Too Late To Start Thinking About 2018?

[noxiousdog]

Election officials in a majority black county in Georgia decide to close 7 of the county's 9 polling places because...they're not ADA accessible.


Conservatives are terrified of non-white people actually voting.

Fixed!

Some are anyway, but enjoy your broad brush.

[GreenGoo]

Sure, but in this case I read conservatives as conservative politicians, and evidence seems to support that generalization.

[LordMortis]

Election officials in a majority black county in Georgia decide to close 7 of the county's 9 polling places because...they're not ADA accessible.


Conservatives are terrified of non-white people actually voting.

Fixed!

Some are anyway, but enjoy your broad brush.

Leaving conservatives out of this the GOP aka elected and most influential non elected members of the Republican party in Michigan actively work to circumvent challenges to their authority by manipulating the voting process where ever they think they can. When they lose they go straight to the courts no matter how horrible their claims.

Who is Eligible for an Absent Voter Ballot

A registered voter may obtain an absent voter ballot if they are:

age 60 years old or older
unable to vote without assistance at the polls
expecting to be out of town on election day
in jail awaiting arraignment or trial
unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons
appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence.

GOP.

hanges in polling locations primarily in blue districts? GOP Challenging taking districts drawing away from the stake legislature in one of the worst gerrymandered states in the union? GOP. Using the AG to follow the letter of the law as related to only non GOP candidates? GOP.

None of it technically voter suppression but....

To date, I still don't get why election Tuesday isn't a holiday or at the very least why absentee voting isn't universally accepted (in Michigan)

[Carpet_pissr]

Completely agree that it should be a holiday. I think probably when the day was established as a weekday, the expectation was that employers would allow employees to do their thing with no hassle, penalty or repercussions. Just a guess.

[The Meal]

Completely agree that it should be a holiday. I think probably when the day was established as a weekday, the expectation was that employers would allow employees to do their thing with no hassle, penalty or repercussions. Just a guess.

It was something to do with which day the Farmers Market was typically held.
NPR

[Defiant]

To date, I still don't get why election Tuesday isn't a holiday or at the very least why absentee voting isn't universally accepted (in Michigan)

This. I mean, Tuesday being a holiday wouldn't solve the issue, but early voting and absentee voting should be available for everyone, everywhere.

[Max Peck]

To date, I still don't get why election Tuesday isn't a holiday or at the very least why absentee voting isn't universally accepted (in Michigan)

This. I mean, Tuesday being a holiday wouldn't solve the issue, but early voting and absentee voting should be available for everyone, everywhere.

In socialist Canada, voters are entitled to 3 consecutive hours for voting on federal election days (I don't recall offhand whether that is the case for provincial or municipal elections).

By law, eligible electors must have three consecutive hours to cast their vote on election day. If your hours of work do not allow for three consecutive hours to vote, your employer must give you time off.

For example, if you live in a riding where voting hours are 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and you usually work from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., your hours of work will not allow three consecutive hours for voting. To give you three consecutive hours to vote, your employer could allow you to arrive late (at 12:30 p.m.), let you leave early (at 6:30 p.m.), or give you three hours off at some point during the work day.

Your employer has the right to decide when the time off will be given.

This rule may not apply if you work in the transportation industry.

It is also ridiculously easy to register to vote here. I just need to tick off one box on my income tax return in order to register for any federal/provincial/local elections for the upcoming year.

[LordMortis]

It is also ridiculously easy to register to vote here. I just need to tick off one box on my income tax return in order to register for any federal/provincial/local elections for the upcoming year.

We used to have to get in line at the SOS, and the cutoff was usually around the time I used to have to wait in line to put new tags on my car. Thank gawd both of those things changed. That used be a four hour waste every year.

Now you have about eight options, one of which is hop online, fill out form (mail in form? Why? Sigh) Vote in person with picture ID the first time you vote.

I don't think that's too much to ask of a first time voter. After that, that's what makes no sense to me.

[LawBeefaroni]

Missouri Republican who said ‘Hitler was right’ wins state House primary

That's good for the Democratic candidate I'm guessing? Or is Missouri that far gone?

“Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it"

[Defiant]

Missouri Republican who said ‘Hitler was right’ wins state House primary

That's good for the Democratic candidate I'm guessing? Or is Missouri that far gone?

“Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it"

I *think* this district is safely Democratic, though honestly, there are too many vocally Nazi supporting Republican candidates for me to keep track of.

[Defiant]

In socialist Canada, voters are entitled to 3 consecutive hours for voting on federal election days (I don't recall offhand whether that is the case for provincial or municipal elections).

That would definitely help, but busy/competitive districts (and those where polling sites have been closed) could still pose a problem, which is why I prefer early/absentee voting (not that it's perfect since some people may want to wait for the final day to decide, but something like 80% of voters have decided before then).

[GreenGoo]

That would definitely help, but busy/competitive districts (and those where polling sites have been closed) could still pose a problem, which is why I prefer early/absentee voting (not that it's perfect since some people may want to wait for the final day to decide, but something like 80% of voters have decided before then).

It's not a pre-defined, everyone must go during these 3 hours 3 hours. It's 3 hours in a row as agreed to by your employer, not, like, everyone everywhere gets 12pm-3pm off to go vote.

Are you saying that 3 hours is not enough to vote in some elections in the US?

[Defiant]

Are you saying that 3 hours is not enough to vote in some elections in the US?

Yes, and that isn't including travel time. Now, to be fair, it's pretty rare to be six hours long (or even three hours long), but it does happen.

[GreenGoo]

That's kind of a problem. I'm sure the GOP are on it though, they are big on fixing voting issues.

[Max Peck]

That's kind of a problem. I'm sure the GOP are on it though, they are big on fixing voting issues.

Spoiler: They're solving a different problem. This is the solution, not the problem.

A huge avantage for Canadians when it comes to trusting the integrity of our elections is that our electoral system is pretty much designed from top-to-bottom to make it easy for everyone to vote if they wish to do so. Even when elements of Harper's Conservatives wanted to mess with the system, they had to resort to out-of-band hijinks (I'm looking at you, Robocall scandal) rather than being able to mess with things like voter registration or access to polling stations.

[Holman]

link

It's astonishing that this kind of candidate exists and that Texas will still re-elect Ted Cruz.

[Z-Corn]

I really like Beto. He's a punk that infiltrated.

[noxiousdog]

Don't you know that Beto was arrested 30 years ago and is a cross dresser?!!?!!?

[coopasonic]

It's astonishing that this kind of candidate exists and that Texas will still re-elect Ted Cruz.

I know a LOT of Texans that are excited about Beto and I see more Beto bumper stickers and yard signs than I'd have expected. I don't know if it will amount to anything though as my neighborhood is not exactly typical Texas. I dare to have a smidgen of hope.

[Captain Caveman]

It's astonishing that this kind of candidate exists and that Texas will still re-elect Ted Cruz.

I know a LOT of Texans that are excited about Beto and I see more Beto bumper stickers and yard signs than I'd have expected. I don't know if it will amount to anything though as my neighborhood is not exactly typical Texas. I dare to have a smidgen of hope.

I'm a bit skeptical too, but one huge benefit his campaign will have-- even if he loses-- is to energize the vote enough to make a difference in a number of swing districts for House seats. I'm in one of those districts. My rep is Pete Sessions, who is a pretty high ranking House GOP member, but our district is rapidly changing and Hillary actually won it in 2016. We also have a pretty strong Democratic challenger, so the race will be close. What could make a big difference is the huge wave of Beto excitment around here that might drive turnout to the polls. Easily 10 Beto signs for every Cruz sign, but of course this can be misleading. It's obviously a lot cooler to be publicly for Beto than Cruz.

It's almost a shame Beto has to be competing in Texas where he faces such a difficult climb. He's got the magic sauce that excites Democratic voters and certainly would be a huge national figure for the Democrats if he could get to the Senate. All the more so if he knocked off Cruz in Texas to do it. I give him about a 25% shot to do it.

[Combustible Lemur]

Don't you know that Beto was arrested 30 years ago and is a cross dresser?!!?!!?

That's pimp.

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[Combustible Lemur]

It's astonishing that this kind of candidate exists and that Texas will still re-elect Ted Cruz.

I know a LOT of Texans that are excited about Beto and I see more Beto bumper stickers and yard signs than I'd have expected. I don't know if it will amount to anything though as my neighborhood is not exactly typical Texas. I dare to have a smidgen of hope.

Fwiw, the first yard sign I've seen this season is a Beto.

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[Fireball]

To date, I still don't get why election Tuesday isn't a holiday or at the very least why absentee voting isn't universally accepted (in Michigan)

This. I mean, Tuesday being a holiday wouldn't solve the issue, but early voting and absentee voting should be available for everyone, everywhere.

Every state should have automatic voter registration, and use secure mail voting like Oregon does. And, as a plus, why not throw IRV in as well?

[Skinypupy]

Election officials in a majority black county in Georgia decide to close 7 of the county's 9 polling places because...they're not ADA accessible.

Election officials in a rural southwest Georgia county are defending a plan to suddenly close seven of the county’s nine polling places against allegations of racial discrimination, saying the ones it wants to close are not sufficiently accessible to people with disabilities.

Randolph County, the site of the proposed changes, is more than 60 percent black, with a little over 30 percent of residents in poverty ― more than double the national level. The Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to the election board earlier this week warning of a lawsuit because the proposed closures discriminated against black voters. Those voters, the group said, were less likely to own a car and would be required to walk over three hours to one of the two remaining polling locations because there is no public transportation to get them there. The ACLU also noted the voter makeup of one of the polling places officials wanted to close was 96.7 percent black.

Its' just shocking that they happened to notice this just a couple months before a critical election. What are the odds of that?

Of course, they're going to decide to close them entirely, and not just, you know, do what they can to make them accessible.

Conservatives are terrified of people actually voting.

A not-at-all-surprising follow up to this fuckery. Officials in Randolph County can't provide any documentation or reports that there are ADA compliance issues at any of the polling places they have closed

Officials in a majority-black Georgia county accused of trying to close almost all polling places to make it harder for black people to vote claimed last week that the locations couldn’t be used because of accessibility problems for people with disabilities.

But Randolph County doesn’t have a single recent report, analysis or document supporting the idea that it needs to close seven of its nine polling places due to accessibility issues, a lawyer for the county told HuffPost on Tuesday in response to a public records request.

HuffPost requested records from the county dating back to March 1, 2018. The county hired Michael Malone, an outside elections consultant now pushing for the closures, on April 2. But according to the county, it has no written record of evidence to back his recommendations.

“There is no document, report or analysis studying the handicap accessibility of polling places in Randolph County and the cost of fixing them within the time frame specified in your open records request,” Hayden Hooks, an attorney with the firm Perry & Walters, which represents Randolph County, wrote in an email. The county has no record of such a document in the past year, Hooks added.

Unreal.

[LordMortis]

Now that you drop a name, you give google a reason for being

https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/na ... uLoF0kY1O/

"We strongly urged local officials to abandon this effort and focus on preparing for a secure, accessible, and fair election for voters this November," Kemp said.

In an email to supporters, Abrams wrote that a "proposal to eliminate nearly every polling location in a Black Belt county belongs in a history textbook, not the current events section."

County officials asked Kemp's office for guidance after the former county election supervisor abruptly quit earlier this year, Coleman said. The elections director, Chris Harvey, suggested several possible consultants, said secretary of state spokeswoman Candice Broce. Coleman told the AP that Harvey only recommended one, Mike Malone.

Reached by the AP on Tuesday, Malone's only comment was, "I don't have anything to do with the board's decision." He didn't elaborate and said his attorney told him not to comment.

So Malone was the choice of the SOS running for governor under the GOP? Say it isn't true?

[Captain Caveman]

It's astonishing that this kind of candidate exists and that Texas will still re-elect Ted Cruz.

I know a LOT of Texans that are excited about Beto and I see more Beto bumper stickers and yard signs than I'd have expected. I don't know if it will amount to anything though as my neighborhood is not exactly typical Texas. I dare to have a smidgen of hope.

He's now within four points...

[GreenGoo]

His father did shoot Kennedy, although in this political atmosphere, I would think that would be a pro and not a con.

Cruz is such a sniveling weasel, and that has nothing to do with his politics.

[Holman]

Cruz will probably win, but a conservative standard-bearer incumbent FIGHTING FOR HIS POLITICAL LIFE against a liberal newcomer IN GODDAMN TEXAS tells us a lot about how much Trump has exposed the right wing's toxicity and corruption.

It's a shame Beto doesn't live in California or even Virginia. He has the makings of an Obama or an RFK.

[Max Peck]

Cruz is such a sniveling weasel, and that has nothing to do with his politics.

Well, he is a Canadian, after all.

[noxiousdog]

Cruz will probably win, but a conservative standard-bearer incumbent FIGHTING FOR HIS POLITICAL LIFE against a liberal newcomer IN GODDAMN TEXAS tells us a lot about how much Trump has exposed the right wing's toxicity and corruption.

It's a shame Beto doesn't live in California or even Virginia. He has the makings of an Obama or an RFK.

Texas is not as Republican as you think. Until the mid nineties we had one Democrat and one Republican Senator. We nearly always had a Democratic Governor. Yes, we are prone to religious conservatism and pro gun-rights. But we don't fear immigration, and look down on those that do. 30% of Texans speak Spanish as a primary language. I guarantee the immigration issue is hurting Cruz.

[LordMortis]

Texas is not as Republican as you think. Until the mid nineties we had one Democrat and one Republican Senator. We nearly always had a Democratic Governor. Yes, we are prone to religious conservatism and pro gun-rights. But we don't fear immigration, and look down on those that do. 30% of Texans speak Spanish as a primary language. I guarantee the immigration issue is hurting Cruz.

I would add that in Texas it's not just a rural vs urban and suburban divide like it is in most states. From San Antonio to the border (which is the only Texas I am familiar with) there a symbiosis with Coahuila that would suffer greatly with the destruction of NAFTA or even the propensity to abuse existing Immigration laws and ICE authorities over border crossings. Whereas rural Michigan, don't give two shits about how much trade with Ontario benefits our state. (with the exception of importing garbage and hazmat for private profit, wherein NAFTA is completely fucked... up...)

[Captain Caveman]

He seems scared.

He's also so damn cynical and disingenuous. He knows damn well that NFL players aren't protesting the anthem.

The contrast between how the two candidates decide to discuss the issue is pretty damn revealing.

[Combustible Lemur]

He seems scared.

He's also so damn cynical and disingenuous. He knows damn well that NFL players aren't protesting the anthem.

The contrast between how the two candidates decide to discuss the issue is pretty damn revealing.

Also that is a great comment thread.

"you won't even stand for your wife, how can I beleive you'll stand for me."

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[Defiant]

[LordMortis]

http://www.wkar.org/post/republicans-ca ... -mixed-bag

And this is example of why they all need to go...

The theme was “Results Not Resistance.”

"This is a solid, solid, solid ticket," said Schuette, who called Democrats' "far-left" slate "the most extreme ... assembled in Michigan in my memory."

Some intraparty conflict within the GOP was also evident during the nomination of Michigan Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Clement, who was booed because she recently joined 4-3 rulings to allow an anti-partisan gerrymandering initiative on the November ballot and to let public schools ban visitors from carrying guns. Clement and Justice Kurtis Wilder, who dissented from the redistricting decision, are Snyder appointees running to stay on the court, which Republicans control 5-2.

Member of the party booed for allowing the voters to decide if gerrymandering needs dealt with. So on the one hand you want to say, "see it's not all bad" on the other you see them eating their own when someone steps away and says, this ain't right.

So yeah, resist.

[Defiant]

Florida candidate apologizes for lying about degree, passing off fake diploma

Proving that lying about their background isn't limited to candidates on the right, we have a leftwing candidate who claimed to be an immigrant and that her father was Jewish. But it looks like neither is true:

Tablet sent over a short list of questions about Salazar’s history with Jewish and Israel-related issues at 1 p.m. today, including one about where Salazar, who has claimed to be an immigrant from Colombia, was born. An hour later, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency published a story about Salazar in which she acknowledged she was in fact born in Miami.

When reached by phone, Alex Salazar, the candidate’s older brother and the operator of a number of Florida mango farms, said that one of their father’s brothers was a Jesuit priest. (He also seemed to know very little about her campaign and seemed surprised when I told him she stood a good chance of winning.) “There was nobody in our immediate family who was Jewish … my father was not Jewish, we were not raised Jewish,” he said.

[GreenGoo]

Lying about a degree? Sure, a degree helps in lots of ways. Lying about being a migrant or Jewish? Wtf is the anticipated benefit of that?

[Defiant]

NC congressional districts need to be redrawn, maybe before November election, court rules

[El Guapo]

NC congressional districts need to be redrawn, maybe before November election, court rules

It's good news, but I would be surprised if the SCOTUS doesn't stay this until after the 2018 elections.

[Blackhawk]

Unless they lock at 4-4, in which case NC's decision stands.