Everything is bigger in Texas — including the lengths to which the state will go to limit absentee voting in the pandemic.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1309910
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1309910
1 Like
Voting by mail should be the norm… in fact, it should be the only way to vote. Having lived in AZ and WA where voting by mail is easy (AZ) and required (WA) I must say, that my votes there were the most informed of any I have ever cast. The ability to actually look at the ballot, especially with regard to initiatives which are sometimes paragraphs long, and not written in a way that is easy to digest. Having the ability to study the ballot leads to an informed vote… NO WONDER the GOP is against this, BIGLY
34 Likes
I lived in both of those states also, but now in VA and the state allows absentee voting because of the virus. Hopefully this will be the step to make mail ins the norm.
Meanwhile, Texas is wasting all this time arguing over something that is beyond ridiculous when they could be organizing to get the process ready for voting by mail.
What could they possibly be worried about?
15 Likes
Blocking mail in voting might not help Trump if he gets his voters to kill themselves off.
22 Likes
-
The GOP is aggressively fighting for an interpretation of TX election laws that will require massive numbers of people to breathe indoor air that has been shared by many other people. This exposure will cause many new cases of COVID, some of which will result in severe physical harm or even death.
-
The GOP is not trying to pass revised law that would allow voters to use absentee ballots to avoid spreading or contracting COVID.
-
The GOP is not devising or supporting any methods by which in-person voting can be made almost as safe as voting absentee.
-
The GOP is not devising or supporting efforts to ensure that waiting times for in-person voting are not noticeably increased by such issues as a shortage of poll workers and wide spacing of voting machines.
GOPers speaking favorably about the defense of the current law need to be asked what the GOP is doing to avoid the needless deaths and suffering that will result from a successful defense.
20 Likes
10 Likes
Meanwhile, the disorderly reopening in Texas is already leading to uncounted tragedies as attested by this Houston Catholic church’s statement (pdf).
12 Likes
Let them take a toxic drug to protect against a hoax epidemic in order to own the libs.
24 Likes
Marshall is desperate to keep his seat so he’s acting irrationally.
3 Likes
This, for some people, will not end well…
9 Likes
I believe the Supreme Court will decide, by whatever means necessary depending upon the cases they accept, that mail in votes in 2020 will not count. This may be paranoid but you should consider is this is a possibility.
Here in Michigan and I suppose elsewhere mail in voting and absentee voting are not the same thing. I return my ballot in person to the clerk in the township office. Consider that for yourself.
Here in MI I expect armed poll watchers. The scenes in Lansing were due to the fact there is no law against carrying a gun in Michigan. None. So guns are allowed everywhere.
3 Likes
How does that Darwin thing go again?
7 Likes
Glad I live in Pennsylvania where I could request a mail-in ballot and didn’t have to give a reason why. Already mailed my primary ballot and I’ll be getting one for the general in a few months.
Not saying PA is better than Texas (although we don’t label our drainage ditches as “rivers”) but it is good to have a Democrat in the governor’s mansion.
12 Likes
I read that link, thanks for providing.
Seems to me that not testing him earlier falls into medical malpractice. The concept that less testing “helps” is crazy stupid.
20 Likes
The Republican party is a modern cult of death. The Texas Republican party is especially committed to killing people for their god Dow Jones.
God help all the koolaid drinkers.
10 Likes
Real ‘voter fraud’ - or just the EMOTIONAL FEAR OF VOTER FRAUD?
16 Likes
All this negligence took place just a short distance away from the colossal Texas Medical Center.
6 Likes
I really don’t understand why would why they are resisting absentee voting, if anything it makes electoral fraud much more easy in the republican controlled states. It’s not the people that vote that matters it’s the people that count the votes that matter.
Here is Georgia we all applied for our mail- in ballots at the same time and my democratic registered wife has not received hers (I changed my registration to republican (long story), daughter independent). And there are many other opportunities, democratic votes “getting lost” in the mail, optical readers errors, bundles of republican votes showing up… tons of opportunity to what Mexicans call “Electoral Alchemy”. And no republicans have shown that they are not above that kind of things and will obey the Dear leader.
7 Likes
I don’t know how it works in Texas but here in Florida absentee ballots have your name on them and in person cast ballots do not in many cases. So if voter fraud is your concern I’d think absentee ballots would be preferred as you can trace them. If I fool you at a polling station it’s too late to check it out. If you get my mail in 2 weeks early you have that time to check me out.
It’s tough to pitch a mail in ballot. The person that sent it may have scanned it in order to verify it’s proper completion. It’s easy to pitch an in person ballot. The voter has no way to check it out. And they do pitch them.
During the 2012 election I cast my vote at the Atlantic Beach city hall polling location. When I checked in my photo ID was taken and I was handed a ballot. The red neck that did so marked the ballot “democrat” and highlighted that. I asked why and was told I’d be ejected if I cased a fuss. I knew why of course. I insisted on knowing why and the cops were summoned. A Captain came with them. She also asked why. The poll worker had no answer. So she waited until I cast my ballot and it was scanned in. She then asked the woman at the scanning station if my ballot had been entered properly. She was told yes and we left. Did not happen in 2016. That year they just pitched me off the rolls. Big hassle to get back on.
Had I not fussed I’m sure that scanner would have sidelined my vote. It’s bad here. The “fraud” however is conducted by government and aimed at Democrats. Not the other way around. I now vote by mail.
18 Likes
I think it’s the bast way and I do it in Florida but there’s a catch. You must check your voter status EARLY in order to see if you’ve been dropped. Any Democrat in a red state needs to do this and do it often. If you’ve been dropped you won’t get a mail in ballot and by the time you become aware it’s too late. There’s a conscious effort by GOP Governors and Sec.'s of State to keep you away from the polls and your ballot out of the mail. You can’t fix that. You can defeat it though but you have to be pro-active.
10 Likes