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Elections

Elections

Tim Walz’s son goes viral with wholesome, emotional response to his dad's big speech

It was about so much more than politics.

C-Span/YouTube Screenshot

People can't stop crying over Gus Walz's reaction to dad

There's something about seeing someone else overcome with emotions that makes people choke up. Seeing someone's pure joy, excitement or sadness is almost always a recipe for a moment of genuine human connection, whether it's watching someone graduate, the birth of a new baby or in this case, watching a proud son react to his father's speech.

Tim Walz, the Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate is seen giving a moving speech at the DNC where he and Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris are expected to accept their nomination. Walz was in attendance with his wife and children, who watched on as the vice presidential hopeful spoke about the difficulty he and his wife had conceiving children.

Walz explains to a packed venue that he and and wife had to undergo fertility treatments, "And I can remember praying each night for a phone call. The pit in your stomach when the phone would ring and the absolute agony when we heard the treatment hadn't worked."

The father of two says it took he and his wife years even though they had access to fertility treatments, sharing that when their daughter was born, they named her Hope. This revelation caused a visible reaction from his daughter who made a heart with her hands before placing one over her heart as she appeared to hold back tears.

Gus, Walz's 17-year-old son was overcome by emotions when his father says, "Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you." It was this moment that has taken the internet through an emotional journey of its own. The teen stood up with tears streaming as he clapped while shouting to anyone who could hear, "that's my dad! That's my dad!"



It's nearly impossible to look at this moment without the back of your eyes stinging from the emotions radiating from the screen. People on social media are also having a hard time controlling the tears as they watch his emotions overflow for the love and pride he clearly has in his father.

An account that goes by the name The Real Doubledeemuva uploaded the video with her commentary saying, "his son has a nonverbal learning disability and has anxiety and he was in a room full of people just to hear his daddy and as Tim was talking about his family saying how much he loved them and how they got their start due to fertility treatments. That baby stood up out of his chair and was pointing at his daddy and saying 'that's my daddy' and turned around to everybody saying 'that's my daddy.'"


@therealdoubledeemuva Tim Walz son Gus cries and says "that's my dad" as he Tim gives a phenomenal speech at the dnc #heyplayas #timwalz #kamalaharris #minnesota #dnc #Chicago #illinois ♬ Boundless Worship - Josué Novais Piano Worship


People in the comments also shared how emotional it was to see Gus react to his father's speech while several are ready to do everything in their power to protect the teen.

"Very emotional moment. The way his babies looked at their father in that light. I lost it! Love Gov. Walz," someone gushes.

"I'm a 52 year old black male from NJ, Gus had me ugly tearing nose running. The love," one commenter shares.

"When I tell you I was crying right along with Gus. America's Nephew now," another person cries.

For one commenter, the tears were a family affair, "this broke me and my husband both. We sat in the living room watching the love that child has for his dad. We were drowning in our own tears. If you didn't cry too, you don't have a heart."

The people have spoken, Gus Walz is now everyone's nephew and must be protected at all costs. It's the rule after you make nearly everyone on the internet collectively cry.

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Elections

Midterms are some of the most important elections in our democracy. Here's why it matters.

Every vote counts, so make your voice heard.

Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

Midterms are some of the most important elections in our country.

The 2022 midterm elections are here and while it may seem hard to escape the seemingly endless advertisements of candidates and ballot initiatives, some people don't understand the importance of voting. In America, we have three branches of government, designed to perform checks and balances. One branch can't work properly without the others.

No matter who is in the White House, they can't move things through without Congress.

But when it comes to policies, the heavy weight falls on Congress. A presidential hopeful can promise everyone a pony and a million dollar stable, but if Congress says no, then no ponies for the American people. When you vote in the midterms, you're helping to handpick who is more likely to not only listen to your needs as a voter, but work with the president and members of Congress to pass policies that you find helpful. Let's help you get your vote counted.

Black and white picture of someone putting a ballot in a box.Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
1. Where's my polling place?

So where do you vote? That's a good question. You can type in your address here and it will tell you where your polling place is. Remember if you haven't updated your address on your voter registration then you'll need to use that address to find your polling place.

2. I forgot to register, oops!

Yikes! Election Day is like right now and you forgot to register to vote. No worries, there are 22 states that allow same-day registration. See if your state is on the list here. Go through the list carefully though because some states only allow same-day registration for presidential elections. You'll want to be sure your state allows it for midterms.

Close up picture of a red circular sticker with white writing that says "I voted" stuck to a finger.Photo by Parker Johnson on Unsplash
3. How do I check my registration?

Pretty sure you've already registered to vote but your state's website is confusing or directing you to an in-person location to ask. Check your voter registration here and ease your mind before you get to the polls.

4. I have no idea who to vote for.

Now that you understand why midterm elections are important, you've checked your registration and found your polling place, the rest is up to you. Use the few hours or minutes you have free to research candidates and their positions to see how they align with your own.

Some candidates are not as vocal about their stances and don't have information readily available. Don't stress. If the candidate is attempting to get re-elected you can check out your state government site for their voting record and if it's a federal candidate, you can check here.

No matter who you vote for, get out there and vote. Your voice matters.

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Democracy

Pete Buttigieg uses 7 perfectly chosen words to show how we can all work to uphold democracy

America needs a definite reminder.

via Flickr/Gage Skidmore

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

America is a country based on the idea that people can believe and say whatever they want. Those core values have helped create a country with a rich tapestry of viewpoints but oftentimes they come into conflict.

The key to the nation’s survival is how we can make peace with that conflict. It hasn't always been easy, but we've always pulled through these struggles by embracing a common belief in democracy. Unfortunately, given the recent spread of election conspiracies, America’s way of healing itself and finding peace in a pluralistic society is in danger. This problem is confounded by the fact that in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, nearly 300 Republican candidates don't believe that Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

The assertion that Biden didn’t beat Trump has been proven false time and time again.

Many are rightfully fearful that the widespread acceptance of election denial will come to a head during the midterm elections, further weakening American democracy.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made a strong statement in support of democratic values Monday, October 24 on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” He made a simple, but powerful statement to reaffirm the core values that each American must support to maintain a civil society.


“One of the most important principles in democracy is that when you lose, you accept the outcome,” the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and onetime presidential candidate told Colbert. “And I’ve had to do that. Winning is much more fun than losing. I’ve done both.”

We can all have different views, but the one thing we must have in common is a belief in the process of how we make decisions.

“And the reason that’s so important is because we expect the same thing from citizens in terms of policy decisions,” Buttgieg added. “Part of what it means to live in a democracy is that we have this process for getting decisions that all of us have to live by―those of us who agreed with the decision and those of us who were against it.”

via Gage Skidmore/Flickr

“And so if we all have to live with the outcome of each of these policy choices, it’s only fair that the people who make them have to live with the outcome of when we choose which one of them is going to be in charge,” Buttigieg continued. “That’s how the bargain works.”

The idea that we have to reaffirm these core values that the vast majority of us hold dear to our hearts is a bit frightening. But as history has shown us, democracy should never be taken for granted. Since the dawn of civilization, democracy has been the exception not the rule and it has to be continuously fought for in the face of humanity's innate bend toward tribalism and authoritarianism.

At a time when there are so many issues that America faces as a country, Buttigieg is right to promote the need for us to reassert our belief in democracy. Because once that’s gone, all the rights that we have now may soon be lost, too.

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Democracy

Rumors vs. reality: 6 facts about voting by mail for folks worried about election integrity

Worried about mail-in voting? Don't be.

Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash, @Mynorthwest/Twitter

Myths and facts about voting by mail.

As we head toward midterm elections in early November, there's a lot of misinformation floating around about how voting is conducted and how votes are processed. Sadly, we're reaping what widespread misinformation has sown in the form of continued election result denial, legislation that makes it harder to vote and even vigilante voter intimidation at ballot drop boxes.

Convincing someone their preferred candidate didn't win because the other side cheated is an easy political win, especially in a hyperpartisan atmosphere. But the reality is that the vast majority of Americans want elections to be as fair and accurate as possible, so sorting out truth from fiction and understanding how our election processes actually work—as opposed to how partisan sources tell us they work—is important.

Voting by mail comes up a lot in discussions of election integrity, so let's take a look at how mail-in ballots work and clear up some misunderstandings that might cause people concern.

Frequently, people will share things they've heard from a friend or a cable news host or a social media post without verifying whether those things are true. Every state handles mail-in ballots a little differently in terms of how people receive ballots and when they get counted, but the safeguards to prevent fraud and ensure eligible votes are counted are fairly standard.

Rumor: Mail-in voting is too new to be safe and secure.

Reality: Americans have been voting by mail since the 19th century. Those early mail-in votes came from soldiers in the Civil War and since then, members of the military who are deployed outside of their home states have long been voting by mail.

Widespread mail-in voting for civilians is newer, but not new. Oregon has been conducting all mail-in elections since 2000, so has had more than two decades to perfect its system. Washington state has done the same since 2012 and Colorado since 2014. In the past three years, Utah, Hawaii, Vermont and California have gone to all-mail-in voting. (Incidentally, Vermont and Washington took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for electoral integrity in the 2018 midterm rankings in Harvard's Electoral Integrity Project, and all of the other states named here ranked in the top 20.)

Rumor: Mail-in voting gives Democrats an unfair advantage.

Reality: Studies have shown that there appears to be no statistically significant advantage for either party when mail-in voting is implemented. So there's that.

But as an anecdotal example as well, Washington state (where I live) elected a Republican secretary of state—the person in charge of elections at the state level—multiple times with our mail-in voting system until she resigned last year to work on election security at the federal level. And that's in a Democratic-leaning state overall. And the district I live in has elected a Republican representative to the House for years with all mail-in voting. Mail-in ballots are equally available to everyone and make voting very simple, so it doesn't make sense that it would give either party an advantage.

Rumor: Mail-in voting makes it easier to commit voter fraud.

Reality: The Brookings Institution shared data from the conservative Heritage Foundation that analyzed voter fraud over many years in different states. Here are the number of voter fraud cases Heritage found for states that had mail-in voting during most of the time period they analyzed and the total number of ballots cast during that time.

Colorado: 14 cases over 13 years out of 15,955,704 votes cast.

Oregon: 15 cases over 19 years out of 15,476,519 votes cast

Washington: 12 cases over 6 years out of 10,605,749 votes cast

This is what people mean when they say voter fraud isn't a concern. It's not that it never ever happens. It's just that it doesn't even come close to being anywhere near significant enough to approach making a dent in election results.

And false fraud allegations can have tragic real-world results. Everyone needs to make sure they triple-fact-check fraud claims before passing them along.

Rumor: I know of people who received more than one ballot in the mail, which means they'll be able to vote twice.

Reality: Nope, they can't vote twice even if they have two ballots. It doesn't really matter how many ballots a person receives since only one can be submitted and processed for each voter. Election officials try to avoid voters receiving more than one ballot since it causes confusion, but if it happens, it's not an indication that anything fishy is going on. Once one ballot is processed, another ballot for the same voter can't be. Multiple safeguards are in place to ensure that only one ballot is processed for each registered voter and to ensure that the person's signature on the ballot envelope is legitimate.

Rumor: Mail-in voting opens up the possibility of voter coercion.

Reality: This could be true. At a polling place, each individual votes privately so no one else can see who they vote for. People can still feel coerced into voting a certain way, but there's no way for anyone else to really know how they voted. When ballots are mailed to homes, it is possible for one person in the home to force another person to vote a certain way, but: 1) If there are really enough controlling and abusive households that coercion could sway an election, we have bigger problems on our hands than mail-in voting, and 2) Voter intimidation and coercion is a crime, whether it's someone sitting next to a drop box with a gun or someone sitting next to their spouse with a threat.

Rumor: Mail-in voting offers more opportunities for mistakes in the election process.

Reality: There's no evidence for a claim like this. Every voting system can run into problems. Polling places have power outages and voting machines break. Tens of thousands of voters in Virginia were recently given the wrong information about which polling place they are supposed to go to to vote in person. Mail-in voting systems aren't any more prone to things going wrong than any other voting system.

The full reality is that mail-in voting is a convenient, secure way to run an election, which has been proven by bipartisan and nonpartisan sources over and over again. Claims to the contrary are simply political games designed to sow fear and distrust, which is unfortunately an easy way to sway voters.

However you decide to vote, just vote. Democracy only works as intended if we all participate.

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