US PoliEra 2020 |OT6| I will not be closing this thread when the second wave hits.

Deleted member 4090 · Jul 31, 2020

Plinko said:
How is this a problem to talk about when numerous democrat politicians and numerous political reporters are all sounding the alarm? At what point does it not become "Chicken Little" to you?

I thought the user was also not voting for Biden. If they're not voting for Biden despite having the opportunity to do so, why do they even care?

I could be wrong on their history.

(EDIT: This is calling them out for their comments on this site, not any off-site nonsense)

Golden Darkness · Jul 31, 2020

We've also got some primary elections in August where there is a mail-in ballot push. In Michigan the Secretary of State is pushing those with absentee ballots to hand them in at drop off boxes if the voters get them less than one week left.

MrHedin · Jul 31, 2020

Orayn said:
That it could be used to declare himself the winner and potentially incite mass violence no matter what the actual outcome is.

That he could also send feds (or his followers) as "poll watchers" to scare people away from polling places in areas where the votes are likely to be unfavorable to him. (The decree banning armed poll watchers expired in 2018)

We have to stop this rhetoric. There isn't going to mass violence, there isn't going to a civil war, there isn't going to be an attempted dictatorship. We're going to have people scream on the airwaves that everything was rigged and then they will go back into their holes and nothing will happen.

Geg · Jul 31, 2020

I do think it's likely that Trump will try to declare himself the winner prematurely if he has a slight edge on election night due to millions of votes still not being counted, but I don't see most of the GOP going along with that aside from his most loyal goons

ArkhamFantasy · Jul 31, 2020

Are you guys concerned about mail in ballots that aren't being sent in early enough, or all mail in ballots period?

lmcfigs · Jul 31, 2020

thuway said:
Please stop. Your dialogue is conspiratorial and overly negative. Democrat leadership will have to address this and they have time.

Sorry, i don't really think democrats appealing to the courts and integrity of elections is very convincing to republican partisans.

edit: i should clarify that even if they are successful: it's less than ideal to have a situation where the majority of republicans doubt the validity of mail-in ballots, especially when it looks like this year; when a large chunk of dems plan to vote by mail. Even if they count the late ballots, it still leaves a situation where the results of the election are cast into serious uncertainty.

thuway · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS · Jul 31, 2020

If you are concerned to vote by mail, you don't have to rely on the Post Office. You could:

1)Vote Early in Person should your state allow it (Most states do, like Texas for example)
2)Get a mail ballot, and turn it in at your polling location ahead of time
3)Get your mail ballot and turn it in at your polling location on election day
4)Get your mail ballot and turn it in to the County Office directly

There are so many other ways to vote that don't rely on the Post Office getting your vote in after election day. You should have a month before election day either way to get your vote counted.

Orayn · Jul 31, 2020

thuway said:
==

Poster in question has awesome tweets like this one:

https://twitter.com/brOrayn/status/1287434466554712065

or this

https://twitter.com/brOrayn/status/1260601315341881362

So please. If I find his dialogue to be disingenuous, unfruitful, and nonproductive. I apologize wholeheartedly. I feel he's stirring up chaos and has no plan on voting for Biden or removing the current status quo.

Congrats, you found a deeply sarcastic comment about how I don't like Biden's obsession with bipartisanship and compromise.

I stand by the Bernie one, lots of people simultaneously hold that Bernie is a nobody fringe candidate with a pitiful number of supporters, but all of them still need to support Biden 100% or it'll be their fault if he loses.

metalslimer · Jul 31, 2020

Welp guess we should just give up since we obviously have already lost and trump is now dictator.

Claire Delune · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS said:
If you are concerned to vote by mail, you don't have to rely on the Post Office. You could:

1)Vote Early in Person should your state allow it (Most states do, like Texas for example)
2)Get a mail ballot, and turn it in at your polling location ahead of time
3)Get your mail ballot and turn it in at your polling location on election day
4)Get your mail ballot and turn it in to the County Office directly

There are so many other ways to vote that don't rely on the Post Office getting your vote in after election day. You should have a month before election day either way to get your vote counted.

My concerns revolve around getting everyone else to do that.

lmcfigs · Jul 31, 2020

I mean this is not something i want to be worried about. I was talking to my dad about this, who is a republican and it's very clear to me that all of a sudden voter fraud and mail-in ballots are the scourge of democracy. This man has literally never voted in person before - always by mail. But suddenly now it's this major issue. I see the talking points on fox - where they more or less stoke the same fears as Trump. None of it is promising to me.

El Bombastico · Jul 31, 2020

Edit: Removed

Geg · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS said:
If you are concerned to vote by mail, you don't have to rely on the Post Office. You could:

1)Vote Early in Person should your state allow it (Most states do, like Texas for example)
2)Get a mail ballot, and turn it in at your polling location ahead of time
3)Get your mail ballot and turn it in at your polling location on election day
4)Get your mail ballot and turn it in to the County Office directly

There are so many other ways to vote that don't rely on the Post Office getting your vote in after election day. You should have a month before election day either way to get your vote counted.

My main concern is with millions of people who've never voted by mail before not staying informed on any of that and thinking "I just need to mail my ballot right?"

The dems need to constantly message about this every day for the next three months to make sure as many people are informed of their options as possible

Are instructions/guidance like this included with the ballot you receive? My state doesn't have mail or early voting aside from absentee so I don't really know much about this

Orayn · Jul 31, 2020

I will still hold my nose and vote for Biden but I'm sympathetic to others not being willing to go that far. He's a bad candidate (in terms of policy) and there are a lot of major problems a Biden presidency won't help with.

Sain · Jul 31, 2020

Mike said:
My concerns revolve around getting everyone else to do that.

+1 to that. Life gets in the way, and I just worry about your Average Joe and Jane voting this November (ideally for Biden) not having their voice heard because of some fuckery.

thuway · Jul 31, 2020

Orayn said:
Congrats, you found a deeply sarcastic comment about how I don't like Biden's obsession with bipartisanship and compromise.

I stand by the Bernie one, lots of people simultaneously hold that Bernie is a nobody fringe candidate with a pitiful number of supporters, but all of them still need to support Biden 100% or it'll be their fault if he loses.

I apologize man, if this was disrespectul I'll remove my post. I am around enough lunatics as it is in real life. I'm trying to hopefully craft some positivity out here.

lmcfigs · Jul 31, 2020

In fairness i do have a permanent "dems in disarray" mindset.

GoldenEye 007 · Jul 31, 2020

There are legitimate concerns to be had regarding the clear effort to destroy the USPS. And there are legitimate concerns to be had regarding Trump's inevitable bitching and moaning as soon as the night starts looking bad for him.

But to take that and go to armed conflict and delegitimizing an election, eh. Trump has failed to show he or his admin are capable of much follow through or competent planning. But sure, I wouldn't take polling showing GOP voters less likely to mail-in vote as a good thing. That just means more will show up in person to vote.

If you're mail-in voting, don't wait. And either drop it off in person or mail it in the day you get it. And preferably do whatever you can to vote in-person. Especially if early-voting is an option. The couple cases of GOP trying to disrupt elections this cycle did not result in people cowering away. But showing up even more, despite a pandemic, to vote.

Dr. Feel Good · Jul 31, 2020

Plinko said:
Latest polling had 50% of dems using vote by mail and only 22% of republicans for the general election this year.

A difference like that isn't negligible statistically.

That's why democrats have been smart to push the "vote IMMEDIATELY when getting your ballot" platform. It's accurate and can overcome all of this.

What's the source on that? I haven't found meaningful data that shows mail-in voter demographics. In fact the recent R flip of CA-25 (Katie Hill's district) was directly attributed to flipping thanks to timing of COVID pushing Democrats to not vote in person and more Republicans voting by mail.

BoboBrazil · Jul 31, 2020

Ithil · Jul 31, 2020

Orayn said:
I will still hold my nose and vote for Biden but I'm sympathetic to others not being willing to go that far. He's a bad candidate (in terms of policy) and there are a lot of major problems a Biden presidency won't help with.

I have zero sympathy whatsoever. The opposite is Trump, a genuinely evil man currently destroying the country and doing catastrophic damage to the populace daily.

studyguy · Jul 31, 2020

Feel free to search for my social media if you guys want to see pictures my dog and me riding a bike, but I'd feel more comfortable if we didn't drag that into the thread?

Feel like maybe calling a wa-po op-ed about the concerns of voter mail maybe not being as efficient as one would like in a year where we've been warned to probably send it in two weeks early shouldn't be that controversial of a topic. I don't expect the Trump goon installed to systematically rip apart ballots as they arrive at an office, but I mean I just went nearly two weeks without any contact lens because of mail delays so I dunno. Seems not ideal.

Mulberry · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS said:
If you are concerned to vote by mail, you don't have to rely on the Post Office. You could:

1)Vote Early in Person should your state allow it (Most states do, like Texas for example)
2)Get a mail ballot, and turn it in at your polling location ahead of time
3)Get your mail ballot and turn it in at your polling location on election day
4)Get your mail ballot and turn it in to the County Office directly

There are so many other ways to vote that don't rely on the Post Office getting your vote in after election day. You should have a month before election day either way to get your vote counted.

As someone who works for the Post Office, know your state and local laws, request your ballot as early as you can and return it as early as you can. Election mail is never to be delayed, even if you forget postage, but that doesn't mean it won't. Mail is backing up in some parts of the country and hopefully it will get better in the next few months but don't wait until the last minute.

Orayn · Jul 31, 2020

For the record I plan to request and mail in my ballot at the earliest possible dates and hope that I'm far enough ahead of any mail fuckery to actually get it counted. Also considering in-person early voting as a backup. Pretty thankful Minnesota gives so much flexibility on this.

SneakersSO · Jul 31, 2020

Got an election question:

Participated in the primary with a mail-in ballot. With everything going on right now, I just wanna go into my local polling place and vote - don't want to risk this at all right now. Do I need to do anything? Voting in New Jersey.

pirata · Jul 31, 2020

metalslimer said:
Welp guess we should just give up since we obviously have already lost and trump is now dictator.

Just because we're acknowledging that voting may not get us out of this nightmare doesn't mean that we're saying it's time for everyone to jump off a bridge or to consign ourselves to living under tyranny of the rest of our lives. If no consequences or safeguards exist to stop the enemy from stealing or cancellign the election, we need to start preparing to create consequences, through 2nd-Amendment means if necessary.

Yes, we hope it doesn't come to that, but hope doesn't accomplish shit. Preparation, strategy, and resolve does.

Sheepinator · Jul 31, 2020

Orayn said:
I will still hold my nose and vote for Biden but I'm sympathetic to others not being willing to go that far. He's a bad candidate (in terms of policy) and there are a lot of major problems a Biden presidency won't help with.

The choices are Biden or Trump. Seems to me that a candidate not doing everything is a lot better than one doing nothing.

shadow_shogun · Jul 31, 2020

@mkraju
"No, I don't think he did," Trump says when asked if he is worried that Herman Cain got the coronavirus at the Tulsa rally where Cain was maskless and sitting next to other maskless rallygoers
2:18 PM · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS · Jul 31, 2020

SneakersSO said:
Got an election question:

Participated in the primary with a mail-in ballot. With everything going on right now, I just wanna go into my local polling place and vote - don't want to risk this at all right now. Do I need to do anything? Voting in New Jersey.

Q10.
Where can I find the locations of the VBM (Vote by Mail) ballot drop box?

A10. Please visit Elections.NJ.gov

This page has been moved

Here.

hipsterpants · Jul 31, 2020

just lurk here but I don't really see that it would be that difficult to get out the message to be extra careful with mail-in voting this year. not only are the USPS problems being plastered everywhere (if they were actually smart they'd start mucking things up right close to the election) but people are paying way more attention to the process since so many would be mail-voting for the first time.

like I'm sure once October hits Dems will be all in on telling people what to do to ensure their vote gets counted.

also if you're really concerned about it, be productive and inform as many people as possible to take the precautions to make sure their vote isn't screwed with. more worthwhile than stressing yourself out and getting in arguments on an internet forum.

Plinko · Jul 31, 2020

Dr. Feel Good said:
What's the source on that? I haven't found meaningful data that shows mail-in voter demographics. In fact the recent R flip of CA-25 (Katie Hill's district) was directly attributed to flipping thanks to timing of COVID pushing Democrats to not vote in person and more Republicans voting by mail.

I'll see if I can find it--it was posted here a few days back.

Also, this is why Trump is trying to make mail-in voting sound bad:

New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Most Trump voters say they will not accept the 2020 results if Biden wins because of mail-in ballots

Most Americans believe that President Trump will not accept November’s election results if he loses to Joe Biden, according to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll — and a majority of Trump voters say they too won't accept a narrow loss if mail-in ballots contribute to Biden’s victory.

news.yahoo.com

55% of Trump voters "won't accept" that Trump lost due to mail-in ballots in a close election. He's counting on some sort of rural uprising to save him in that case. Wouldn't change the outcome, but violence from that group wouldn't be out of the question.

Smylie · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS said:
If you are concerned to vote by mail, you don't have to rely on the Post Office. You could:

1)Vote Early in Person should your state allow it (Most states do, like Texas for example)
2)Get a mail ballot, and turn it in at your polling location ahead of time
3)Get your mail ballot and turn it in at your polling location on election day
4)Get your mail ballot and turn it in to the County Office directly

There are so many other ways to vote that don't rely on the Post Office getting your vote in after election day. You should have a month before election day either way to get your vote counted.

Not everyone has access to transportation to get to a polling location or county offices.

RailWays · Jul 31, 2020

pirata said:
Just because we're acknowledging that voting may not get us out of this nightmare doesn't mean that we're saying it's time for everyone to jump off a bridge or to consign ourselves to living under tyranny of the rest of our lives. If no consequences or safeguards exist to stop the enemy from stealing or cancellign the election, we need to start preparing to create consequences, through 2nd-Amendment means if necessary.

Yes, we hope it doesn't come to that, but hope doesn't accomplish shit. Preparation, strategy, and resolve does.

It all seems very cart-before-horse to me.

If people don't have faith in democratic strategy or messaging to prevent Republicans from rigging the election why would they extend said faith to their ability to hypothetically arm and rebel?

lmcfigs · Jul 31, 2020

yeah that does sound unlikely that dems wouldn't be able to solve the issue by legal means or by simply adjusting their voting behavior (i.e. just going to vote in-person or voting super early), but somehow they would be organized enough to do the much harder thing and arm themselves in insurrection. that's pretty far fetched

Greg NYC3 · Jul 31, 2020

Geg said:
I do think it's likely that Trump will try to declare himself the winner prematurely if he has a slight edge on election night due to millions of votes still not being counted, but I don't see most of the GOP going along with that aside from his most loyal goons

Trump can't declare himself the winner and no one would take him seriously if he tried. The states will individually announce who won their races and we'll all do the math. The most he can do is refuse to concede.

I do expect that this year it will take much longer for some states to finalize their vote counts but my hope is that the margins won't be close enough that the late mail ballots will matter. Trump is doing a pretty good job right now of making sure that this won't be a horse with his desperately insane campaign messaging.

pirata · Jul 31, 2020

RailWays said:
It all seems very cart-before-horse to me.

If people don't have faith in democratic strategy or messaging to prevent Republicans from rigging the election why would they extend said faith to their ability to hypothetically arm and rebel?

I was talking about the people, not the bureaucrats of the Democratic Party. I mean, the uprising against the police state and systemic racism sure as fuck wasn't organized by the Democratic Party. They would never dream of doing anything so bold or effective.

Plinko · Jul 31, 2020

This is not the same poll I was referring to, but something similar that shows the danger in the issue at hand:

Lose a small fraction of those votes due to post office delays and it could conceivably cost swing states.

Icolin · Jul 31, 2020

thuway said:
==

Poster in question has awesome tweets like this one:

https://twitter.com/brOrayn/status/1287434466554712065

or this

https://twitter.com/brOrayn/status/1260601315341881362

So please. If I find his dialogue to be disingenuous, unfruitful, and nonproductive. I apologize wholeheartedly. I feel he's stirring up chaos and has no plan on voting for Biden or removing the current status quo.

El Bombastico said:
Butthurt Bernie Stans are always hillarious.

pretty cool that you guys actually went and dug up posts on a totally different site to own a poster, pretty sure that's not allowed. that's quite toxic!

General Guide to ResetEra

Site Policies A collection of policies that have been created to address specific issues or concerns. These policies apply to the entire site. Hate Speech and Groups We do not allow behavior or rhetoric that attacks or discriminates against users based on race, sex, gender identity, sexual...

www.resetera.com

Offsite Drama

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

We have no interest in hosting discussions that fuel drama between our community and others. This sort of metacommentary
tends to be petty and unproductive. Please do not derail threads with drama about other forums and websites, do not encourage comparisons or competition with other forums, and do not create threads about them either.

Members are highly discouraged from pursuing other members off the site, and staff will generally not adjudicate disputes that happen offsite. Do not post offsite material that you suspect to be from other members, whether from social media or elsewhere, in order to attack or embarrass them. If you believe such material is of serious concern, bring it to the attention of the staff through the appropriate channels described below.

studyguy · Jul 31, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/us/politics/joseph-biden-vice-president.html

Lobbying Intensifies Among V.P. Candidates as Biden's Search Nears an End

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Mr. Biden is said to be focused on finding a running mate he regards as capable of advancing his priorities in governing and who can be counted on not to stray from the urgent challenges facing the nation to pursue their own political priorities, according to people familiar with his thinking. His advisers would also prefer a running mate who would not present a rich political target for President Trump, given that the incumbent is lagging badly in the polls and has so far struggled to deliver credible negative attacks against Mr. Biden. One Democrat close to Mr. Biden's campaign said its polling indicated that Ms. Harris has little allure with Black voters. More telling, a Biden campaign official reached out to The New York Times, unprompted, to say that some of the former vice president's own staff members are not supportive of her.

In conversations with Mr. Biden and his vetting committee, lawmakers have recommended Ms. Bass as a consensus candidate who is well-liked across partisan and factional lines and would be a loyal lieutenant to him in government. Ms. Bass has reinforced that message by assuring Democratic officials that she has no interest in seeking the presidency herself, according to lawmakers directly familiar with the discussions. That commitment could assuage concerns in the Biden camp that he might be overshadowed by a running mate positioning herself to succeed him.

Gonna go ahead and say I'm not a fan of whoever is leading the consensus of the Biden camp VP pick, there's very clearly some subset of this group that is threatened by the idea of Biden being seen as some political lame duck waiting to pass the presidency to his VP. I don't really understand how you bridge the gap of wanting someone favorable enough to get the public jazzed up about her, but non-threatening enough to I guess not cause this VP selection group to shit themselves out of some misplaced worry that the VP's ambitions are going to steamroll Biden. Smacks of the same annoying attacks they lodged against Clinton in 2016 for being too ambitious of a woman, like fuck off with that misogynistic shit.

CloverNotes · Jul 31, 2020

pirata said:
I was talking about the people, not the bureaucrats of the Democratic Party. I mean, the uprising against the police state and systemic racism sure as fuck wasn't organized by the Democratic Party. They would never dream of doing anything so bold or effective.

Aren't the people that would stand up to injustice and systematic racism people who would be on the democratic side of things? So in a way those people are the Democratic party. As they are that voter base.

Orayn · Jul 31, 2020

I'm trying to participate (and sometimes disagree) without derailing, I just think we're past the point of this being "chicken little" stuff. It's no more alarmist to raise these concerns than it is to fear for your safety when there's an agitated person making threats and waving a gun around. You're not being a doomer for thinking "what if they use that gun?"

Sho_Nuff82 · Jul 31, 2020

hipsterpants said:
just lurk here but I don't really see that it would be that difficult to get out the message to be extra careful with mail-in voting this year. not only are the USPS problems being plastered everywhere (if they were actually smart they'd start mucking things up right close to the election) but people are paying way more attention to the process since so many would be mail-voting for the first time.

like I'm sure once October hits Dems will be all in on telling people what to do to ensure their vote gets counted.

also if you're really concerned about it, be productive and inform as many people as possible to take the precautions to make sure their vote isn't screwed with. more worthwhile than stressing yourself out and getting in arguments on an internet forum.

I've already amplified the WaPo story on my social media and explicitly warned my friends in battleground states to be prepared to vote in person.

SwordsmanofS · Jul 31, 2020

Remember that Twitter hack? It was a teenager.

Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts

A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the “mastermind” behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused limited access to the site and high-profile accounts, accord…

www.wfla.com

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the "mastermind" behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused limited access to the site and high-profile accounts, according to jail records and the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office.

Geg · Jul 31, 2020

Greg NYC3 said:
Trump can't declare himself the winner and no one would take him seriously if he tried. The states will individually announce who won their races and we'll all do the math. The most he can do is refuse to concede.

I do expect that this year it will take much longer for some states to finalize their vote counts but my hope is that the margins won't be close enough that the late mail ballots will matter. Trump is doing a pretty good job right now of making sure that this won't be a horse with his desperately insane campaign messaging.

Yeah when I say "declare" I didn't mean in any kind of official way I just mean like literally go up on stage and say "I did it I win!" even if most swing states haven't been called yet. I could totally see him pulling something like that even though it would be obvious bullshit and would immediately be called out from everyone on all sides

ExtremelyBitter · Jul 31, 2020

I think my issue with the current discussion around USPS is that people keep framing it as they're fucking with the mail with the express intent of stealing the election, when honestly the election fuckery here seems more happy coincidence than anything. Republicans have wanted to destroy the USPS for ages anyway, and the new Postmaster General came about because the prior one announced in late 2019 that they'd be retiring early this year--prior to COVID and prior to mail-in voting becoming such a focal point. In a non-COVID alt timeline, I still think we see this same bullshit happening with USPS although it might have happened a little earlier in the year if we didn't have the pandemic distracting us.

Framing it as intentionally taking these actions as a part of trying to steal the election instead of just 'Hey the GOP is finally getting to really murder the USPS, and this is maybe the worst year for this to happen in, and Republicans are loving the bonus feature of voter suppression." just shifts the discussion in an unfortunate way and I think amps up people's reactions.

MrNelson · Jul 31, 2020

SwordsmanofS said:
Remember that Twitter hack? It was a teenager.

Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts

A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the “mastermind” behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused limited access to the site and high-profile accounts, accord…

www.wfla.com

It was Florida Man all along!

Darkstar0155 · Jul 31, 2020

Geg said:
I do think it's likely that Trump will try to declare himself the winner prematurely if he has a slight edge on election night due to millions of votes still not being counted, but I don't see most of the GOP going along with that aside from his most loyal goons

There is a Leverage episode about how declaring yourself the winner even if it's not true can cause the public to think you wont etc etc lol. Sorta funny.

QuigleyMcShine · Jul 31, 2020

Beardlini said:
obviously this is bad for a lot of reasons but a lot of posters have said that dems and republicans vote by mail roughly the same and sometimes R's even have the edge. what am i missing?

Theoretically if you're closing post offices to slow mail delivery you could focus on closing them in more predominantly blue areas.

Deleted member 78 · Jul 31, 2020

Is off-site sleuthing allowed? I've got some things I want to post

US PoliEra 2020 |OT6| I will not be closing this thread when the second wave hits.

10 Years in the Making

Roll Tide, Y'all!

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt

Fallen Guardian

One Winged Slayer

Community Resettler