thuggish” approach to foreign policy.
I printed out flyers and business cards last week and went up and down the street, knocking on doors. The flyers tell people on my street, in my precinct, when and how and where they can vote. The business cards introduce me: Hi, Neighbor! I am Mary Turck. If you want to talk about voting […]
Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers cofounder: “Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world.” When I was ten years old, I wanted to go door-knocking for JFK. My parents vetoed the idea. When I was a few years older, I was allowed to go […]
Will your vote still count in 2026 or in 2028? Trump’s attacks on elections go beyond anything that has been attempted in the United States. He even told Reuters news service in an interview: “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.” This post has: a list of some of the attacks on voting and […]
This week’s firehose of news threatens to drown us all. I feel like I’m treading water, but even so, a few of the week’s stories stand out: more revelations of massive corruption in the Trump administration, dangerous escalations of electronic surveillance of all of us, a particularly nasty swatting attack on Pete Buttigieg’s family and […]
Seems like every week brings more news of government surveillance. You’d think the right wing would be up in arms about this government overreach and invasion of privacy—but it’s their folks who are taking the photos and setting up the databases of protesters and immigrants and anyone else who happens to get captured on some […]
Mary Turck is a writer, editor, and blogger. She is also the former editor of theTC Daily Planet and of the award-winning Connection to the Americas and AMERICAS.ORG and a recovering attorney.
Mary Turck