US Politics Thread, 2.0

[Joe Appleby]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

2. Absentee/Advance Ballot Counting should begin either before or on Election Day. They should all be counted by the end of Election Day. No public disclosure of tally should be allowed (see #3 below) for obvious reasons.

3. No Results should be made available to the media until the Sec. of State is ready to certify the States final results. Then all the detail can be provided down the local jurisdiction level.

Personally, these simple changes could really help things flow smoother and be less contentious.

Especially item #3 with counts starting at literally 0% and running from there, flipping and flopping all night and into the next few days in some cases. This isn't a baseball or football game (although it certainly is presented as one by FOX, CNN and the rest, right down to the play-by-play and stats nerds that show up once a year to present these elections, sportscaster-style). I don't need a running score, I just need a final, a real final. I think the running score thing creates alot of dissatisfaction honestly, as the "score" changes without any clear reason the average viewer (dumb as they are) can perceive.

And I do think it's reasonable to expect a result at midnight on election day. Now, I do NOT want to lower advance or absentee voting, hence the "fine, extend it earlier then" to retain the full time allowed same (or better) than it is now. But by God States should be required to count them all by the end of Election Day.

I appreciate the partisan lens here will likely hate all these ideas for a variety of reasons, so yeah, flamesuit on.

I'd like to add one: Make election day a public holiday or vote on Sundays. That would allow more people to vote.

I've got a question: over here it is not allowed for the media to publish predictions based on exit polls until 6pm, when voting places close. Is that the same in the US, or can people on the West Coast see results come in for New England before their own polling places close?

[Alistair]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

How many voters will that disenfranchise? Just for the sake of speedy results?

I'll answer your question with a question:

How long do we have to allow advance voting to be "reasonable", and at what point is any deadline a cause of disenfranchisement?

Should we allow Pre-Voting for six months before hand? A Year? Four Years? Will THAT stop this supposed "disenfranchisement" fear?

How long after Election Day do we have to keep taking in new votes? A Day? A Week? Three Months?

It's a process, it needs to have clear rules.

If we allow early voting for say, two months before the election, no one should be "disenfranchised" by there being a deadline of "get to them by election day", same as no one is purely disenfranchised by the current "get it in a few days after election day, depending on the State" rules.

And if they do feel that way, there is an easy solution, show up on election day and vote in person.

I'd answer your question with "not one single voter would be disenfranchised compared to today by this change". The only thing that would change would be timing, not "access" to vote.

But I'm open minded, if you have a hypothetical voter who would be disenfranchised, by all means lay out that scenario and we'll evaluate it's reasonableness.

[mewninn]

And this will be one of the key after-action questions Democrats needs to answer: Why are Hispanics, who Trump reportedly hates and wants to oppress, far more supportive of him than anyone in the Democrat Party would expect or predict?

To even have the right questions we'd need to see where they fall on the income scale is my bet. My brain is pulsating over this one

Sure, after the fact. Not before the final score is released.

Hell, you want a Federal Election Auditor Dept. to review every State election afterwards? Great, lets do it.

Watching TV last night was like watching the World Series or the Super Bowl. And that ISN'T in my book a good thing. Politics is already tribal as hell and sports-like in people having "teams" they're "loyal" to.

We need to shed some of that.

I mean that's specifically caused by the rot in our media where everything must be gamified. It's not the process itself that is the problem.

Everyone has an incentive to report "a stunning shift" or upset with those stupid needles, trackers, and the forecasting punditry.

[Zeekar]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

How many voters will that disenfranchise? Just for the sake of speedy results?

Zero? Just open up the mail in ballots earlier.

[Alistair]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

2. Absentee/Advance Ballot Counting should begin either before or on Election Day. They should all be counted by the end of Election Day. No public disclosure of tally should be allowed (see #3 below) for obvious reasons.

3. No Results should be made available to the media until the Sec. of State is ready to certify the States final results. Then all the detail can be provided down the local jurisdiction level.

Personally, these simple changes could really help things flow smoother and be less contentious.

Especially item #3 with counts starting at literally 0% and running from there, flipping and flopping all night and into the next few days in some cases. This isn't a baseball or football game (although it certainly is presented as one by FOX, CNN and the rest, right down to the play-by-play and stats nerds that show up once a year to present these elections, sportscaster-style). I don't need a running score, I just need a final, a real final. I think the running score thing creates alot of dissatisfaction honestly, as the "score" changes without any clear reason the average viewer (dumb as they are) can perceive.

And I do think it's reasonable to expect a result at midnight on election day. Now, I do NOT want to lower advance or absentee voting, hence the "fine, extend it earlier then" to retain the full time allowed same (or better) than it is now. But by God States should be required to count them all by the end of Election Day.

I appreciate the partisan lens here will likely hate all these ideas for a variety of reasons, so yeah, flamesuit on.

I'd like to add one: Make election day a public holiday or vote on Sundays. That would allow more people to vote.

I've got a question: over here it is not allowed for the media to publish predictions based on exit polls until 6pm, when voting places close. Is that the same in the US, or can people on the West Coast see results come in for New England before their own polling places close?

Agreed. I'd dump Columbus Day and make Election Day a Federal and State Holiday. Support 100%.

And yes, here people see East Coast results long before their own West Coast polling places have closed. Our media starts reporting results the second the first State's polls close.

[Zeekar]

You lot need more vacation days anyway. No need to reduce it.

[mewninn]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

2. Absentee/Advance Ballot Counting should begin either before or on Election Day. They should all be counted by the end of Election Day. No public disclosure of tally should be allowed (see #3 below) for obvious reasons.

3. No Results should be made available to the media until the Sec. of State is ready to certify the States final results. Then all the detail can be provided down the local jurisdiction level.

Personally, these simple changes could really help things flow smoother and be less contentious.

Especially item #3 with counts starting at literally 0% and running from there, flipping and flopping all night and into the next few days in some cases. This isn't a baseball or football game (although it certainly is presented as one by FOX, CNN and the rest, right down to the play-by-play and stats nerds that show up once a year to present these elections, sportscaster-style). I don't need a running score, I just need a final, a real final. I think the running score thing creates alot of dissatisfaction honestly, as the "score" changes without any clear reason the average viewer (dumb as they are) can perceive.

And I do think it's reasonable to expect a result at midnight on election day. Now, I do NOT want to lower advance or absentee voting, hence the "fine, extend it earlier then" to retain the full time allowed same (or better) than it is now. But by God States should be required to count them all by the end of Election Day.

I appreciate the partisan lens here will likely hate all these ideas for a variety of reasons, so yeah, flamesuit on.

I'd like to add one: Make election day a public holiday or vote on Sundays. That would allow more people to vote.

I've got a question: over here it is not allowed for the media to publish predictions based on exit polls until 6pm, when voting places close. Is that the same in the US, or can people on the West Coast see results come in for New England before their own polling places close?

Agreed. I'd dump Columbus Day and make Election Day a Federal and State Holiday. Support 100%.

And yes, here people see East Coast results long before their own West Coast polling places have closed. Our media starts reporting results the second the first State's polls close.

nah just add more holidays on top. rename columbus day if you want

[Liare]

[Dorvil Barranis]

A few changes I'd like to see in our system:

1. Absentee/Advance Voting Ballots should be required to arrive the day before election day. If we need to open up earlier to allow that, fine. But they should all be in-hand by 6 am on Election Day.

How many voters will that disenfranchise? Just for the sake of speedy results?

Zero? Just open up the mail in ballots earlier.

Maybe every ballot received on election day? Plenty of reasons why someone might change their mind about voting
in person, and mail late, not to mention the sitting administration is apparently capable of sabotaging the post office.

[Pattern]

[Liare]

imagine thinking mr. faxmachine has anything sensible to say.

[Siv]

It looks like this might end up hinging on Nevada

[Malcanis]

Poor old Krugman thinking that this has anything to do with economic self interest. He's an economist, poor fucker, all assuming rational self-interest. What does he know about people who'd fight for the chance to burn their last $10 bill if it could be used to light a burning cross?

[Joe Appleby]

IMHO: Trump getting the Hispanic vote in Florida is NOT a surprise to me and shouldn't have been to anyone. In Florida Hispanic vote translates to the Cuban vote, and that means a vote for anyone who also hates Castro's Cuba.

[Rodj Blake]

Trump's demanding a recount in Wisconsin.

[Lief Siddhe]

  Spoiler:

[Siv]

Trump's demanding a recount in Wisconsin.

It's quite a big margin to miscount by.

[Lilalaunebör]

The counting will continue until morale improves.

[Rodj Blake]

Trump's demanding a recount in Wisconsin.

It's quite a big margin to miscount by.

[Lachesis VII]