US Politics-2022

[PTree15]

Here in california, my mail in ballot was counted before the end of Election Day. And I had mailed it just the day before.

I used to go to a polling place and vote. For the last couple of years we voted on what looked like an iPad. And this is an assumption but I'm gueesing that the ballot Is counted a few milliseconds after the voter pushes the button that turns it in.

however some areas in California take longer. I think the the issue is with when they get around to counting the mail in ballots. I think those districts delay on purpose - but I'm just guessing.

Some states have rules about when they can start processing/counting mail-in ballots, like having to wait until Election Day. I think in my state, they leave it up to local registrars, which can be problematic if different towns have different rules.

 

[peacefulveglady]

I hated this years election on my birthday. I went out to dinner and all the people were talking about was the election and abortion rights. Then this guy was saying that the earth is getting pushed to inside itself. Crazy topics at my Birthday dinner. I have personal reactions to our state but still i felt something off this year. I am taking a year and half off from political stuff. I want to focus on peace.

 

[Second Summer]

I'm reading that the senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly, has been re-elected. Which means the Senate result at the moment is 47 Dems + 2 Independents vs 49 Republicans. Georgia is going to run-off election in December, whereas Nevada is still counting.

With 94% reporting there is currently less than a 900 votes difference in Nevada, and I think postal votes are counted last, and they tend to favour Democrats, but it might not be enough:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/live_results/2022/state/nv/senate/

 

[Lou]

Regardless of what happens next, we can pretty much kiss goodbye to any kind of meaningful positive legislation for the next two years.
Gun Control, tax reform, Green New Deal, Voting rights, Reproductive rights.

Trying to stay positive tho. The Republicans are going to want to see some progress in their agenda so maybe Biden can pull out some bipartisan support for something.

Silver lining prediction. the American people get so fed up with a Do-Nothing congress, they elect more Democrats next time around.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

To summarize the current situation on the senate:

---Nevada has been trending democrat for days because the remaining votes are likely to favour Democrat.
---Democrats are strongly favoured to win the senate at the moment. We can be around 95% sure now. Just check the betting markets.
---Media continues to do a very bad job on the senate by reporting things like "neck and neck" and "tight race". What they should be saying is that democrats will probably retain control of the senate but we don´t know that absolutely for certain.

5% chances do happen occassionally, of course. Just not very often.

The house is only 80% chance for Republicans, by the way. It is actually the closer and more interesting race at the moment...unless things have changed by the time you read this.

 

[Emma JC]

My honey and I were discussing how long this all takes, this morning, and he commented that the difference here in Canada is that we have Elections Canada not Elections "Insert Province Name Here". We also have a smaller population however we do have concentrated population in various areas. All voting is one in person and no machines are involved. Hand counted and reported. Early voting is allowed although most vote on election day - we usually know the results by that night or the next morning at the latest as the west coast does close later. I worked an election a few years ago and it wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was quick. We have lots and lots of places to vote. I live in a large complex of 7 large buildings and each building has its own voting station. Makes it easy and convenient.

we also have an 'election season' that is about 6 weeks long - in the USA it seems to always be 'election season'

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Just saw the Democrats have won the governership of Arizona. A lot of the election deniers lost. It looks like Trump's strategy to steal the Presidency in 2024-2025 has suffered a major blow with this election. He hasn't managed to get enough key people in enough positions. Support for election stealing within the Republican party itself also looks to be on the decline. Feeling a bit more optimistic about the 2024 - 2025 cycle.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

To elaborate a bit, BBC reports that:

"Almost every Republican candidate who was standing for a position that would have given them oversight of the 2024 elections and who were also "election deniers" - people who repeat the lie that the 2020 election was corrupt or stolen - have lost their races.
These include candidates who were running for secretary of state and governor positions in battleground states like Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Kari Lake, who was running for governor of Arizona, was the last one to fall as her election was called for her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs."

Kari Lake defeat: Did democracy win in US midterms?

Trump-backed election deniers who wanted to influence the rules of future votes were mostly defeated.

www.bbc.com

 

[PTree15]

To elaborate a bit, BBC reports that:

"...
These include candidates who were running for secretary of state and governor positions in battleground states like Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Kari Lake, who was running for governor of Arizona, was the last one to fall as her election was called for her Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs."

Kari Lake defeat: Did democracy win in US midterms?

Trump-backed election deniers who wanted to influence the rules of future votes were mostly defeated.

www.bbc.com

This was one of my big concerns, that with election deniers in that position, they'd find a way to overturn the will of the people in perfectly legitimate elections. I'm still worried about state legislatures under GOP control also finding a way to rewrite the laws to give them the power to overturn elections. I really hope this election-fraud nonsense starts to recede.

 

[Kathy Lauren]

All voting is one in person and no machines are involved. Hand counted and reported. Early voting is allowed although most vote on election day - we usually know the results by that night or the next morning at the latest as the west coast does close later. I worked an election a few years ago and it wasn't perfect, by any means, but it was quick.

I worked as a scrutineer for a provincial election a couple of years ago. It was very interesting to see how the vote counting worked. Every party has a right to have a scrutineer present for counting, and every scrutineer sees every ballot. There is no chance of fraud. All scrutineers sign off on the counts reported to the chief returning officer. In addition, scrutineers are expected to report their polls' counts to the party they represent independently of the returning officer, which protects the communication channel against fraud. It is a very good system, fast, efficient, and secure. The experience gave me confidence in the system.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

An interesting example of media bias today:

Trump has said this on his social media site:
“A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the constitution.”

The right wing media is barely reporting it. Perhaps they just want to pretend he never said this since it's not convenient for the right to have Trump say this. At the moment, I don't see the story in a quick look through the top stories on Fox News, Breitbart and New York Post, for example.

On the other hand, the left wing media (I checked CNN, Guardian, BBC) is reporting that Trump has called for an end to the constitution which is a debatable, subjective, disingenuous interpretation of his comments, and is clearly bad, biased journalism.

 

[silva]

An interesting example of media bias today:

Trump has said this on his social media site:
“A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the constitution.”

The right wing media is barely reporting it. Perhaps they just want to pretend he never said this since it's not convenient for the right to have Trump say this. At the moment, I don't see the story in a quick look through the top stories on Fox News, Breitbart and New York Post, for example.

On the other hand, the left wing media (I checked CNN, Guardian, BBC) is reporting that Trump has called for an end to the constitution which is a debatable, subjective, disingenuous interpretation of his comments, and is clearly bad, biased journalism.

This is the statement trump made on his social media Truth social network---
"A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great 'Founders' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!"

So, he didn't say "terminate" the constitution, but it is in the context of his quote. If something is not to his liking, no matter the facts, would allow the Constitution be dammmed. Trump's call to suspend Constitution not a 2024 deal-breaker, leading House Republican says
I caught Meet the Press when Ohio congressman David Joyce was asked if they would be a deal breaker in his run in 24. He tried to dodge the question, but ended by saying he would vote for the Repuclican nominee regardless, dismissing trumps words as not being credible

If the dems were to put someone with such crazy ideas on the ballot I would never think of saying that they would never happen, so I'll overlook their mindset! Look at all the extremsites have already done to this country people dismissed over party!

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Congrats to Raphael Warnock, who has finally won the senate seat Georgia after four elections, I believe he led in all of them if I recall correctly. The fourth one if I recall is the one that most counted (the one that will lead to the longer, fuller term), and it would have been such a shame for him to have lost the key one after leading in the first three. He seems like a good, sensible person as far as I can tell, so wishing him the best.

Another piece of good news is that I think the loser was another Trump supported candidate, a fair few of them are going down lately.

It looks like there was one flip in the senate, which was Fetterman in Pennsylvania, and the others stayed as they were, so moving from 50-50 to 51-49.

Only a shame that the Dems didn't have 51-49 a while back when they had the house, because Joe Manchin chopped out various bits of the Inflation Reduction Act, and made them add some stuff about an oil pipeline or something.

 

[Lou]

Warnock won with just 51% of the vote. It blows my mind that so many people in Georgia would vote for walker

 

[PTree15]

Warnock won with just 51% of the vote. It blows my mind that so many people in Georgia would vote for walker

Yes, if the Republicans had a better-quality candidate, I think Warnock might have lost. The GOP governor won big in the November election. I really think Walker's football pedigree overshadowed his character issues. His own kids talked about how he abandoned them, etc. But football is like a religion in some Southern states.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

We should definitely not think of Georgia as a blue state. Republicans perhaps (I'm guessing) just have to put up a few somewhat centrist, not mad candidates and could probably win more elections there in the next few years, ideally without Trump at the top of the ticket.

Hope I´m proved wrong and Georgia ends up lean blue in the next few years, but it still looks very swingy to me.

Disappointed to see Sinema announcing that she is becoming independent. She was elected as a Democrat, so if she wants to be an independent, she should announce that in 2024 when her terms ends I think. By all means vote against the party line and in the interests of your state, but this doesn´t feel right.

They do the same thing in the UK. You have people that run as an MP for one party and then change to another, it´s not right. Sometimes they even change to the party that is the main opponent of the one they were in.

 

[PTree15]

We should definitely not think of Georgia as a blue state. Republicans perhaps (I'm guessing) just have to put up a few somewhat centrist, not mad candidates and could probably win more elections there in the next few years, ideally without Trump at the top of the ticket.

Hope I´m proved wrong and Georgia ends up lean blue in the next few years, but it still looks very swingy to me.

Disappointed to see Sinema announcing that she is becoming independent. She was elected as a Democrat, so if she wants to be an independent, she should announce that in 2024 when her terms ends I think. By all means vote against the party line and in the interests of your state, but this doesn´t feel right.

They do the same thing in the UK. You have people that run as an MP for one party and then change to another, it´s not right. Sometimes they even change to the party that is the main opponent of the one they were in.

Sinema is just money- and power-hungry. This is unfortunate because now Manchin will again be able to wield his power. I was hoping the 51-49 margin would make him less relevant and less likely to hold the party hostage at will. Sinema actually started out as a more left-leaning Democrat, but she is not hiding the fact that she is for sale, plain and simple. She makes me ill. I really hope they find a good candidate to run against her in 2024. She needs to go.

 

[Sax]

I really hope they find a good candidate to run against her in 2024. She needs to go.

She knew she'd lose a democratic primary challenge. As an independent she can skip the primary and if the Dems come for her seat in the general they'll split the vote and the Republicans win.

Smart move on her part, Dems might be stuck with her.

 

[PTree15]

She knew she'd lose a democratic primary challenge. As an independent she can skip the primary and if the Dems come for her seat in the general they'll split the vote and the Republicans win.

Smart move on her part, Dems might be stuck with her.

<sigh> Depressing.

 

[Second Summer]

She knew she'd lose a democratic primary challenge. As an independent she can skip the primary and if the Dems come for her seat in the general they'll split the vote and the Republicans win.

Smart move on her part, Dems might be stuck with her.

Is it a requirement to get more than 50% of the vote to get elected, like in Georgia where they had to have a separate run-off election in order for the winner to get 50%?