Eddie Vedder wants you to rock the vote this November. The Pearl Jam frontman, who recently joined Instagram, shared with his followers not only his thoughts on voting by mail, but also a lesson on how to do it.
“Lest there by any confusion, here is how simple, secure and verifiable it is to Vote By Mail,” he wrote in the first of a series of posts on Sept. 2, with several showing him holding his ballot in July for the Washington State primary, which was held Aug. 4. “Piece of cake. In regards to something so huge as taking part in our democracy and putting your voices to great use, nothing could be easier. And at this intense time of a global pandemic, even more importantly, nothing could be SAFER.”
Another post shows the rocker reading through the voters’ guide to learn more about the candidates, and another of him holding the ballot and the very simple instruction of how to fill it out: “Fill in the ovals.”
“Foolproof!” he exclaimed in yet another post. “Whomever is attempting to make this process unclear or ripe for fraud should not be trusted.”
Vedder went on to explain that the members of the iconic Seattle grunge band have been requesting absentee ballots since 1992 “cause we were always away from home touring.” He also noted that Washington has been doing “across the board Vote by Mail” for more than 10 years.
“And then ‘the sticker.’ Wear it proud,” he concluded in the seventh Instagram post on the topic. “You’ve just participated in the SINGLE GREATEST FORM OF NON-VIOLENT PROTEST. Your voice will be heard. And speaking as a bit of a singer myself, I know that can be a pretty good feeling.”
Vedder’s posts come after President Donald Trump has repeatedly made false claims that mail-in voting will lead to “fraudulent votes,” something that elections officials and experts have repeatedly said is rare. However, there is concern that the changes to the US Postal Service recently instituted by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may impact the election. Democrats fear that DeJoy’s changes, which USPS has warned may cause ballots to not get back to election offices in time for counting, “may jeopardize the integrity of the election.”
See Vedder’s posts about mail-in voting below:
For more information on how to register, checking your registration and more, visit Vote.gov.
