I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

HL

I'm not sure if you posted this other Atlantic story:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/ohios-provisional-ballot-order-the-biggest-legal-story-of-the-weekend/264498/

I've seen the math and if you look state by state,  it's a pretty good bet to think this election will come down to Ohio.  If it comes down to counting these provisional ballots, by this Secretary of State Husted of Ohio (a Republican who has been directly involved with limiting voting hours or trying to get rid of early voting all together), I fear for a fair counting in this state.  We would not have results, either, for weeks again.

Edited to add this info on the subject too:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/in-ohio-vote-a-form-checking-nightmare

HL - I am not optimistic about the investigating part either. I really think some republican election officials should be charged with obstruction. Waiting 7 hours to vote is obstruction, as is cutting the early voting days.

But I do think that from a political standpoint, it will become evident that you can't lie your way through a presidential campaign and still win.

I really wish the GOP would just run Bachman or Rand Paul fort president. They may as well get it out of their system. Run extremists, let tham tell the country the truth about what they want, THEN we will see how America votes. A lot of extremists think they are the silent majority - conservatives leaders like Rush Limbaugh have convinced them of it. This would prove them wrong.

I wonder if some of these states create long ballots on purpose. I think it's Florida (or counties in S Fla.) which have ballots as long as 12 pages. That's absurd. They should at least hand out voter guides to people while they wait in line.

So what are everyone's voting plans? I plan to go tomorrow after work. Lucky me, I expect very little wait. My precinct is navy blue but very well heeled, so we don't get suppressed.

Libby ... another thanks for the Smerconish link.  I'd never heard of him before but he said exactly what needed to be said.  Sharing that is the only overtly political post I've made on my FB wall ... but it needs to be said. 

Indianapolis also had long lines for early voting.  And again we have a Republican governor who got rid of the satellite early voting locations that were so very popular and forced everybody back to one downtown location.  People were willing to wait and were doing so in an orderly fashion ... good for them!

It needs to be pointed out who the suppression of early voting is aimed at hurting.  The people who want and need to vote early are the hourly wage employed people who will lose wages they cannot afford to lose if they are in long lines voting on a Tuesday.  It pains me to think that some people must actually like giving a good kick in the gut to people who already are working hard and trying to do the right thing and exercise their civic responsibilities.  Can I say 'scumbags' here?

It's not just the lines....that is one hurdle for the voters WR, but I truely believe there are going to be huge "vote counting" issues going on behind the scenes.  One of those fights is in the Ohio courts today.

Funny how this topic of long lines never seems to come up with the mirror people.  In fact, "fair" is a dirty word over there and then they have the nerve to mention communist in reference to those of us who want fairness (not sure if they're thinking of cooperative farms or the voting booth?). I guess voting doesn't have to be fair in their book, by extension and exhibit.  Don't have the type of job that would allow you to vote on a Tuesday because you just don't have right stuff - I guess that's your fault, so you dont get to vote.   Ironic, isn't it?

Their last best hope in Ohio is to throw out provisional ballots and/or keeping people from voting (they're working on that now).  The exit polls will show too wide a gap between R and O, as do current polls, to pull off out and out stealing.  Gotta watch that Hamilton county where Tagg Romney owns the voting machines, though. Exit polling will be extremely important there, though it's one of those things that is so difficult to challenge.

Well said HL and with anyone's religion, no matter what it is, if this is the highest portrayal of it in Mr. Romney, then God help us all. 

Jackie

I continue to be astonished that the federal election in the US does not have federally controlled elections procedures which would include the type of ballot and/or voting machine, hours of voting, systems for identifying eligible voters, monitoring rules, polling protocol, etc etc. To allow the states to control the federal election is a most peculiar system, particularly when it is clear that partisan state politicians have the capacity to effect changes favouring their party. It boggles the mind that a so called democratic country cannot produce an election system that is unambiguous, consistent and (dare I say it?!)transparently fair.

State elections and the various referendum questions could be a separate entity run by states in a manner that does not create the outrageous waiting lines with the potential for voter intimidation.  Again, state systems should be required to be non partisan and at least consistent within the state.

As a Canadian, I just don't understand the long lines to vote.  I have never waited longer than 3-5 minutes to vote.  We have many polling stations in each area.  They try to put stations in or near retirement homes to make sure the elderly are included.  Hours for voting are the same throughout the country.  One area cannot shorten the available voting time.  Or change the rules.

It all seems very odd and easy to manipulate without federal rules that apply to the entire country.

Comparing the voting procedures in the US to these countries is chilling...to say the least.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/263141-international-monitors-at-polling-places-draw-criticism-from-voter-fraud-group

It is very chilling, PiP. One of the governing principles of the U.S. is local control over as much as possible (the much-ballyhooed "states' rights"). That includes things as diverse as education (no national standards for us, by gum), building codes, and election administration. The fact that a fundamental right such as voting is given to the states to administer does, indeed, render it vulnerable to partisan chicanery. We have a long, sad history of that, as a matter of fact. Poll taxes, literacy tests and outright murder were tools used to suppress the black vote after the Civil War. While the Voting Rights Act put some Federal protections into place, partisan hacks (usually regressives) are finding more and more ways to skirt the law, suppress the vote and do it without being prosecuted. However, as they say in economics, nothing fails like success - they have gotten away with it so often that they seem to be getting sloppy and greedy with voter suppression. It takes many forms, including closing polling places because of "budget issues" and forcing people to travel longer distances and wait in longer lines to vote, restricting or eliminating hours of and places for early voting, and -- as you have seen exponentially this election season -- imposing other impediments to voting such as restrictive, difficult-to-meet identification requirements, confusing ballots, and unreasonable requirements for absentee or early voting (like Husted now mandating that in-person absentee voters vouch for their own ID). These are all simply thinly-veiled (or brazen) attempts to keep minorities, the poor, the elderly and other traditionally Democratic voters from exercising their rights. You can be sure that there are many more voting machines than needed in Republican precincts, and many fewer in Democratic precincts. And they can get away with it because they are in charge. The social compact has been broken, and the demonization of the nation's first black president has given new impetus to those who would deny others the right to vote... And this demonization has given "permission" to people who previously would have objected to this voter suppression. There needs to be a new Voting Rights Act and yes, you are right -- there must be Federal standards for ballots, vote tabulation, numbers and types of voting machines, numbers of polling places by population, forms of ID required, hours of voting, etc. Otherwise, people will continue to be victimized, disenfranchised and marginalized in a society that is increasingly hostile to them.



L

Washington State is entirely mail in ballots. I sent mine in last week. There are issues with this process-if the race is close, as our governor's race is shaping up to be-all the votes will not be counted by election night. People have until 7(I think) to get their ballots in to ballot box locations, then those votes are transported to the counting facility. 

Fortunately, we're a blue state and there won't be any issue with our electoral votes.

Mary

PiP, it can be confusing. When you move, you have to learn the laws of your new state -- not only with regard to the minutae of voting (the big things are the same - age 18, U.S. citizen, but the small things like felony status are different state to state), but with voting hours, early voting or not ... Even traffic laws. Some states don't allow right turn on red, some do. Speed limits are different state-to-state. Even highway exit numbers on interstate highways are different. Some states number them sequentially, some states number them according to the number of miles away from the border. It is indeed a mishmash. It works ok most of the time, but we are seeing the dramatic consquences when civility breaks down and there is no overriding Federal law governing the election process. If there were, it would be overriding, because Federal law always trumps state law. Federal law is the minimum standard that must be followed, in the cases where there is a governing Federal statute.



L

1. Occupy Sandy now has a registry on Amazon.com.

For those who want to know exactly what your money was spent on (and that none of it was used for executive salaries or bonuses).

http://www.amazon.com/registry/wedding/32TAA123PJR42

Reposted from: http://interoccupy.net/...

2. You can ship items directly to Occupy Sandy’s main distribution hub, (for those who prefer not to use Amazon, for whatever reason.)  They are cooking meals there, serving meals there  AND using volunteers to personally deliver hot meals and supplies to those in need who can’t come out to pick up things for themselves.

St Jacobi Lutheran Church
5406 4th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY, 11220

Occupy Sandy Contact No. at St. Jacobi
(347) 470-4192

If you choose option No. 2 let them (and others) know what you are sending by posting to the social media feed at http://interoccupy.net/...

RR ... what a good idea to use Amazon that way!