Leslie

Ha! That's great.

Leslie

Back to this. Trump sent Pence to stump for Graham in the race for his (Graham's) life. Because of course Pence will hold a barnburner and get out the hidden vote?

Just let that marinade.

Giantaxe

Hehe.

Lion in Winter

I sent Jaime Harrison a small contribution a while back. It would be very satisfying to see him win. It would be even better to see McConnell lose but I don't think that's happening.

Steerpike

Let's hope this message gets out! No more votes by mail please ...

https://www.vox.com/21536156/vote-ea...op-off-ballots

Still haven’t voted? Don’t send your ballot by mail.

Tuesday is the last day to safely mail your ballot. Here’s what to do if you missed the deadline.

scrubbedexpat091

Also know state law where you reside.

California law is pretty generous on mail ballots, needs to be postmarked on or before election day, and received by the county elections office no later than 17 days after election day.

I hear other states are stricter though and its must be received on election day.

Giantaxe

I voted at the voting center outside City Hall in San Francisco this morning and then we went out and had a celebratory lunch in honour of doing our civic duty to vote. This is the seventh presidential election I've voted in and clearly the most consequential.

Giantaxe

But is it constitutional??

Steerpike

What's the rationale for calling a winner when 'in theory' a huge number of votes could arrive on the 17th day? The only logical argument I can think of is - if (registered voters) - (votes already counted) < (current margin between candidates) then you can call the election. Otherwise, it would seem you need to keep the election uncalled.

EG - Assume 100,000 registered voters. Assume that on the 15th day after the election, 80,000 votes have been cast. Thus, 20,000 POTENTIAL votes could possibly arrive before the deadline. If the current vote on the 15th day after the election stands at 45,000 vs 35,000 (80,000 total), you still can't call the vote because you still have 20,000 possible votes in the mail, which could swing the result the other way.

The reason I can think this could be significant is that the number of actual votes cast is often SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the number of registered voters. No one reasonably expects all registered voters to vote, but you can't presume that.

scrubbedexpat091

For sure, if the margin between candidates is small, the election can't be called early if there are too many outstanding mail ballots and every state handles mail ballots differently.

Normally California begins counting mail ballots 7 days prior to the election, this year due to COVID and increased demand for mail ballots, legislation was passed to allow mail ballots to begin counting 29 days prior, so counting is already being done, and mail ballots being counted as they arrive.

I would assume California knows how many mail ballots were sent out, and how many are received, and can make a pretty good guess on election night for a winner to be called as I doubt the margin between Trump and Biden will be small.

Officially California certifies the election on December 11, 2020 this year.

Looks like California is the last state to certify of the states that set a deadline.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/u...-counting.html

https://ballotpedia.org/Election_res...on_dates,_2020


We just had a provincial election in BC, huge increase in mail ballots, most ridings could still be called on election night, but some of the close ridings are having to wait for the mail ballots to be counted, so official results wont be known for 2-3 weeks.

But the math people were able to project a winning party on election night.

Giantaxe

When I voted today in San Francisco, I was told that my ballot would be counted within 48 hours.

Every registered voter received a mail-in ballot so we're talking a lot of ballots here. Almost always elections do get called by media organizations before it's statistically impossible for the leader not to win. But, unless someone concedes, I don't think states themselves do that.

scrubbedexpat091

If everyone got one then yes that complicates things.

Yes the media who are the ones who call it early, the states vary, California doesn't certify the results as official until a few days before the electoral college meets this year, so officially, California won't have the results until December, other states are in mid to late November.

Lion in Winter

How can claims like this possibly win him more votes than it loses him?" Donald Trump brazenly listed one of the highlights of his presidency as “ending the Covid-19 pandemic”. Trump’s claim, delivered in a White House press release, came in a week that has seen days of record new infections, daily deaths running at almost 1,000 a day, and a 23% increase in cases."

Does anyone actually believe it?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...m-early-voting

Giantaxe

His cult members believe covid is a hoax anyway, so this kind of thing isn't going to drive them away. But you certainly have to wonder who could possibly be drawn to this shit show of an administration by comments like this. In a similar vein, The Economist a few weeks ago had an article about voters in Ohio who were sticking with Trump. One, in particular, was claiming that "unlike any other president, Trump had solved healthcare". This despite the fact he's done f**k all and is actively pleading with the Supreme Court to chuck out the ACA in its entirety without proposing anything in its place.

Lion in Winter

I find it very depressing that, win or lose, by Nov 5 millions of people will have voted for Trump again. After everything that's happened.