|
Indivisible of Coos County
October 18, 2026
|
|
If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here
to get our event notices and election updates.
|
Hundreds rallied on a beautiful day, and people are already telling us they voted.
Saturday was a beautiful day for it. The sidewalks along Highway 101 in Coos Bay and in
Bandon were full of Vote signs, flags and campaign signs, and the message was loud and
clear: it is ballot time, the ballots are in our hands, and it is time to vote. All day we
heard you say “I voted”.
|
Saturday · Noon
No Kings: Vote Early Rally
Hundreds of us on the sidewalks in two towns.
The signs went up on both sides of Highway 101 in Coos Bay and in Bandon, with flags
and campaign signs beside them, and they flew proudly as the traffic honked and drove
by.
Traffic got the message: the ballots are out and it is voting time. People were in a
good mood, and the whole event had the feeling of a town that is ready to vote.
|
|
And speaking of ballots, the ballot party went great
Several of us met at Cozy Chaos at 5:30 with our ballots, pens, and the Abundance and
Equity Rating Guide on every table. Nobody left the room unsure about what they had voted
for, and everybody had a good time getting there. That combination is rarer than it should
be, so here is how it happened.
|
What it actually was
An open book, open discussion test
Nothing was a secret and nothing was a guess. The rating guide was on the table, and
we worked through the ballot out loud, together.
When a race was unclear, someone said so and the room worked it. When a measure
looked good on the headline, somebody read the fine print to all of us. Many people,
one open book, with every question asked in the open and answered just the same.
|
|
We talked about the people, not about who to vote for
This is the part that made the night work, and it is worth naming plainly. We talked about
the people and their positions. We did not tell each other how to vote.
Those are different things, and the difference is the whole point. Saying what a candidate
has done, what a measure actually does, and who is paying for it is not pressure. It is
information, and it is what lets a person make up their own mind and then stand behind the
decision. When two of us read the same page and reached different conclusions, we said so,
and nobody was treated as a problem for it.
That is why people left confident. Not because the room agreed, but because nobody was told
what to think, and everybody had enough time and resources to think on their own.
|
And you are telling us your ballots are in
Since Saturday a steady stream of you have let us know your ballot is already in a
drop box. That is the best news of the week, and it is the whole reason we do any of
this.
If yours is in, thank you, now send one message to one person who is still sitting on
theirs. If yours is not in yet, this is the day: put the guide and the ballot on the
table and work it through with somebody. Nobody should be guessing, and nobody
has to.
|
|
If you are thinking about a protest vote
This came up at the party, and a few of you have asked us since, so here it is plainly.
What is a protest vote? A protest vote is a way for you to say I do not like a specific
thing this candidate has done, and I am protesting them being a candidate. It is a real
tool, and there is a right time for it. In our opinion that time is the primary. If you
are unhappy with an incumbent, voting for the primary challenger is how you tell your own
party that it has a support problem, and it lands where the party can actually hear it.
The general election works differently. In a general, a vote for a third party candidate
who cannot win is not a message, it is a subtraction. It hands the seat to the candidate who can win, and
that is usually the one furthest from what you wanted.
Staying home is the same subtraction, and it also agrees that things should stay as they
are. No third party candidate has won in
this system, and until we have ranked choice or a preferential voting system, that
arithmetic does not change.
So in the general, the question on the ballot is not who you want to send a message to. It
is how you would feel if you had to live under the other side because of your protest vote.
If that answer is bad, your protest belongs in the primary as a door knocker.
If you are upset enough to protest a general election with your vote, then you should be
upset enough to knock on doors in a primary and push for a new direction.
We are not telling you who to vote for. We are telling you what the arithmetic does, so the
choice you make on your ballot is a decision and not a surprise.
|
Have your own ballot party this week
You do not need us to run one, and you do not need a dozen people. Invite family, a
neighbor, or the friend who says they are still not sure. Two or three people around
one table is a ballot party, and it might be the most useful thing you do before
November 3. These might just be the most patriotic thing we do this year.
|
1
|
Put everything on one table: the ballots, the rating guide, and
the voters pamphlet. No one is looking anything up on their phone alone.
|
|
2
|
Go race by race, out loud. Ask the questions. Read the fine print
together. Say when you disagree, and say why. Explaining a position is not the
same as pressuring somebody, and everyone can tell the difference.
|
|
3
|
Fill your ballots out on your own with the help of your friends, then make
one trip to a drop box. Nobody fills in a race they have not looked at, and
nobody goes alone.
|
Want a hand setting one up, or the guide in a form you can print and share? Reply to
this email and we will help.
|
|
Then get them in a box
Your ballot has to be received by 8:00 p.m. on November 3. We highly recommend a
drop box, because a postmark does not happen like it used to, and a ballot sitting on the
kitchen counter counts for nothing at all. Every drop box in the county is open 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, until the polls close:
Bandon, Coos Bay, Coquille, Lakeside, Myrtle Point, North Bend, and Powers.
See
every box on our map.
So use a drop box. It is the
fastest way in, and the one that cannot be postmarked too late.
If getting to a box is the hard part, anyone you trust can hand your ballot in for you: a
friend, a neighbour, a family member. If anything goes wrong when you try to vote, call or
text 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683).
|
Key election dates
|
Thu, Oct 22
|
If your ballot has not arrived by Thursday, October 22, call Coos County Elections at (541) 396-7610.
Ballots went out to every active registered voter on October 14.
|
|
Tue, Nov 3
|
Election Day. Ballots must be received by 8:00 p.m., when
every drop box closes.
|
|
Nov 30
|
Results are certified by the county no later than November 30.
|
You can follow your own ballot, from received to counted, at
oregonvotes.gov/track.
Everything else you need to know about voting here, including the drop box map, is on our
2026
election page.
|
While we were out on the sidewalk
Our website has a new look
It reads properly on a phone now, and it finally holds the things people keep asking
us for in one place. Have a look:
coosindivisible.org.
|
Voting and Election Info: the deadlines, the drop box map, and what
to do if something goes wrong when you vote.
|
|
Events: the rallies on the first and third Saturday, the monthly
meeting, and the advocacy work we do with SCHEC.
|
|
Campaigns: the Flock cameras in North Bend, and the work to get
corporate money out of Oregon politics.
|
|
News: every letter we send, including this one, so nothing gets
lost in an inbox.
|
If something you need is missing or hard to find, reply and tell us. That is how the
next version gets better.
|
|
|
Thank you to everyone who came out last night, and to Cozy Chaos Craft Co. for the room. If
last night proved anything, it is that people vote with confidence when nobody leaves them
to guess alone, and when nobody tells them what to think.
Put the information on the table, put the ballot in the box, and bring someone with you.
That is how this election gets won.
Cheers,
Greg
|
|
Indivisible of Coos County · info@coosindivisible.org
Indivisible of Coos County, Coos Bay, Oregon
|
No Kings: Vote Early events are nonpartisan and open to all eligible voters. Weapons of any kind
should not be brought to events.
|
