Happy Friday, October 30th! Love a Halloween Eve šš»š®
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, Iāll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics ā and Iāll share some notes and tips on what Iām keeping my eye on.
IāM ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS like the one below :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), or buy me a matcha, that would be so appreciated š
AUTHORāS NOTE: Weāre doing a fun new format until Election Day (and maybe a bit after, depending on what happens!). Back to our regular programming on the other side :)
There is a LOT going on right now (to state the most obvious) ā we have 18 toss-ups in the House and 7 in the Senate, and thatās not even mentioning the crucial down-ballot races going down. Butā¦ there is one more thing we really need to be paying attention to in these final few days, and that is voter ID ballot propositions.
The TL;DR here is that these props that appear on ballots are framed as ācommon-senseā measures (that are also usually phrased very innocently and vaguely on the actual ballot) but have been characterized as modern-day poll taxes because they effectively keep eligible voters from casting votes by adding additional hoops to jump through. They also have a deeply disparate impact on younger voters (like college kids), older voters, voters of color, voters with disabilities, and low-income voters.
So, as you might expect, there are certain actors in this country who really, really want to put this into effect in as many places as they can (which we also saw reflected at the federal level, with the attempted SAVE America Act).
Thereās been a huge wave of these laws passing directly as ballot propositions in recent years. And 2026 is shaping up no differently: California (Prop 139), Arizona (Prop 144), Colorado (Amendment 84), Nevada (Question 7), North Carolina (Voter Identification Amendment) and Ohio (Voter Identification Amendment) all have voter ID law props on the ballot.
So, if you vote in one of these states or know literally anyone who does, itās really, really important to ask them to vote no (and explain why).
If you *donāt* live in one of those states, donāt worry, your time for action will likely come soon enough. Itās important for us all to know about this and be on top of it because next year will probably bring many more of these props in states all across the US š
In the larger theme of just putting a few things in the back of my mind to contemplate once this election cycle is over and there is a very brief moment where people have a little more time for reflection and big-picture thinking, I feel that I need to say that the Internet has just felt awful lately. It just feels like all the shine of the 2020 peak influencer era has fully rubbed off, and we are all splintered and confused and stressed and being asked to spend our money every 30 seconds.
I made a two-part tiny series about this a bit ago, here and here.
And the reaction Iāve seen from the digital industry (including the political digital world) has been a hard pivot to micro-influencers as a more relatable/authentic (and also more affordable) option for doing creator work. That, however, feels much more like a band-aid solution than a real fix to the serious vibeseccion (caused, ofc, in major part by the platforms themselves and their choices/alignment) that weāre experiencingā¦
How an obscure website became a force in Americaās election information machine (WaPo, 10/30 āĀ free version)
100 Unhinged Things Trump Did That You May Have Forgotten (OP-ED, Rolling Stone, 10/30 āĀ free version)
How political debates became high-risk and low-reward in the viral era (CBS News, 10/29)
Big Techās Data Center Blitz Is Burning Through Cash and Scaring Wall St. (NYT gift link, 10/29)
We Fact-Checked How 5 Platforms Actually Pay Creators (The Publish Press, 10/30)
7 Brew, Gen Zās Anti-Starbucks, Is on an Expansion Spree (Bloomberg, 10/30)
Extra Credit š¤
Substacks That Really Substacked This Week š¤
A record number of women ran for office in the 2026 primaries. Two thirds of them were Democrats. from Meredith Conroy + FiftyPlusOne
The Downballotās 2026 poll closing times map, sponsored by EDF Action Votes from The Downballot
Going deep on Dictionary.comās word of the year from Kaley Mullin + Megan Collins of Cool Shiny Culture
Sneaky Links
TL;DR Iāve inexplicably started receiving codes to stuffā¦ here are the things I actually like :)
My BNTO code for October is 3FBFAF for $20 off (if you know me IRL, you know my rant about the Nuulification of the 20-something city dweller)
I also have a code for CampSnap??? And I do love my CS8 camera from them but like I donāt think I said that online? Either way, itās L-RITZMANN10 for 10% off (we got bumped up from 7% woohoo!)
Thatās all for now ā Iāll see you on Tuesday!