Vote Counting

If Trump declares a victory on election night as I feel he is want to do then that could be the start of it. Then it's a matter of properly counting the millions upon millions of mail-in ballots and fighting off his efforts to stop the counting. Again his words have spoken of his not accepting election results of the mail-in ballots.
On BLM protests I don't think the world in general is glued to Fox News only to see stories on that issue as does his support base and then never seeing too much about what Trump is actually doing with his maskless rallies and election stealing statements. It's why everything I say here meets with such disbelief because you guys never see it.... you're too busy soaking up his conservative media adulation to notice.
On another note I'll bet the women of Lansing, Mi. are so glad their husbands can get back to work so that they can concentrate on their cooking and cleaning.....being the menial homebound women that they are. LOL

How Long Will Vote Counting Take? Estimates and Deadlines in All 50 States

 

As usual Terry he won't give you a direct answer to your question.

 

Trump doesn't get to decide if he won or not. He can say whatever he wants but each state is responsible for tabulation of the votes, and if they haven't completed their counts by late in the evening and remember in 2000 it was about 2 or 3 AM when Fla finally was finally called for Bush, but as we know that didn't last.

So again you are worrying about things that are beyond Trumps control. Any candidate on any level can contest the count and every year it happens, on local and state level. recounts are a way of life in elections. Trump can call for a recount just like Gore did in 2000. He's entitled to it. But I repeat there is not going to some Coup where Trump declares himself the winner and gets to remain President. He can say whatever he wants but the states and the courts will be the deciders not Trump.

Again, I ask you, will you accept the outcome of the election if Trump wins? Or are you going to claim he stole the election and isn't the legitimate President.

 

Here's a question for you Dave. Should a person who is not wearing a mask be denied the right to vote?

 

Yes unless his Supreme Court appointments stop the counting early and anoint Trump the winner.
Yes people should wear masks or not allowed to infect others.

 

And take away their guns too because mask wearing nullifies the Constitution.

 

Trump's only chance of even leading in the voting rest with his election day turnout which gives him that opportunity to pronounce himself the winner before all votes are counted:

"The demographic chasms that have defined the nation's politics in the last four years remain in place. Women break sharply for Biden, 61% to 37%. Among men, it's a near-even split, 48% for Trump and 47% for Biden. Voters of color support the Democrat by a nearly 50-point margin, 71% to 24%, while White voters split 50% for Trump to 48% for Biden.
Those near-even numbers among men and among White voters mask significant divides by education among Whites and by race across genders. Women of color (77% Biden to 21% Trump) and White women (54% Biden to 45% Trump) both break for Biden, as do men of color (64% Biden to 28% Trump). White men, however, favor Trump by 56% to 41%.
Those with college degrees favor Biden by 30 points, while those without degrees split evenly. Among White voters, the difference is larger. White voters with college degrees favor Biden 58% to 40% . Those White voters who do not hold a four-year degree are a mirror image, breaking 58% for Trump to 40%for Biden."

 

Update on voting in Pa. is that the state GOP failed in their bid to suppress the votes:
Supreme Court won't expedite latest GOP challenge to Pennsylvania mail-in ballot rules - CNNPolitics

 

My reading of the article is that the Dems managed to get ballots even without a readable postmark counted which means that ballots that may or may not be legal within the law will be counted. What's next counting ballots that are not signed. Opposing that is suppressing votes?

 

Dave, Trump can't declare himself the winner...oh he can make any claim he wants, it's not valid and will be ignored. States declare who got the votes, and then their electors meet in the Electoral College and vote as the States directed based on the actual vote and elect the President.

You keep throwing up strawmen, and I almost think you don't understand how the election works. He is legally entitled to challenge the states vote count and recounts are done all the time in elections. But he can't just unilaterally declare himself the President.

If he challenges things in the courts, you might not like the outcome if he wins, but I do believe that our current Supreme Court is not a Trump rubber stamp, no matter what you think. You might not like their opinions but they are not being manipulated by Trump any more than the Liberal majority in 2000 could have been manipulated by Al Gore who I'm certain that they wished had won, but they ruled against him any way because it was the right thing to do.

 

In support of your point Terry,this decision from the SC was just issued with Roberts and Kavanaugh joining the three liberal members and Barrett not participating.

 

"but I do believe that our current Supreme Court is not a Trump rubber stamp,"

I am beginning to think so too Terry.... another win tonight in N.C. for legitimacy and a loss for dishonesty.
North Carolina can count votes received 9 days after Election Day, Supreme Court says - CNNPolitics

 

Again, Dave...it's not about being a rubber stamp for anybody...whichever side your on in these cases it's about who has the right to set election rules...the legislature or the courts in one case...and the legislature vs. the non-elected Board of Elections in the other...and even that case has to look back to the North Carolina Constitution and laws and decide if the Board of Elections has the power to change what the legislature wrote in June. Plus it looks as if the majority took into consideration the confusion that changing the rules back and forth will (and has) caused.

"Gorsuch, writing for himself and Alito, sided with the Republicans, stressing that only the state Legislature, not an unelected board, has the authority to set election rules.
"Everyone agrees," Gorsuch wrote, "that the North Carolina Constitution expressly vests all legislative power in the General Assembly, not the Board or anyone else."
Lawyers for the Democrat-led board had argued that the State Board of Elections was authorized by statute to adjust election rules to deal with exigent circumstances. The board had extended the deadline, they argued, "to protect lawful North Carolina voters from having their votes thrown out because of mail delays that the Postal Service had explicitly warned the State about."
They reiterated that the extension does not affect the fact that the ballots must still be postmarked by Election Day."

 

"The board had extended the deadline, they argued, "to protect lawful North Carolina voters from having their votes thrown out because of mail delays that the Postal Service had explicitly warned the State about."
They reiterated that the extension does not affect the fact that the ballots must still be postmarked by Election Day."

I'm okay with ballots must be postmarked by election day but not okay with a GOP led state legislature trying hard to keep votes from being counted in a pandemic year where so many ballots need to be counted.

Maybe democratically run states and cities should only have poll hours on Nov. 3rd from 9 am to 11 am and then from 2 pm to 4 pm. They could say they couldn't afford to staff the poll offices longer than those hours.
How would that fly with Trump and the GOP?

Just like with the Barret nomination and confirmation so close to the election doing things that benefit you just because you can will come back and bite you in the ass when the shoe is on the other foot.

 

Dave you seem to think Trump sets the election rules, which again makes me wonder how much you understand how elections work. Texas is a GOP state, we have so many more ways for people to vote now than we have ever had before, yet people focus on that dropbox only having 1 per county.

Not to mention with all your complaining about voter suppression, that we are going to have a record turnout of voters, and I'll be a very significant portion of that increase will come from democrats/minorities which you seem to think are being suppressed.

 

Six days? Nine days? 12 days? You are not comfortable with the ELECTED GOP led state legislature setting election laws. So let somebody set them arbitrarily. Whatever. I'm actually ok with the six days and the Supreme Court decision...just not comfortable with your logic.

As to "getting bitten in the ass" whose idea was it to do away with the filibuster for judicial appointments?

And I just wonder if you think the Holier Than Thou Dems would do anything differently if the shoe were on the other foot.

 

I only ask that all votes are counted that are cast on time..... whether it be mailed in by a Trump supporter who does not want to risk going to the polls or by Biden supporters who want to go to polls and needs to go after work but before 7 pm.
Any other game playing and moves to restrict the counting of the votes is reprehensible and smacks of 3rd world repression.

 

I want all votes to be counted as well, but I want the votes to be within the rules, whether the rules are ones you think are reasonable or not, they are the rules. In Texas forget to sign your mail in ballot it's not counted, it's the rules, it's plain and clear. But I guess you would call that voter suppression.

 

ON time I said..... which means within the rules.

And of course correctly filled out to be counted.

But if established rules that applied in non-pandemic years do not allow for properly counting the massive amounts of correctly filed mail in ballots then the rules need to be amended to allow for a pandemic that is currently rounding the turn head first into a **** storm.

 

So I would agree if lets say the deadline is that they have to be in by Midnight of X of Nov. And at that time the counters are still looking at 50 boxes that they have not been able to get to count yet then they need to keep counting, those boxes were there in time to be counted. Who ever is counting shouldn't just say it's midnight Ralph lets go get a beer and toss those 50 boxes.

BTW in Harris County Texas it's not up to Trump to count the votes, it's up to the County which is currently run by Democrats, to make sure all valid votes are counted.

Again, people who drop their mail in ballot at 10:30 at the local post office and expect them to reach the counters by midnight are just stupid and irresponsible and deserve to have their vote invalid. But truthfully I seriously doubt that the Presidential race is going to turn on that type of situation. It's those down ballot races that typically seem to be either run aways or so close that multiple recounts come up with different winners. I can't count the number of times I've read stories about the District 5 dog catcher election being recounted multiple times and each time a different candidate wins...those are the ones that need every freakin' ballot and those are the ones that are susceptible to manipulation by those doing the counting and other shady things.