Would Your Loved Ones Freak Out If They Knew How You Voted in the Midterms?

Democrat, Republican, whatever—we want to hear your story.

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Just prior to the midterms, Allison Engel, a former reporter and Democratic canvasser in Iowa, wrote about a phenomenon some people call “husband blocking.” That’s meant pretty literally. It’s when a canvasser knocks on someone’s door and asks for a woman living there, perhaps a wife or daughter who is a registered Democrat, and the man who answers shuts the door in the canvasser’s face, falsely claims the woman isn’t home, or refuses election-related materials. Yes, it’s a little possessive.

Conceivably, a woman who answers the door could do the same, although Engel wrote that she has never heard of that happening. It could also be a Democrat blocking a Republican family member from receiving political materials or pledging support for a candidate. What interests us, as Thanksgiving approaches, are these political rifts within families. We are curious to hear from people of any gender and party preference about situations in which you have gone against the politics of your partner—or parents, or adult children, or extended family—and then, to keep the peace, largely kept your dissent on the down-low.

Whether you are a part of a Democratic family and quietly voted Republican in this election, or voted Democratic and avoided discussing it with your Republican spouse or kin, we want to hear from you. Maybe you and your partner are both secret Republicans or secret Democrats. Maybe your kids have gone in their own political direction, and you don’t want to share with them how you voted. Maybe you made your decision last minute, in the voting booth.

Whatever the situation, describe it to us. Tell us why you voted as you did and why you decided to keep it pretty much to yourself.

You can fill out the form below, send us an email at talk@motherjones.com, or leave us a voicemail at (510) 519-MOJO. We need your name and contact information for verification, but never fear: If you don’t want to be identified by name, simply click the box in the form below or say so in your message. We may use some of your responses in a follow-up story.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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