 Missvain [CC BY 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons
Today: Luke O'Neil, author of the story collection A Creature Wanting Form and the newsletter Welcome to Hell World; Sam Thielman, a reporter, critic, essayist, and editor, and graphic novel columnist for the New York Times; Carrie Frye, writer and book editor at Black Cardigan Edit; writer and editor Maria Bustillos; Colin MacGowan, a writer living in Chicago; Joe MacLeod, Creative Director at INDIGNITY and author of the column MR. WRONG; and Dessane Lopez Cassell, New York-based writer, editor and curator.
Issue No. 193What Else to Vote For
The Editors Not Coming Back
Luke ONeil
What Else to Vote Forby The EditorsOn the eve of the most fraught U.S. election any of us can remember (and that is saying something), some Hydra contributors wanted to share our thoughts on various elections taking place around the country, to calm our nerves, mainly.
ARIZONAPROP 139
Right to Abortion Initiative A “yes” vote supports amending the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to abortion, among other provisions.
A “no” vote opposes amending the state constitution to provide for the fundamental right to an abortion.
Pretty clear. Vote YES. — Sam Thielman
COLORADOCOLORADO AMENDMENT 79
Right to Abortion and Health Insurance Coverage Initiative A“yes” vote supports creating a right to abortion in the state constitution and allowing the use of public funds for abortion.
A “no” vote opposes creating a right to abortion in the state constitution and opposes repealing a constitutional provision that bans the use of public funds for abortion.
Again, YES. — Sam Thielman
FLORIDAFLORIDA AMENDMENT 4
Right to Abortion Initiative A “yes” vote supports adding the following language to the Florida Constitution’s Declaration of Rights: “… no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” Amendment 4 would maintain the current constitutional provision that permits a law requiring parents to be notified before a minor can receive an abortion.
A “no” vote opposes amending the Florida Constitution's Declaration of Rights to provide that the state cannot “... prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”
YES. — Sam Thielman
ILLINOIS CHICAGO JUDICIARY I don’t know the damn judges. Which is troubling, because they are petty tyrants of our democracy, shaping and sometimes solely determining the fates of accused felons, fraudulent landlords, and children living in rough homes. They’re really important people, broadly unaccountable in their day-to-day work, and I don’t know their backgrounds or their records or how they run their courtrooms. Thankfully for me and other Cook County residents, the nonprofit outfit Injustice Watch assembles an excellent judges guide for every election, providing a brief overview of the variously accomplished and crooked lawyer-kings on the ballot. It’s not a comprehensive look, but this November, I’m voting to keep or expel 77 judges operating at various levels of the Illinois judiciary. I do not have time for “comprehensive.” But I can identify who’s married to a cop, who’s been wrapped up in baroquely Chicago-ass real estate and investment schemes, who understands their area of the law and routinely treats defendants well. I probably still vote the wrong way, sometimes, but I make much better decisions consulting the Injustice Watch guide than I otherwise would. It would be irresponsible of me to recommend specific similar resources for wherever you live. For all I know, the Los Angeles and New York ones I’ve perused are funded by conservative think tanks. I can’t speak to the quality of service journalism happening in any of America’s 67 Springfields. My simple exhortation is this: at least try to find out who the judges on your ballot are. Use whatever good information is available, particularly if it comes from reporters who cover your local courts on a regular basis. These are important votes, even if you’re making them half-blindly. — Colin MacGowan
MARYLANDUNITED STATES SENATE My city, Baltimore, MD, is a Blue city inside the eccentrically Blue state of Maryland. Over roughly the past 30 years, we have had alternating Democratic and Republican governors, and we have a far right Republican member in our Congressional delegation. Maryland has been identified as a Battleground State for control of the Senate. Former two-term Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) – a “centrist” Republican real estate developer and kinda-sorta not-Trumper when it suits him, is going for an open Senate seat currently held by a retiring Democrat. Hogan is opposed by Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D), a center-left (“tough on crime”) Democrat, which is a popular thing to be, this election cycle. Ignoring the candidates’ respective web sites (Alsobrooks, Hogan) and strictly considering their TV spot buys, Alsobrooks wants you to know that Hogan is a staunch Republican, and is politically expedient and self-preservationist on abortion. At one point he appeared to be leaning toward No Labels, along with West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (I), the soon to be former Senator, former Democrat who voted with Trump 50 percent of the time. Most of the pro-Hogan TV spots I see in Baltimore are from PACs attacking Alsobrooks for her messy personal real estate holdings and property tax record, not for any policy issues. QUESTION H
CHARTER AMENDMENT VIA LOCAL PETITION, REDUCING THE SIZE OF THE CITY COUNCIL The notable thing about this amendment for cutting the size of the City Council from 14 to eight is that it is largely supported by the guy who owns Sinclair Broadcasting, who also bought the city’s daily newspaper, killed their features department, and is using the paper to parrot messages from his TV station. MARYLAND QUESTION 1
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT (Ch. 245 of the 2023 Legislative Session) Declaration of Rights - Right to Reproductive Freedom The proposed amendment confirms an individual’s fundamental right to an individual’s own reproductive liberty and provides the State may not, directly or indirectly, deny, burden, or abridge the right unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.
A “yes” vote supports adding a new article to the Maryland Constitution’s Declaration of Rights establishing A RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM, defined to include “the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.”
A “no” vote opposes amending the state constitution to establish A RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM.
Abortion is (currently) legal in Maryland. — Joe MacLeod
MISSOURIMISSOURI AMENDMENT 3
Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative A “yes” vote supports adding a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution, among other provisions.
A “no” vote opposes adding a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, defined to include abortion and “all matters relating to reproductive health care,” to the Missouri Constitution, among other provisions.
YES. — Sam Thielman
MONTANAMONTANA CI-128
Right to an Abortion Initiative A “yes” vote supports amending the Montana Constitution to:
- provide a state constitutional “right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” and
- allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
A “no” vote opposes amending the Montana Constitution to:
- provide a state constitutional “right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” and
- allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
YES. — Sam Thielman
NEBRASKAINITIATIVE 434 A “yes” vote supports amending the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester unless necessitated by a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or incest.
A “no” vote opposes amending the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester unless necessitated by a medical emergency or the pregnancy is a result of sexual assault or incest.
INITIATIVE 439 A “yes” vote supports amending the state constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability.
A “no” vote opposes amending the state constitution to establish a right to abortion until fetal viability.
I had to go to my pal Jessica Valenti’s Substack to make sure I had this one right—even 439 sounds a little weird because it’s generally pro-lifers who like to talk about “fetal viability” in extremely broad terms. But that’s the one to vote YES on. 434 is a spoiler amendment drafted by misogynists, obviously. YES on 439, NO on 434. — Sam Thielman
NEVADAQUESTION 6
Right to Abortion Initiative A “yes” vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion, providing for the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except where medically indicated to “protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.”
A “no” vote opposes providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion.
Vote YES. — Sam Thielman
NEW YORKNEW YORK PROPOSAL 1
Equal Protection of Law Amendment A “yes” vote supports adding language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability” or “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
A “no” vote opposes adding language to the New York Bill of Rights to provide that people cannot be denied rights based on their “ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability” or “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.”
I love New York. Vote YES. — Sam Thielman
NEW YORKNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK
PROPOSAL 2
New York Street Cleaning and Requirement of Waste Containers Amendment This proposal would amend the City Charter to expand and clarify the Department of Sanitation’s power to clean streets and other City property and require disposal of waste in containers.
Voting ‘Yes’ will expand and clarify the Department of Sanitation’s power to clean streets and other City property and require disposal of waste in containers. Voting ‘No’ leaves laws unchanged.
For any New Yorker who’s survived the chaos of facing off against our city’s rats (or worse, having one scurry over a vulnerable, sandaled foot), Proposal 2 might sound like a great idea. After Mayor Adams slashed the Sanitation Department budget in late 2023, followed by an additional 3 percent cut in 2024, the degradation of the city’s trash management has been palpable. Sidewalk trash can collection is down by 40 percent, community composting programs have been cut, and thousands—yes, thousands—of trash cans have been removed altogether. Hence, you may find yourself walking blocks and blocks with a baggy of dog poop in hand before finding a trash can that’s not already overflowing. But the devil’s in the details on this one. Much like the dog whistle of calls for “law and order,” narratives of “cleanliness” have long been used to target communities of color. This proposal is no different. Critics rightly fear that passing Prop 2 would only further the Mayor’s already aggressive crackdown on street vendors, the majority of whom are working class immigrants and people of color trying to eke out a living in a city where the cost of living has continued to soar. While many of us would love more garbage cans and fewer rats, this proposal isn’t the way to achieve those ends. Instead it’s part of a brazen attempt by the Adams administration to seize power from the City Council and consolidate control of city services at a time when the mayor himself and nearly his entire inner circle have been indicted or are under investigation for bribery and other corruption charges. Sort of reminds you of the old “waste management” euphemism used by the mob, no? So vote NO on Prop 2, and while you’re at it nix the similarly structured 3 through 6 as well. — Dessane Lopez Cassell
NORTH CAROLINAHB 1074
North Carolina Citizenship Requirement for Voting Amendment [ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST Constitutional amendment to provide that only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age and otherwise possessing the qualifications for voting shall be entitled to vote at any election in this State.
Thanks to the infernalness of gerrymandering, the Republicans hold a supermajority in North Carolina’s Senate and House, which allows them to try things like this to re-write the state’s constitution. Here what they did is replace the phrase “every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized” with the single word “citizen.” As the voting rights organization Democracy North Carolina has pointed out: “By removing the term ‘naturalization’ from the constitutional voting qualifications, this opens the door to confusion and may prevent naturalized citizens from exercising their fundamental right to vote...” Vote AGAINST this amendment. — Carrie Frye
OHIOSUPREME COURT I don’t live in Ohio, but the shenanigans engineered by the Ohio Republicans in charge of elections have been disproportionately affecting the residents of planet Earth for many decades now. (We could be here for a week examining the details, but a look at the record of former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who was in office during the infamous 2004 presidential election, is a fine place to start.) Republicans have made every effort, for years and years, to prevent countless Ohio citizens from exercising their legal right to vote. Ohio voters passed an amendment to guarantee abortion rights last year by a landslide, but even a constitutional amendment will only stem, not stop, the onslaught of legal challenges to reproductive rights expected in the wake of Dobbs. Thousands of Ohioans have already waited in line for about forever for early voting, thanks to the aforementioned Republican shenanigans. But if you’re voting in Ohio tomorrow, three seats on the Ohio Supreme Court are up for grabs. Votes for Donnelly, Stewart, and Forbes would shift control of the Ohio Supreme Court out of Republican hands for the first time since 1986, helping turn the tide toward fair elections and guaranteed reproductive rights. — Maria Bustillos
SOUTH DAKOTACONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT G - RIGHT TO ABORTION INITIATIVE A “yes” vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to abortion in South Dakota, using a trimester framework for regulation: During the first trimester, the state would be prohibited from regulating a woman's decision to have an abortion;
During the second trimester, the state may regulate abortion, but “only in ways that are reasonably related to the physical health of the pregnant woman;” and
During the third trimester, the state may regulate or prohibit abortion, except “when abortion is necessary, in the medical judgment of the woman's physician, to preserve the life and health of the pregnant woman.”
A “no” vote opposes providing for a state constitutional right to abortion in South Dakota, using a trimester framework for regulation.
YES. I realize this one is weird; I had a long talk with my sister, who lives in Texas, about this stuff, and one thing I’ve grown to accept as I’ve gotten older is that not everybody is going to leap out of bed every morning excited to embrace fully automated gay luxury communism the way you and I might. Some voters need to be met halfway if you’re going to get them to join your team. (Journalists do not need to be met halfway, incidentally, and if you read someone in the national press demanding to be coddled for their ignorance the same way electeds have to coddle overchurched reactionaries, I think you should ignore that person.) Anyway vote yes. It makes space in state law for abortion in one of the most conservative states in the country, and that is the tip of the wedge. — Sam Thielman
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Not Coming Backby Luke O’Neil Manuel Pérez García and Estefania Monerri Mínguez [CC BY-SA 4.0] via Wikimedia Commons For you On your timeline it’s still the second inning of a game your favorite team lost last night. Activists are protesting the coming execution of a dead man the governor declined to pardon. On your timeline it’s still Halloween and all the skeletons and princesses are giddy with childish gluttony. There’s a beautiful beach town unbothered by a looming storm. No cars stacked atop of one another like felled dominoes. Nothing has happened anywhere. On your timeline a friend still has last week’s smile on in a selfie she felt insecure about. A movie no one went to see is about to premiere. A party you weren’t invited to is in full swing. On your timeline an exhausted journalist in a bright blue vest is wandering amidst rubble that isn’t smaller rubble under a sky clear of drones that haven’t arrived and have moved on to the next target. A mother has yet to turn against God. On your timeline I am complaining about a delayed flight that has long since taken off and left me somewhere I’m not coming back from.
The razor I was washing up prior to toppling over into an empty and unmade bed and out of nowhere I could feel a hair growing out of my temple. A white one. I could hear it too almost. Its sprouting. This is the kind of thing that happens backstage every microsecond of every day for every mammal that has ever existed but somehow I had caught it in flagrante delicto. When it must have assumed I would have my defenses down. It sort of hurt on top of it all. My hair had never hurt me before now. It was as if a new tooth was coming in on the side of my skull. Watching a pimple form in real time. Or a scar healing. Which was also happening inside of me so much slower than I needed it to. I’d only just learned the other day that our ears get bigger as we age. The human body is a prison with only the one exit but at least it’s minimum security. And the guards are always asleep.
Nothing could go wrong I was in the middle of apologizing for barking at you to please stop singing Linger by the Cranberries over and over while you were washing the dishes when there was a horrific screeching and then a violent thud outside at the intersection. Like one of their missiles had found us. No one crying out though. The subsequent silence almost as scary. We both leapt up to look out the window and saw two mangled cars embracing one another. A freeze frame of a goal line tackle. The neighbors all skittered out onto the street toward the crash and the braver among them were trying to pry open the doors and break through the windows and we got there a moment later and were standing in the back of the scrum when I spotted him coming around the corner getting closer and closer and the only thing I could think of to do to help was pick up a rock and chuck it at his head. I swear to Christ I beaned him right in the dome. Throwing 92 it felt like. Sliding up and to the right. Stopped him dead in his tracks for a moment or two. I felt like Pedro. I’d never been so alive before. He kept coming anyway though which was pretty deflating. Collected the drivers up in short order in his sack. But man what a high it had briefly been. I worried that he was going to remember it. Take me yard next time. Maybe charge the mound. After I asked you to sing me the Cranberries song again and you did even though I could tell you really didn’t have the spark in you anymore. Had forgotten some of the lyrics.
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