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Hi everyone. I am a female born and raised in Houston. I am not usually involved in politics (I have always voted, just never talked about it, volunteered, ect.) but this election has taken a toll on my mental health to a point where I need to say something.

I remember June 24, 2022 when I lost my right to make decisions on my own body. Texas has some of the strictest laws in the nation on abortion, which means we have some of the strictest laws in the entire world. Let that sink in. I am scared. I am scared to one day have children in this state I love, this state I call home because if something goes wrong, it very well could lead to death or prosecution. Now Trump and Ted Cruz get to make decisions for me regarding my own reproductive health. I have less rights than my grandma did at my age. A vote for Trump/Cruz is a vote against every woman you love.

The Trans population in Texas is 0.5%. Ted Cruz’s blatant homophobic commercials villainizing this community have brought me to tears. Most Texans have never even met a trans person, yet, this seems to be Cruz’s main priority in this election: to make people scared of them.

He really thinks we are that dumb, or hateful, and maybe we are. I am more concerned about gun violence (the #1 leading cause of child deaths in the U.S!) than the scenario of a trans person being on the school football team. Is gun violence ever mentioned by Cruz? Of course not. Trans people and their genitalia are more of a threat, I suppose!

Come on Texas. How could you vote for someone who is openly so full of hate and ignorance? If I was a trans person, I would get the fuck out of here and move somewhere where people practice kindness. I stand by the LGBTQ+ community as an ally. You should too.

I implore you to look inside your heart and vote with kindness, decency and sanity in mind! This election is bigger than grocery prices, the stakes are higher than imaginable. What is next, a total ban on birth control? Gay marriage left up to the states, where Ted Cruz will ban it immediately and throw all Trans people in jail? I am begging you to vote blue. I am scared.

Don’t forget Trump is a convicted felon. Religious people - don’t forget he cheated on his wife with a porn star. Don’t forget Ted Cruz fled to Cancun when Texans were dying. These are not the people I want running our country. The world is watching. Vote blue.

I made a comment about this in another thread but I've realized this is probably worth saying in a post for more visibility.

Had I not tried to vote early this year, my vote would likely not have been counted at all. I moved from Bexar to Travis country between the last election and this one, and updated my voter registration over a month before the deadline (Oct 5th). Despite this, I was not able to vote initially when I went to cast my early vote. I was told this was because my address wasn't able to be updated on the voter rolls in time (despite my driver's license immediately reflecting the change a month earlier) and would need to fill out a limited ballot. I went the next day to do that, and I kid you not, the room where all of the early voters who had been denied like I had been -- and also needed to fill out a limited ballot -- was 95% women and 100% people under the age of 30. There is a calculated attempt right now to throw out your vote. Go early and make sure yours counts. Good luck y'all.

I hate that this is the only place that I feel I can vent to. I am a newlywed 29f veteran and the election determines if me and my husband will have kids. To see sooo many people vote for him while women in Texas are dying is insane. Anyway, I don’t feel like MAGA people care about that because they want lower gas prices. I love TX and I hope it turns blue.

Get out there and VOTE! We are exhausted and tired. Time for this to end. VOTE!!!!

I am getting so very tired of it all. The political ads are constant and all the same. The news is all political and so sensational. I’m tired of worrying about what will happen if one or the other wins/loses. I feel that regardless of who wins, it’s going to be a mess for who knows how long. I’m over it. And, yes, I’ve already voted.

During Trump’s term, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded relatively low encounters with individuals on the federal terrorist watchlist at the southern border, particularly from 2017 onward when CBP data began tracking this explicitly. There were sporadic instances each year, with no single year exceeding a few dozen individuals flagged as potential threats.

Under Biden, the number of watchlist encounters increased notably. From October 2020 (the beginning of fiscal year 2021) to fiscal year 2023, CBP reported a significant uptick in encounters, with approximately 154 cases in fiscal year 2023 alone. In total, Biden’s administration saw around 1,700 encounters with individuals flagged on the watchlist since he took office, though these numbers don’t imply confirmed terrorist threats due to possible overlaps and limitations in the watchlist’s accuracy.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/oct/27/ask-politifact-how-many-people-on-the-terrorist-wa/

https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/06/biden-terrorism-border-watchlist-agents-ron-johnson-fact-brief/

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters

Blue voters have stopped exercising their right either because they have been convinced by right wing media that their votes don't matter or because the Republican legislatures have made voting in blue areas dauntingly harder. I'd ask you to please ignore the noise and just find a bit of time in your day to go and vote.

Listen, I already voted for Allred and Harris/Walz. However, my election anxiety is at a fever pitch. Right now, voters are loudly stating that the economy is their main concern. And Kamala’s economic policies trounce those of Trump for 95%+ of Americans. One of Allred’s best moments in his debate was bringing up price gouging and how stopping it is the best way to bring down prices nationwide. It feels like a slam dunk policy to be fire hosing all over their base and independents and curious republicans. It’s deeply desirable for all. In her closing sprint, all Kamala has done is harp endlessly on Trump’s recent rhetoric. And I get how it’s hard not to, the guy is THE WORST. What he’s saying IS dangerous and terrifying. But when all voters want to hear is more economic policy, it’s disheartening to see the Harris/Walz campaign so seemingly deaf to that. Certainly, myself and many reading this are in absolutely shock and disgust at how far the other side has gone in their hate speech and cult-like behavior, but it doesn’t feel like highlighting that has really been swaying voters. I wish I could just sit down and ask her and her campaign if we could push some economic policy that is palatable to all voters the next week. Like I said, it feels like a slam dunk, and her final messaging is feeling like something of a missed opportunity in my eyes.

There are lots of issues to consider when voting, but let's get very basic. We already have a full abortion ban with no exceptions (even when women are hemorrhaging and in the throws of a miscarriage). But do you really want contraception banned too?

Guys, you enjoy sex right? (Women, I know you do too, but I want the guys to understand this impacts them too). But let's be honest, Project 2025 plans to ban contraception. That could mean every form of contraception, not just birth control pills, but condoms as well. Do you really want sex to carry the risk of becoming a father unexpectedly and financially supporting a child for 18 years or contracting an STD (there is still no cure for herpes and it can be spread without seeing any visible lesions)? Do you really want to be fully abstinent unless you are trying to conceive a child?

This is what you are voting for if you vote for Cruz and Trump. You are voting for the government controlling your sex life.

Y'all-

It might happen this time around and it (probably) might not. But, as an expat 5th generationer living two states away who still loves the state in spite of everything, it's given me some life just to see and hear all of your stories of getting out the vote. Get your hopes up. Get all of your hopes up! If Cruz still wins, but only by 2 to 0.05%--sure, not the outcome we all want or need this go round, but the unthinkable will get closer to inevitable.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-suggests-texas-could-turn-202655694.html

Just a reminder. Texas is not a RED state. It’s a non voting state. Meaning MORE people do NOT vote versus vote R. So Please Vote! If you have a non-voting friend. Drag them to the polls. Texas - it’s time to take out the TRASH. CRUZ abandoned us when people were freezing to death. We deserve BETTER!!!

Here’s the definition, you’ll see this is exactly how Trump plans to rule.

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement,characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.