The election on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, was a scary one. Here in Oregon, especially Portland, it was no doubt that Hillary Clinton would win our vote. We are consistently a blue state, full of artists and progressive people who are constantly working on sustainability, environmental change, and the well being of this country along with the entire world.
As we all watched on the television or online, Trump was in the lead. And everyone waited for Clinton's numbers to go back up after she fell behind, but that never happened. No matter how many campaigns they had throughout this past year, not even Robert Downey Jr. and many others repeating how important it was to register and vote via Save the Day website and promising to show Mark Ruffalo naked. How did that not work?! (PS if you never saw that ad or their other clever ads go watch them here).
Since the election we have had protesters making their voices heard out in the Portland streets, although the peaceful protests have led to rioting. Over 4,000 people came to the protest on Thursday, November 10th and 29 got arrested. On Saturday November 12, another 71 were arrested. We are a blue state! The people here in Portland did their duty and they voted for Hillary, so I am a little confused by these actions. I understand that protesting will get the movement out there, try to undo what the country has done. But instead, innocent people's cars have been vandalized, store windows have been shattered, I live in the park blocks and can hear them outside every night and it makes me scared and worried for my community. Although we have the right to peacefully protest (key word PEACEFULLY) I feel these actions have only hurt those who have to pay for these damages, people have been arrested and police officers have been attacked. I believe this will only tear our community apart and make people scared–we are already scared by the fact that Trump will be running our country, we don't need any more help!
For those who don't know, there is a small chance that the votes might change in December when the Electoral College officially votes for the President of the United States. This gives the country a chance to find 37 Republican electoral votes to somehow change their minds and vote Clinton instead. The real voting that went on Tuesday night was actually for the set of electors in each state who will cast their official votes on December 19. An elector who chooses not to vote in line with the popular vote is called a faithless elector. Many states have rules that would punish an elector to vote against the popular demand, and there have only been 157 faithless electors in the entire history of the USA.
I understand that the protests are trying to get the people involved with this big decision, but the rioting is just not what Portland needs. I hope everyone stays safe out there tonight and every other night until the decision is finalized. We can all hope for a holiday miracle, and please DO sign petitions and be involved in the safe protests that occur so we can change the outcome of the presidential election, but do it in a formal and honorable way.
