American Politics Discussion Thread

[Cyneheard]

It's a huge step between saying there are dead people on the voting roll and alleging that someone is fraudulently showing up to cast votes in a dead person's name. Evidence of the latter happening is extraordinarily rare.

Keep in mind: If someone mails their absentee ballot on October 15th but dies October 20th - that’s technically a dead voter and generally shouldn’t be counted legally, but is it fraud if the system doesn’t pick up on that? Not really.

Drivers licenses are NOT universal in urban environments.

[Commodore]

As a note, I'm agnostic about how much fraud actually matters in this case, and even if it will matter how much is provable in court. But sans something radical shifting this will go to the courts. What is fairly clear is that regardless of outcome this election is going to be considered illegitimate by a plurality of the country. I'm sure ipecac has something pithy by Lee Kuan Yew on the situation but I'm going to go with "shits to big, yo".

[darrelljs]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the biggest problem with ID in USA:

Charriu! You're famous!

It was an informative video, but I didn't see a connection to Charriu?

Darrell

[suboptimal]

It's a huge step between saying there are dead people on the voting roll and alleging that someone is fraudulently showing up to cast votes in a dead person's name. Evidence of the latter happening is extraordinarily rare.

Keep in mind: If someone mails their absentee ballot on October 15th but dies October 20th - that’s technically a dead voter and generally shouldn’t be counted legally, but is it fraud if the system doesn’t pick up on that? Not really.

Whether or not a vote counts in this situation is actually dependent upon the state.  Some states will disqualify the vote (since they aren't a qualified voter on Election Day) and others will count the vote since they were a qualified voter at the time they cast their ballot.  Of course, there are also states that do not specify in laws or regulations what happens in this instance because, well, we need to be thorough in our regulatory variety.  

[darrelljs]

I'm sure ipecac has something pithy by Lee Kuan Yew on the situation but I'm going to go with "shits to big, yo".

Yet another QotM candidate .

Darrell

[Jowy]

I'd be interested to know where you're getting your info about fraud Commodore? My understanding is that it essentially doesn't happen (like a few hundred votes out of 140 million according to someone on a fivethirtyeight podcast) but is a useful excuse to make voting harder for poor people.

This is what I've heard too. I think it's just the Republican talking point this election to try to get the largely Democrat mail-in ballots removed.

Some of it is probably also projection.

[GeneralKilCavalry]

City machine politics scarcely exist anywhere outside Chicago anymore. Republican claims of Democrat voter fraud are from a bygone era and have no bearing on anything going on. The large scale fraud going on here is USPS delaying huge numbers of ballots in south florida. Along with the usual voter suppression going on in the south.

[DaveV]

As a note, I'm agnostic about how much fraud actually matters in this case, and even if it will matter how much is provable in court. But sans something radical shifting this will go to the courts. What is fairly clear is that regardless of outcome this election is going to be considered illegitimate by a plurality of the country.

WHAT???

Do you, personally, consider this an illegitimate election? As opposed to 2016, where Trump's margins were probably smaller? Because only Democrats cheat, or something?

This is why Trump's whining about fraud and cheating is so dangerous.

[Gustaran]

What's your preferred TV station for election coverage? CNN? I tried to find a PBS livestream, but it wouldn't let me access any from my location.

So I watched 30 minutes of Fox News for the first time in years and I am suprised how whiny these people are. It seems it's just several people with changing guests complaining all the time. They moan about the unfair media, democrats, elitists from the coasts, democrats, big tech companies, democrats, socialists/marxists/communists, democrats, BLM, democrats, pollsters, democrats, hollywood, democrats, gender studies, democrats, etc...

No wonder they are angry all the time.

I also feel it would probably be quite funny if a guest were to ask a moderator to explain socialism to him. They use these buzzwords all the time, but since they warn their viewers that Biden is apparently about to bring socialism to the US, I have some doubts that they actually really know what it means.

[Cyneheard]

City machine politics scarcely exist anywhere outside Chicago anymore. 

Philly's was a real thing in 2008. I haven't been in the area since. But it's mostly about local control/local positions. Bob Brady is no longer calling the shots.

Baltimore's isn't that powerful (and if the Green candidate wins her City Council race, that could make things more interesting going forward - having more elections not be Primary Day Is The Only Day is a good thing).