2020 Presidential Election

[elengil]

Yep, there we go - it's started https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/ ... 55498.html

I hope people who are voting early/dropping them in the mail or boxes are checking to see if their ballots have been received. This is just insane. I hope they catch whomever did that.

This was the exact thought that went through my head when I read they went to one drop box per county in Texas - consolidated targets.

[Cerin]

elengil, that statement (consolidated targets) makes no sense to me. Just who would have an interest in destroying ballots without knowing which candidate they favored?

edit

The only reason I can think of to destroy ballot boxes would be to get people who are ready to blame every nefarious action on Trump and his supporters, stirred up, thus fomenting an ever more frenzied hatred and paranoia, so that if he should win, no one will accept it and the nation will be primed to support violent insurrection by the left, which is no doubt (imo) already being planned.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Someone who thinks that more people from the opposing party is likely to drop ballots in an official ballot box in front of a library in strongly Hispanic area. It really isn't rocket science.

[Cerin]

Voronwë, I was responding specifically to elengil's proposal, that the reason for Texas limiting the number of boxes to one per county was to set up 'consolidated targets.' In that case, it would be a larger number of ballots being destroyed from a variety of areas and constituencies; so once again I ask, just who would have an interest in destroying ballots without knowing which candidate they favored?

[elengil]

Voronwë, I was responding specifically to elengil's proposal, that the reason for Texas limiting the number of boxes to one per county was to set up 'consolidated targets.'

I did not say that was their reason, I said that was my first reaction.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Sorry Cerin. I incorrectly thought you and she were referring to the fire in the drop box. Do you also doubt that was done suppress specific votes?

The Texas situation is not rocket science either. The most impacted area is Harris County which is the most Democratic area.

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[Voronwë the Faithful]

I just saw your edit, and all I can say is ... nothing.

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[Voronwë the Faithful]

First movement back towards Trump in the 538 forecast since October 2. Currently 87-13. Will this prove to be a sign of significant trend, or a blip on the radar? It makes Thursday debate that much more important.

[RoseMorninStar]

I am concerned with ballots being rejected (analysis by NPR) for all sorts of reasons. I've voted absentee before and not had a problem, but one of the last times I voted in person I had to sign using one of those 'verisign' tablets with a stylus and the resulting 'signature' was so bad it looked nothing like my signature. How can they use such things to 'compare signatures', rejecting a hand-written signature compared to the in-person gibberish verisign signature I don't know. Hanging chads, hold our beer.

[River]

I am concerned with ballots being rejected (analysis by NPR) for all sorts of reasons. I've voted absentee before and not had a problem, but one of the last times I voted in person I had to sign using one of those 'verisign' tablets with a stylus and the resulting 'signature' was so bad it looked nothing like my signature. How can they use such things to 'compare signatures', rejecting a hand-written signature compared to the in-person gibberish verisign signature I don't know. Hanging chads, hold our beer.

So I'm working as an election judge this year because between work deadlines and #*%(@#*% COVID I couldn't take a vacation. Our PTO is use it or lose it. I'll still have plenty to burn by the time this is all over and my boss was fine with oddly spaced days off over a three week span so I let them funnel me into signature verification (my profession has left me well-trained in coping with repetitive tasks, computers, and pattern recognition). I've come to hate those electronic pads with the fury of a thousand suns. They suck. Even people who manage to more or less sign their names the same as they would with ink are left with signatures that looks like they were done with a pixelated magic marker. When we spot something that doesn't match up with the mess people tend to make on the electronic pads, or spot anything else that doesn match the most recently record of a signature, we escalate to a secon level of review. This is a two-person, bipartisan team that digs into the voter database and looks for a previous signature to match to. First-timers who had a bad time with the pad are hosed. They end up in the cure process. But long-time voters who have ink signatures scanned in somewhere will get matched, so long as your signature hasn't morphed too much. Signatures do change. It's a fact of life. The guy from the Sheriff's Department who deals with forgery cases showed us examples. But you'll see it in the records.

Also, people, it you've got questions about how your county is handling things, call the clerk's office. Running the election is part of their job. Or get involved yourself as a judge or observer. Though if you're observing, please, for the love of God, don't get all up over the shoulders of the signature verification judges. Not only is it rude and nasty in the time of COVID, it's effing distracting. Buzz around like a fly if you need to, but stay back.

ETA: The two person teams are pulled from the same pool of people who do the initial reviews, though they aren't necessarily reviewing escalated signatures from batches they previously reviewed. That said, I have re-reviewed some ballots I escalated. Either I needed a sanity check or, in most of the cases, I or someone else needed to access the database to find a match. Which is why I hate to electronic pads. It really slows us down when we have to go up to another tier of review because the electronic signatures are such garbage. And if we can't match it, there's paperwork, which slows us down more. I wish that either the tech was better or they just took pictures of names signed with ink.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thank you for doing that, River!

[RoseMorninStar]

Good for you River!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yep, there we go - it's started

And it accelerates.

Election officials in at least two states contact law enforcement after threatening emails sent to voters

Elections officials in Florida and Alaska contacted law enforcement Tuesday after registered voters reported receiving threatening emails that said, "Vote for Trump or else!"

The emails came from an address that appeared to be affiliated with a far-right group, though an analyst who reviewed one email obtained by CNN said it had been sent using foreign internet infrastructure.
The identity of the person or group behind the messages was unknown, said TJ Pyche, a spokesperson for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections in Florida.
Pyche said his office "got flooded with phone calls and emails" from dozens of voters about the messages Tuesday and immediately reached out to local, state and federal law enforcement, including the FBI.

[Inanna]

Thanks, River!

[River]

Aww...

Election judges are hired at the local level, guys. All of them. From the people at the polls to the people sorting and counting ballots. They're your neighbors. They could be you. Consider it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

But they are you. So, again, thank you.

Back to 88-12. But Georgia and Ohio have both turned light pink. I think the race will tighten some in the next week and half. Unless Trump completely implodes tomorrow night.

[River]

Georgia and Ohio are pretty much statistically tied, so I expect there's going to be a lot of flopping around.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yup.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Speaking of Georgia, there is a reasonably good chance that neither Senate race will be decided until January. The special election to replace the retired Johnny Isakson is definitely going to a runoff between Raphael Warnock and either Kelly Loeffler or Doug Collins (who are fighting to see who is more conservative and more like Trump). And the other race between David Perdue and John Ossoff could go to a run-off as well if it is split roughly evenly, and the Libertarian candidate siphons off enough votes. So there is a very good chance we won't know who controls the Senate.

[RoseMorninStar]

Georgia seems kinda whack-a-doodle. They have Marjorie Greene running for Congress. (YIKES) She's endorsed Loeffler.