Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution and other groups around the Pioneer Valley have great concerns about the upcoming election given the statements made by the president. Among our many concerns:
■We are concerned that he may claim to have won the election on election night, before all votes are counted, knowing that counting the votes may take several days.
■We are concerned that there may be continued voter suppression in its many forms.
■We are concerned about voter intimidation that prevents people from voting.
■We are concerned that mail-in votes and the process of mail-in voting continues to be undermined by the Republican big donor who now heads the USPS.
■We are concerned that once the votes are counted, the president may refuse to leave even if he has clearly lost.
We are planning to gather on the Greenfield Common the day after the election, at 4 p.m. for a peaceful rally in support of democracy, in support of counting all the votes, and in support of making sure that everyone who wants to vote is allowed to cast their ballot, but we are also aware that we need to be flexible about this.
Because we are not sure what will play out on election day, and perhaps the days after election the exact nature of the gathering is uncertain. We encourage folks to check out the Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution’s site https://bit.ly/3kG7433 on the day after the election to know for sure what is planned for that day.
And we urge everyone to vote and to encourage everyone you know to vote so that the president’s loss is undeniable, even by him. Then we may not have to hold post-election stand-outs for preserving democracy.
Doug Selwyn is a Greenfield resident and a member of the Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution coordinating committee.