American Politics Discussion Thread

[pindicator]

I was pleasantly surprised at not having any trick or treaters. I live in largely liberal Portland, but on the eastern outskirts which has its share of Trump signs.

As for results, official tallies never are finalized for days or weeks after as absentee ballots are counted. However, there's usually enough to accurately project the winner on electing night. I think only Bush v Gore was still on question that night.

[Mjmd]

Political season cant end fast enough. I like overtime, but 70+hrs a week is not my cup of tea

You know your industry better than me, but won't you get busier again pretty soon with the holidays coming. I imagine more people will be shipping gifts this year. Also, I would think more Christmas cards / letters.

[Miguelito]

Ingenuous question maybe, but why is the whole vote mail issue so much extra work for the PS anyways? From my outside perspective it seems rather simple - the ballots should all be easy to identify, and they all go to the same place, so even if it's a lot of volume it should be handable efficiently? Or is the stress more to so many political ad mail being sent?
As we have the chance to hear from an insider here I'd like to ask what I'm listing.

[Jowy]

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53772526

Trump is blocking needed funds to the postal service because more Democrats vote by mail.

I didn't find any updated info though, not sure if they got their money in the end.

[darrelljs]

Ingenuous question maybe,  but why is the whole vote mail issue so much extra work for the PS anyways? From my outside perspective it seems rather simple - the ballots should all be easy to identify,  and they all go to the same place, so even if it's a lot of volume it should be handable efficiently? Or is the stress more to so many political ad mail being sent?
As we have the chance to hear from an insider here I'd like to ask what I'm listing.

I'm sure superdeath will give the definitive answer, but it's fun to speculate. I predict its volume, and by volume I mean the three dimensional kind. The trucks are only so big.

Darrell

[darrelljs]

Trump is blocking needed funds to the postal service because more Democrats vote by mail.

They backed down after the resulting outrage. Its generally been a route for them in the courts as well, twice an all Republican Texas Supreme Court has thrown out attempts to get Harris County (aka Houston) ballots rejected.

Darrell

[superdeath]

Political season cant end fast enough. I like overtime, but 70+hrs a week is not my cup of tea

You know your industry better than me, but won't you get busier again pretty soon with the holidays coming. I imagine more people will be shipping gifts this year. Also, I would think more Christmas cards / letters.

Amazon and their drivers take a big chunk of my current packages since last year, but yeah. Package wise, till new years its insane. However, the actual Mail volume will drop which is usually the "harder" part.

Ingenuous question maybe,  but why is the whole vote mail issue so much extra work for the PS anyways? From my outside perspective it seems rather simple - the ballots should all be easy to identify,  and they all go to the same place, so even if it's a lot of volume it should be handable efficiently? Or is the stress more to so many political ad mail being sent?
As we have the chance to hear from an insider here I'd like to ask what I'm listing.

the ballots arent the issue, at least not for normal carriers. Now, when it gets further down the outgoing mail line? Im sure they become a pain for various reasons.

Politcal ad mail tho.. THAT is what keeps me in the office 1-2hrs longer.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-53772526

Trump is blocking needed funds to the postal service because more Democrats vote by mail.

I didn't find any updated info though, not sure if they got their money in the end.

 What we really need is to not have to pay 75 years in advance for healthcare for workers that arent even born yet.

[Jowy]

Trump is blocking needed funds to the postal service because more Democrats vote by mail.

They backed down after the resulting outrage.  Its generally been a route for them in the courts as well, twice an all Republican Texas Supreme Court has thrown out attempts to get Harris County (aka Houston) ballots rejected.

Darrell

Nice. Two good news amongst all the chaos Well, I suppose Trump trying to already throw out votes is not good news, but Republicans going against him is.

[DaveV]

I was pleasantly surprised at not having any trick or treaters. I live in largely liberal Portland, but on the eastern outskirts which has its share of Trump signs.

I had an opposite surprise: about the usual number of trick or treaters. I live in a very conservative area in suburban Cincinnati with more Trump signs than Biden, but there's still a very good chance our Republican congressman (Steve Chabot) will be tossed out, which would please me greatly. He lost any support he may have had from me during the impeachment hearings, when his questions to every witness consisted of ominously intoning "What's your opinion on absurd conspiracy theory #1? How about ridiculous conspiracy theory #2? Have you heard about the fringiest fringe conspiracy theory #3?"

As for results, official tallies never are finalized for days or weeks after as absentee ballots are counted. However, there's usually enough to accurately project the winner on electing night. I think only Bush v Gore was still on question that night.

There's the issue of resolving provisional ballots, which occur in a number of cases (people showing up at the wrong precinct, ID problems, people who show up to vote in person after applying for an absentee ballot, as recommended by our dear leader).

[Commodore]

As for results, official tallies never are finalized for days or weeks after as absentee ballots are counted. However, there's usually enough to accurately project the winner on electing night. I think only Bush v Gore was still on question that night.

Oregon has been doing mail-in-voting for a while and thus I'd really not expect any issues there. On the other hand, California is 100% guaranteed to be a complete shambles because, well, the results in 2016 weren't certified until five weeks later, and that was pre-2020 circumstances. Tough if you want to know your local results, but the nice thing for outsiders is that nobody has any doubt about where it goes in the general so nobody waits for them. Basically, how timely the general results will be depends on how swing states go and for that matter how many states are swingy.