Election 2024: It’s not over till it’s over

The story about Trump University was in all the papers. Trump “faculty” standing over students as they filled out their “course evaluations.” As an academic, I knew it was not your standard classroom protocol. Almost as bad as some joker looking over your shoulder in the voting booth. I was shocked. It was downhill after that.

The race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump has been going on for three months, but it feels like three years. We’ve been bombarded with analysts, media consultants, and all those ads. What else is there to say about Trump? The conviction — 34 COUNTS. How many others? The language. The divisiveness. The shady business dealings. The lies.

If you’re like a lot of people out there, you’re tired of hearing about Trump.

What’s left to say?

Approximately 240 million people were eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election. Only 66.1% of them did. Roughly 81 million eligible voters did not cast a ballot.

If you’re looking for the “adult in the room,” the choice is easy — and it’s not the guy his own supporters say should be taken “seriously, not literally,” who disrespects our allies and takes no responsibility for public displays of misogyny, racism and wild, vulgar rhetoric, i.e. that Madison Square Garden circus.

If you are, Michigan, it’s not too late to vote.

Maybe you’ve already voted.

How about that aunt in North Carolina or your roommate in Arizona who’s on the fence or your cousin once removed in Georgia who’s in a “mixed marriage.” Her husband’s a Trump voter. She’s leaning Kamala. Give her a call.

I understand. You still don’t know enough about her? Amazingly, in Kamala Harris’ brief and historic candidacy, with only three months of campaigning, she has done the impossible. She’s in a dead heat with Trump, who’s been campaigning since he lost the last election.

Kamala. According to the Trump ads, she’s the only vice president in history who has actually led the country alongside a sitting president. Anything bad can be blamed on Kamala Harris. Anything good, of course, can be attributed to that lingering Trump effect.

The lives lost on Oct. 7, and the horrific destruction in Gaza will never be forgotten.  Unlike Trump’s transactional, one-sided Israeli Palestinian peace plan, here’s a quote where Kamala shows empathy for both sides: “...we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.” Will it happen? I do not know, but I have no reason to believe Trump will make the situation in the Middle East any better.  He talks constantly about stopping illegal immigration, but he blocked the bipartisan immigration bill that would have done just that. Unresolved, it’s a big plus for him politically. There’s no reason to think he’s interested in seeing a truce in the Middle East when it provides him so many opportunities to slam Kamala on it.

There is a lot at stake in this election. Understatement!  Did you know right here in Michigan, you can register to vote on election day. Vote right then and there. And don’t be embarrassed if you’ve never voted before. There are worse things.

They keep saying there are only a handful of voters who haven’t made up their minds. In 2020, 8,105,524 Michiganders were eligible to vote — of whom 5,579,317 actually voted. Didn’t Biden win Michigan by just 11,000 votes?

You’ve heard all the ads. We’ve got two choices (or maybe more than two). There’s always third party. Back in the ‘60s, Vietnam was on our minds. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Humphrey. “Humphrey who?” I get it. I voted third party. And ended up with Nixon — who, by the way, unlike DJT, actually resigned.

We can decide we’re too busy. I know. I know. We’re working overtime, two or three jobs. That’s a lot! Or we have to get our hair done, or our tan redone. Then there’s the fabled white coat syndrome. Our patients. They’re lined up. A delivery? OMG! And teeth need to be cleaned. Or if we’re really sick of listening to Trump. That’s four more years of DJT. We can go out and vote!

Out of the 81 million eligible voters who didn’t cast a ballot in 2020, how many of those reluctant voters are still on the fence?

If you’re one of them, it’s not too late to vote for Kamala Harris for president.

(Sandra Seaton is the winner of the Mark Twain Award from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. The author of 14 plays, opera librettos, a spoken-word piece and short fiction, her best known work explores the life of Sarah “Sally” Hemings, a woman who was owned by Thomas Jefferson. Seaton taught creative writing for 15 years at Central Michigan University and lives in East Lansing.)