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Tuesday is Election Day! Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 3rd) is the last day you can cast your ballot in the 2026 Midterm Election. At stake is control of the U.S. House and Senate, as well as Governorships and state legislative seats across the country. If you've waited until Election Day to vote, remember that you must vote at your assigned precinct. Tuesday is also the last day to return your vote-by-mail ballot. All mail-in ballots must be returned to the Supervisor of Elect

Counting Down! Early Voting Ends Sunday More than 80,000 Jacksonville voters went to the polls last week during the first week of Early Voting. With mail-in ballots, more than 107,400 votes were cast countywide. Democrats are currently outpacing Republicans, but GOP voters historically turn out in force on Election Day. Keep building that blue wave! Early Voting continues in Jacksonville through Sunday, November 1st. Polls are open this week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays

Early Voting Starts Tuesday! Polls open at 8 am on Tuesday, October 20th, at early voting sites throughout Duval County, including the Beaches Branch Library and the Jax Beach Community Center. Early voting sites are open from 8 am to 6 pm this week, and from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Times are extended the following week (7 am to 7 pm weekdays; weekends 9 am to 5 pm). Voters can cast their ballots at any of Jacksonville's 24 early voting locations. Voters can als

No Kings: Vote Early is Saturday! Beaches Protest & Downtown Rally On Saturday, October 17th, No Kings kicks off with the largest mass mobilization in history to protect the vote and demonstrate that power belongs to the people! More than 2,000 local actions are planned across the country to motivate voters and ensure midterm turnout is too big to rig. At the Beach, join us for the Hands Off Our Vote protest at the Beaches Library from 10 am to noon. We'll be forming a human

BYOB (Bring Your Own Ballot!) & Join BAM Members & Friends on October 8th We're putting our heads together and figuring out what's on our ballot at the monthly BAM Meeting on Thursday, October 8th --- and plan to have a little fun doing it! Vote-by-Mail ballots hit mailboxes last week, and sample ballots for the midterm election are available online. If you are scratching your head about down-ballot candidates and issues, you are not alone. The midterm ballot is packed with r

“I think he is the most threatening president to free speech, free press, the First Amendment that we’ve ever had.” First Amendment attorney & advocate Floyd Abrams Must (Not) See TV: More Attacks on Free Press In a page right out of 1984, Trump continued his efforts to stifle a free press last week by banning major news outlets from the White House. The attack is the latest in an ever-widening attempt to control the media and its coverage of the administration, with actions

Amendment 3: His Biggest Con of All FL Governor Ron DeSantis may be term-limited, but he is all over the November ballot. Three of his foot soldiers—appointed by him to their current positions—face voters for the first time. U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia were rewarded for their loyalty to the Governor for signature initiatives like Alligator Alcatraz, mid-decade redistricting, DOGE-like attacks on local

Buying Votes & Cheating Like Hell One thing is clear from last week's cringe-worthy GOP midterm convention --- Trump and his enablers know what's coming on November 3, and they are desperate to stop it. In his speeches, Trump offered a $5,000 dividend to every adult in the country if Republicans maintained control of Congress after the election. And he urged supporters to raise their hands and pledge to vote and "cheat like hell like they do" in the midterms, again raising ba

"The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving.” Gloria Steinem, 1934 - 2026, “Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem” Election Threats: How We Protect the Vote With less than 60 days left before the 2026 Midterm Elections, the Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to suppress the vote --- the latest target: vote-by-mail. A USPS whistleblower last week revealed continued work on plans to require states to pr

“Her life was a testament to the power of love, the value of kindness, the reality of goodness among us. . . Somehow her being gone made her more present than ever in one way. In another, with her gone, it's up to us to be what she was to the best of our ability." Rebecca Solnit, In Praise of Dolly Parton, 1946-1926, Our Goddess of Kindness They Are Everywhere: Reining in Flock Big Brother-style warrantless surveillance of the law-abiding public is suddenly all over the headl

“They represent Florida. This is an exciting ticket because it represents our entire state. No matter who you are and no matter what you believed at one point on this and that, we’ve got big issues we gotta fight back on, and they have big ideas to bring to the table, and that's exciting.” U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost on the primary election victories of U.S. Senate candidate Angie Nixon and FL gubernatorial candidate David Jolly. A Big Night and An Even Better Morning After! Ther

Tomorrow is Election Day! Tomorrow (Tuesday, August 18th) is Election Day! It's your last chance to vote in the 2026 Primary Election. When you vote tomorrow, you must vote at your assigned precinct --- click the link and enter your address to find your polling site. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Find voter ID requirements and how to vote here below the list of early voting locations. To return a Vote-by-Mail ballot, you must drop it off at the Supervisor of Election's

The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word, "We." "We the People." We Shall Overcome." "Yes We Can."...Oh, what a glorious task we are given, to continually try to improve this great nation of ours. President Barack Obama Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015 Early Voting Is Now! New Beach Site Early Voting for the August 18th Primary Election started last Friday and runs through Sunday, August 16th. Twenty-four polling locations --- including the Beaches Library and

Early Voting Starts Friday! New Beach Site Early Voting for the August 18th Primary Election starts on Friday, August 7th! Twenty-four polling locations --- including the Beaches Library and a new site at the Jax Beach Community Center --- will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday, August 16th. Registered voters can vote at any of these sites during Early Voting. Find information on voter ID requirements and how to vote here below the list of polling locations. You

Stop the War, Voter Suppression & AG Nominee Trump is ramping up pressure on the U.S. Senate to agree to the budget framework passed by the House last week, which provides $87 billion in additional support for his illegal war in Iran and incorporates key pieces of the SAVE Act, potentially disenfranchising millions of voters. The framework lays the groundwork for yet another budget reconciliation bill that can be passed by a simple majority vote, avoiding a filibuster. We nee

Mail-In Ballots: It's Time to Vote! If you are one of the nearly 23,000 voters in Duval County who received a Vote-by-Mail ballot for the August 18th primary last week, it's time to vote! You have until 7 p.m. on Election Day to return your completed ballot to the Supervisor of Elections Office. Despite Trump's unjustifiable effort to discredit it, voting by mail is safe, secure, and trackable! And this primary election will not only select Democratic candidates for critical

This Weekend: Make Good Trouble Six years after the death of civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis, the country is facing unprecedented attacks on voting rights. Join us for the Good Trouble Lives on National Weekend of Action as we come together to honor the legacy of Lewis and defend the right to vote. This year's theme is Teach! Reach! Preach! --- a multi-prong effort to raise awareness, engage and register voters, and recognize the sacrifices of state and local civil r

Protect the Vote Trying to nationalize elections. Mid-decade redistricting. Tightening voting restrictions. Eliminating mail-in voting. Questioning prior election results. Weakening election security. Trump and his GOP enablers are mounting a full-out attack on rules governing the 2026 midterms and future elections. Their goals are clear: to protect Republicans from losing control in November and sow doubt about the integrity of the election process when DEMS win. While the c

"Two and a half centuries in, Americans are neither naive nor defeated. They see the cracks, and they still bet on the future. The country's defining trait isn't agreement, it's a refusal to stop striving for a better tomorrow." America at 250 Years: The State of Our Union America at 250: Hope Amid Division On Saturday, July 4th, the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which formally severed the 13 American colonies' politica

"It is our greatest inheritance, the story of America at its best, because it reflects a basic faith in the decency of our fellow citizens, and the possibility that despite all of our differences, we can see each other and understand one another and make common cause together." -- Barack Obama, June 18, 2026 At last week's opening of the Obama Presidential Center, both Barack and Michelle offered soaring reminders of the long struggle to perfect our far from perfect union