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There are only six states where election officials have the authority both to delay an election and shift polling places, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Election officials have literally zero authority,”
“An issue that this pandemic has exposed is the lack of agility with respect to elections.”
No kidding…
“There were decisions made not to be prepared for this,” = Voter Suppression
Meanwhile…Trump’s assessment of mail-in-ballots…
As we see in China, the new worry is flareup or onshoring of coronavirus again, especially next autumn as the weather cools. The assumption is that China never achieved herd immunity and could be forced into a shutdown ahead. Meanwhile in the US, politicians remain 8 or 10 weeks behind the curve, when immediate action is needed.
Mail-in voting has to be the national standard. That could then be supplemented with lower resource demand early voting. Also could get creative like free antibody testing with every early voter and their family members.
However we get to making uniform elections in this country not subject to partisan bullshit, we need to get there. 18th century crap.
We may get this outbreak quieted mid/late summer. Trump and Governors will relax a great many of the more strict behavior restrictions. People will go back to work. But there won’t be a vaccine. And there will be a percentage of the populace asymptomatic, in addition to those still sick. So, the situation is ripe for a second wave of infections, another peak period of the disease running rampant through the populace.
So, say the election is during this second wave. Republicans are far more prone to be dismissive of science, and many still think this is all much ado about nothing, or a hoax, or an attempt to bring down Trump. It would seem therefore they’re more likely to trek to the polls and vote, whereas Democrats will be very apprehensive to flock to the polls and expose themselves to the virus.
The Democratic party should be expending millions upon millions in an effort to convince their voters to request absentee ballots. I don’t think their various candidates win if actually showing up and voting in person is part of their strategy.
Anybody in Texas, request a mail-in ballot here:
While the Coronavirus response is, according to Trump, a states issue primarily, you can rest assured November’s election will be a federal emergency, because reasons.
Barr is drafting guidelines as we speak.
Already way ahead of us on demagoguing vote by mail and setting up the argument that Trump’s coronation was illegally stolen…
Part Deux, from the Voter ID Handbook: “I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” Trump said.
More propaganda about Trump inventing a miracle drug…
Is the winsconsin situation in part the result of the republicans working in lame-duck session to cripple the governor’s office?
I was under the impression that they had actually decided to do a large-enough study to find out whether it had any effect.
Two points which didn’t make it into this article:
All these debates right now are taking place around primary elections which are essentially private elections overseen by the local government, they’re different than the general election.
Most states (to my knowledge) have their general election written into their constitution and the US constitution dictates that the general election be held on Nov 3 this year.
It’s a matter of the Constitution and the state constitutions which can’t be over-ridden by a state lockdown or to my knowledge even a declaration of emergency.
Yes, it’s a remarkable that a man of his age continues to swim the Yellow River every year!
Martial Law under a State of Emergency. So technically the elections would go ahead, but anyone participating would be subject to detainment when trying to go to/from the polls.
Trump will build a wall around every ballot box.
THIS PISSES ME OFF TO NO END! Yes, I know I’m shouting. We have a federal body that should have absolute power over elections for federal office. We have got to homogenize voting. We have 50 odd voting jurisdictions and nearly 50 different ways of voting.
Being from Washington, I favor mail in/drop off ballots. Maybe it’s because we are better up here (I like to believe that), but we generally get greater participation than the rest of the country, though still anemic, and we don’t have problems with fraud.
It was always under reported and I would imagine now that it is more widespread than it was initially. And since Western capitalism has stupidly hitched its manufacturing wagon to a single pony, which is now very ill, we can all be clear here and elsewhere, but China is likely to continue to have problems caring for the ill let alone staffing factories, thus pushing out economic recovery that much further.
This is a great point, more waves of external shocks and more waves of coronavirus are ahead. Since this is a once-in-a-century event, we have practically no experienced advice. Perhaps we should listen to historians.
The one positive I heard this morning on NPR was a doctor who had been ill himself. I believe he said that one should be able to develop a natural immunity. However, they need to develop a serum test to determine whether those people who have been ill and recovered developed antibodies, but a vaccine is still very necessary.