[HoosierDaddy]

Never mind. I got hopeful for a second. All hope suitably dashed 2 minutes after last post.

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 09 October 2020 - 03:40 PM, said:

I definitely need to figure out where I gotta vote at after all this bullshit here.

Is it too late to request a mail in ballot?

[Terez]

HoosierDaddy, on 09 October 2020 - 03:10 PM, said:

Never mind. I got hopeful for a second. All hope suitably dashed 2 minutes after last post.

hugs

tell us about it

[Terez]

knowing LA it was actually spelled that way

[Malankazooie]

Maybe the mid-westerners here can offer some insight on this - how come Michigan?

[HoosierDaddy]

Terez, on 09 October 2020 - 03:00 PM, said:

HoosierDaddy, on 09 October 2020 - 02:53 PM, said:

Shockingly long vote early line in conservative Hoosier land. A month before election.

Motivation on both aisles but lots of white suburban women here. That's generally a good sign. Won't matter for president but may in confessional and definitively in state elections.

About 1.5 hour wait.

How do conservative Hoosiers feel about Pence these days?

Nearly as great as Trump.

I don't know. No one talks about him.

[HoosierDaddy]

Malankazooie, on 09 October 2020 - 04:43 PM, said:

Maybe the mid-westerners here can offer some insight on this - how come Michigan?

Because what the divide is among liberal/conservative isn't so much red and blue states as opposed to rural/urban. And outside Detroit and a few other enclaves, Michigan is like the rest of the Midwest: all rural. Farmland and forest as far as you can see.

The Midwest is like North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, etc. but with big cities to balance out population. Take the cities out of these states and you have very little difference anymore. Certainly no longer a manufacturing powerhouse like it used to be.

Not shocked at all. Drive two and a half hours past Detroit to the north and you are in the absolute middle of nowhere.

Edit: Just to put some of what I'm saying into context: the county I reside in is the 7th wealthiest per capita in the country according to a census taken as reported by an Indy Star article. So, some context for you. Political leanings make sense here.

This post has been edited by HoosierDaddy: 09 October 2020 - 04:56 PM

[Malankazooie]

Any signs of the Trump poll Gestapo doing their observing for voting irregularities... i.e. intimidation?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Trump on steroids:



'This close up looks like the steroids are causing water retention in his face and bringing out what a stroke may have caused him in recent days. The facial droop is now prominent (ER nurse observations)'

[Aptorian]

Is there a source for that picture? Seems heavily manipulated.


Edit: it seems like it's from this picture

https://images.app.g...Fp4byMTQUZ9PTB7

He's mid speech, pulling some face, maybe there is some drooping going on but not to the extent that the above comparison suggests.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 10 October 2020 - 08:34 AM

[Aptorian]

Actually. I just watched a fox interview (don't shame me) and the left side of his face is more puffy and immobile. It's not quite as noticeable when it's a moving picture. He already looked like a haunted pumpkin

[Malankazooie]

Did anyone catch Trump's Evita moment today? Too busy to watch any myself, will have to look for clips. Did the crowd adoringly look up at dear leader and beseech him to win another four years to keep America great?

Don't cry for me Orangentina.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 10 October 2020 - 09:54 PM, said:

Did anyone catch Trump's Evita moment today? Too busy to watch any myself, will have to look for clips. Did the crowd adoringly look up at dear leader and beseech him to win another four years to keep America great?

Don't cry for me Orangentina.

'Saturday's event was purportedly aimed at Black and Latino Americans, who, Trump argued, are benefiting from his agenda. Attendees included members of a group known as "BLEXIT" that was founded by conservative firebrand Candace Owens to encourage African Americans to leave the Democratic Party. His speech, however, seemed aimed at White suburbanites who are not sympathetic to the Black Lives Matter movement.

"I don't understand why the President would have an event focusing on minority communities, Black and Brown, and not mention what it's all about," [...] noting how coronavirus has exacerbated health inequities. "It would seem to me that the President would be saying to them, 'This is what my election will mean to the elimination of these disparities.' He did not do that simply because he does not have the capacity to empathize with what these communities are experiencing in this particular pandemic," [...]

[...] attendees on the South Lawn were closely packed together. "To literally draw (Black and Latino activists) into the White House, to a hot zone, is extraordinarily inept in terms of public policy and public health ... If you believe nuclear power is safe, you don't go and have a picnic at Chernobyl the next day to prove that point."

Trump skimmed over the details of his coronavirus diagnosis, saying he felt "great" [...] "We are starting very, very big with our rallies and with our everything," [...]

[...] "The vaccine is "coming out very, very soon," he said, even though the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said most Americans aren't likely to get a vaccine until at least the middle of next year.

[...] without mentioning the upward trend in new cases in the United States. "A lot of flareups, but it's going to disappear, it is disappearing and vaccines are going to help," he said.'

https://www.cnn.com/...vent/index.html

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 10 October 2020 - 10:10 PM

[Malankazooie]

Got my ballot in the mail yesterday. If this was normal times I would put the proper postage on it and put it in the mail box like I usually have done. But this aint normal times. I'm going to fill it out and I'm going to drop it in a collection box this week. And I'm not going to the closest drop box near me, oh no, I'm going to take it to the location of the county offices drop box where the county clerk and recorder is located. I'm not taking any chances with Trump corruption, Louis DeJoy post master general bullshit. It will be a little more of a drive, but worth it for peace of mind that my vote will count. Plus, I'll get an "I voted" sticker.

Oh, and an ooey gooey, warm out of the oven, chocolate chip cookie to the first forum member who guesses correctly how I will cast my vote for president.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Malankazooie, on 11 October 2020 - 11:00 PM, said:

Got my ballot in the mail yesterday. If this was normal times I would put the proper postage on it and put it in the mail box like I usually have done. But this aint normal times. I'm going to fill it out and I'm going to drop it in a collection box this week. And I'm not going to the closest drop box near me, oh no, I'm going to take it to the location of the county offices drop box where the county clerk and recorder is located. I'm not taking any chances with Trump corruption, Louis DeJoy post master general bullshit. It will be a little more of a drive, but worth it for peace of mind that my vote will count. Plus, I'll get an "I voted" sticker.

Oh, and an ooey gooey, warm out of the oven, chocolate chip cookie to the first forum member who guesses correctly how I will cast my vote for president.

'Unofficial Ballot Drop Box Appears In Front Of Baptist Church In Castaic

[...] Freedom's Way Baptist Church.

[...] "Our church has a voting drop box in front of our complex — if you are voting early, drop your ballot on by."

[...] the L.A. County Recorder/Registrar's office[...] responded on social media, saying: "This is not an official vote by mail drop box and does not comply with [state] regulations for drop boxes." "Oh, it was insane!" Kaehny said. "I can't imagine in what world that you would think that that's acceptable."

[...] Other posts on the church's website show it hosting a forum for Republican local candidates and criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement. With that in mind, some locals said they are suspicious of what the church's intentions were with the box.

[...] "It was up for like four days before I even saw it, before it kinda started getting traction, so I'm really worried that somebody put their ballot in there and that he saw it was for a certain candidate or saw whatever and just tore it up and threw it away"

https://losangeles.c...rLjozo.facebook



Pennsylvania Republicans have been unsuccessfully trying to get the courts to ban drop boxes. But they'll try to take it to the Supreme Court... and in the South Carolina case, three justices wanted to retroactively invalidate ballots that had already been received without a witness. If one of those justices crosses over, drop box ballots might not be counted....

It seems extremely ominous that Pennsylvania's Republican legislature is refusing to allow ballots to be counted before election day. 'the Pennsylvania legislature, facing a prolonged vote count, could [try to] appoint its own Trump-friendly electors to the Electoral College — regardless of who wins the state.

Pennsylvania GOP chairman Lawrence Tabas told the magazine that doing so is "one of the available legal options set forth in the Constitution." State Sen. Jake Corman, the Republican majority leader, said: "We don't want to go down that road, but we understand where the law takes us, and we'll follow the law."

Both later said their comments had been taken out of context or misinterpreted.'''

But they're also trying to disrupt in-person voting, through voter intimidation and possibly worse:

'Trump's campaign is recruiting Election Day volunteers across the country, dubbed "Army for Trump" on his website. The campaign says it already has more than 50,000 volunteer observers across key battleground states, including Pennsylvania. [...]

Poll watchers allow campaigns and parties to challenge votes they believe are illegitimate, such as if a voter doesn't live in the precinct. Those challenges are supposed to be made in good faith and with reason, and it is illegal to challenge voters on the basis of factors such as race, appearance, or national origin.'

So under what circumstances would challenging the vote be called for?... You can't go by appearance or national origin... you can think you know everybody who lives in the precinct?

'During rallies in rural and Republican-friendly parts of Pennsylvania four years ago, Trump baselessly accused Democrats of trying to "rig the election" and urged supporters to travel to cities like Philadelphia to serve as poll watchers.

But state law requires voters to be registered in the county where they will serve as poll watcher. Trump's campaign, in a federal lawsuit in Pittsburgh, is trying to change that. A federal judged rejected a similar Trump lawsuit just before the 2016 election.'

... so he'll probably take it to the Supreme Court... particularly if Barrett is confirmed before the election.

'But officials fear the greatest potential source of Election Day conflict is not official poll watchers, but other Trump supporters who show up outside polling places. [...]

The FBI is taking the politically charged climate into account in its plans to keep polling places safe[...]

"We have to be concerned about people who could be rogue poll watchers and might come from areas of Pennsylvania with high numbers of white nationalist groups and militias," said State Rep. Kevin Boyle, a Northeast Philadelphia Democrat and the ranking member of the House State Government Committee, which has jurisdiction over election laws.'

I'll admit I have wondered what would happen if rural Pennsylvania and/or white supremacist militias tried to invade North (or far West) Philadelphia.

How many terrorist attacks on polling places---whether mass shootings, bombings, or chemical or biological agents (even just 'we have coronavirus, spit spit spit!')---would it take to substantially depress turnout?...

https://www.inquirer...s-20201011.html

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 12 October 2020 - 12:39 AM

[Macros]

Why don't they just give them all brown shirts and tell them to goose step about the place for fuck sake?

[Primateus]

Lyin' for jesus, nothing new about that.

[Cause]

Wow! Sen mike Lee is it? Who last tested positive for covid eleven days ago is sitting on the senate floor maskless right now!

Hard to think of a bigger tuck you.

[Malankazooie]

I'm guessing no discussion about high school calendars with a date penciled in to ask Squee whether he's boofed yet or not (and talk about fondness for beer).

I do think there will be a number of references to handmaids though.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'Armed groups say they will show up to polling sites on Election Day, and experts are afraid it will intimidate voters

[...] Laws differ by state when it comes to whether you can bring a weapon to a polling site — concealed, unconcealed, or at all.

[...] He said if his [far-right militia] group noticed, for example, protesters at polling sites with guns, "we're going to intervene."'

[And if a smartphone 'looks like' a gun?... oh well, just plant one on the corpse?...]

'"chances are really high that we're going to see militia members, armed groups, or Trump supporters who are armed at the polls."

[...] "There's an unwillingness to accept anything but a Trump victory."'

https://www.business...9RA4sHQS_WYjzA8

Turns out it's not just that one church, but a coordinated multi-county effort by the California state GOP:

'California GOP installed unofficial ballot drop-off boxes. State officials say they're illegal.

The metal boxes have popped up around Southern California in recent weeks, from churches to gun stores to gyms. On the front, an authoritative-looking sign beckons to voters: "Official ballot drop-off box."

The California GOP has pushed voters to pop their mail-in ballots inside. Social media posts have advertised their locations, and one regional field director posted a photo to Twitter on Friday showing him holding a ballot in front of one of the boxes.

[...] Erecting or advertising unofficial ballot boxes could be a felony that carries a two-to-four-year prison sentence, according to the secretary of state's office.

[...] The GOP said it was using a 2016 law, passed by Democrats, that the party argues legalized a practice called "ballot harvesting."

The California law allows people to hand their ballots over to any designated person, who then delivers the ballot. [...] But Republicans in the state often decry ballot harvesting, and the California GOP sued Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) this year over the practice.

[...] But Padilla's office said on Sunday that the boxes are not legal under the 2016 law, because that statute requires a voter to designate a "person" to return the ballot, and there is no person present at the unofficial drop-off boxes. Official drop-off boxes, meanwhile, must satisfy a long list of requirements to secure the boxes and ensure ballots cannot be tampered with. The GOP's containers do not meet those requirements'

https://www.washingt...l-ballot-boxes/

There may be just enough arguable legal ambiguity there (aside from the 'official' label) to take it to the Supreme Court....

If Trump supporters decide to 'produce' evidence of massive voter fraud or ballot tampering by committing it themselves, and Republican legislatures use that as an excuse to choose the winner themselves, would the new Supreme Court validate it?...

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 12 October 2020 - 06:37 PM