The United States Postal Service warned election officials in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in the 2020 election, that ballots cast according to state deadlines may still “not be returned by mail in time to be counted.”
IF they would use their heads, they should simply update the law that says they can’t count the ballots until after election day. Why not start counting immediately, they can at least do this weekly in a centralized location with all the necessary security with no problems.
I was going to request a mail-n ballot but now I’m not.
I’m voting in-person on the first day that I can Early Vote.
I don’t live in Pennsylvania but I do live in a Swing State.
Ballots should not be counted before the day of the election. If they are counted before the day of the election and the tally leaked to the public, then that could influence the outcome of the election.
It is good to see that the push back against Trump’s voting power grab has started. The Trump moves against voting are transparently dangerous and need to be fought as an existential threat to our democracy.
This is Trump’s blatant grab for illegitimate power, and if successful, heads down a very dark road.
Meanwhile on Planet Reality Optional,
Ivanka Trump Continues Women Empowerment Agenda Amid Pandemic http://dlvr.it/RdbLgD
11:18 AM · Aug 13, 2020
Good Lord, this is fresh out of the primordial ooze.
A bit OT but related. I have 3 elderly relatives in nursing facilities in our State. I am responsible for paying their bills, including those sent me by the extended care pharmacies that supply their meds. Yesterday, I received a bill marked Payment Past Due. It was accompanied by an apologetic letter stating that the company had been notified that the USPS was late delivering the bills; and for me to disregard the late payment notice if I had already paid. Which I had and which I did. But, the point is the USPS has already disadvantaged this business, as well as set me up for a potential late payment fee. You better believe my Representative has already heard from me about this. Pay attention, folks! Don’t let up on this maladministration. They mean to do us harm.
The issue of counting votes before election day has been pressed in PA by some activists and lawmakers for several months now, but the issue of leaked results is a valid one to consider. I’m interested to hear more opinions about which is the more critical, though with all the shenanigans going on I am thinking that making sure the ballots are counted ASAP is most important. I think the risk of leaked results is outweighed by the potential for further shenanigans if most results are not available immediately after polls close.
One of the things that I find the darkest about Trump and his minions is their clear conviction that no price is too high for some innocent person to pay in order for him to remain in office.
This is about the most perverse example I can think of for claiming that an immoral act is being done for “the greater good”.
Also, Republicans gerrymandered the shit out of the Pennsylvania legislature in 2011 and thus still control both houses, so no such legislation could pass.
I had a related experience recently having to do with the election. I got a postcard from Franklin & Marshall College, a well respected PA pollster, asking me to go online to participate in a presidential poll. The days of the poll were well over when I received the card in the mail, in fact the results were released that day.
I have been contacting organizations to enquire about standing to sue the Postmaster General about this. I see the possibility of a major class action here for situation like yours and mine, with an emergency injunction against DeJoy’s shenanigans as the remedy.
If any lawyers here want to offer an informed opinii on whether such an action is possible, it would be much appreciated.
Screw mail-in, pick up your mask and your rabbit leg and show up for early in-person voting.
Agree. I think leaked results should be among the least of our worries.
In Washington State, a ballot is valid if it is postmarked election day.
As I’ve pointed out before, it doesn’t matter how the courts rule. The act of Dems having sued for protection of voting rights and won and the act of Trump/RNC having sued to prevent protection of voting rights and lost BOTH create data points for them to cite while claiming the election was stolen and illegitimate in oder to provoke the violent revolt of their base and justify absolutist obstruction by GOP in the House and Senate.
Here is a look at the campaign against voters by Trump Campaign in Eastern Iowa. The link below shows the filing by the Campaign. The case will be tried in Federal District Court - Northern District of Iowa. I guess voters aren’t disenfranchised enough in their opinion.
When it come to mail delivery of medications, the possible consequences are worse.
I have epilepsy. The medication I use to control seizures is sent through the mail, as per my union’s medication plan. If I miss enough doses, it can trigger status epilepticus, a life threatening condition of rapidly recurring seizures. I am sure there are other analogous conditions forestalled by regular medication.
Consequently, Donnie’s election interference is also putting people’s lives in jeopardy.
Not that I think he cares, anymore than he has concerns about the American dead from covid-19, which seem strictly bounded by his electoral ambitions.
I’m not entirely clear about this, but I think the PA Bureau of Elections can contend that they can make this change administratively under existing statute. They made some related changes for the primary without additional legislation, including accepting ballots postmarked by election day for several days afterward, and this was upheld to my knowledge. They will of course be sued if they do. But if the PA executive does not support the contentions of such suits, they may just be upheld at SCOTUS per the precident set by the Rhode Island case set aside yesterday. If I am misinterpreting ant of this, I am all ears.
this is a good example of the court’s ruling not mattering. If the court rules against them, they will still challenge all those ballots to subject them to immense delay and generate their evidence that something is amiss and illegitimate…that it was all a grand conspiracy, a coup, to steal the election.
I agree. I think the potential for violent upheaval by his supporters is much, much higher than most people are realizing.
