OntheWilderSide

Kimberly writes:

My personal suggestion for occupiers on Election Day: Write-in “Occupy”.

Below are links to several interesting opinion pieces on voting and the occupy movement, plus some pull quotes and my own comments. I tried to see if I could find any trends or plans of occupiers to send a message on Election Day USA, Tuesday, November 8, 2011.

My overall impression is:

I have not found any directions on any of the official or quasi-official Occupy Wall Street sites concerning Election Day 2011. There are no candidate endorsements. In fact, I believe that they have not even done the basic level of mentioning on their calendars that November 8th is Election Day.

Neither Occupy Wall Street, nor the main occupy movement nationally, has made a statement of what to do for these 2011 elections. Overall, I think people guess that occupiers will vote or not vote, and choose as they usually do.

I have been among those who like the idea of writing in “occupy” on the ballot. And, where I have floated that idea to the occupy community, it has received some positive consideration.

I have a slight fear that by ignoring Election Day, the occupy movement could sway things towards “the right” and the corporate interests. Because, the folks in the occupy movement tend to be more “for the people”, “for the little guy”, “for governmental accountability”, and “for the left”. If thousands of folks who believe that way go out of the their way to not vote, or don’t realize there is a vote because their current social group/activist circle is not mentioning Election Day, then, I fear, the voting scale could tip towards “the corporations”, “the right”, and “electing the same old incumbents who already have power and don’t fix things”.

The most detailed opinion piece I found on the subject of the occupation and voting is this one:
“BOOTING THE BOOTH – Many Occupiers wonder: Do elections even matter?” This article from the Philadelphia Daily News starts with an examination of local Pennsylvania politics and occupiers, and comments on the bigger picture.

More opinion pieces on Election Day and the Occupy Wall Street movement:

Naomi Wolf at Guardian UK
How to Occupy the moral and political high ground
November 6, 2011

from The Patriot-News
Tuesday’s election likely to draw few midstate voters
November 7, 2011, 12:00 AM

from UtahPulse.com
Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street: Will Anyone Follow Rocky?
A poll and a sampling of anonymous comments
November 7, 2011

My previous links and comments concerning
Long Island (Nassau County and Suffolk County)
2011 Elections

Comments and links on voting
from Occupy Long Island
(A wordpress blog, one of several people hoping to collect Long Island energy for Occupy Wall Street)

Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, Corporations, election, Election 2011, elections, grassroots democracy, local, Long Island Politics, new york, New York State Politics, News, politics, progressive politics, social & economic justice, third party, US Politics, write-in vote Tagged: | effect of Occupy Wall Street on elections, Election 2011 opinion, Election Day, Election Day 2011, Elections 2011, Long Island elections, Nassau County elections, NY politics, occupations, occupiers, Occupy Long Island, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Wall Street and Election 2011, Occupy Wall Street and voting, ows, protest vote, social change, Suffolk County elections, voting and social change, Wall Street protesters, write in occupy, write in occupy wall street, write-in vote