Impact of COVID on Democracy

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/kentucky-new-york-primary-voting/index.html

COVID is being used as an excuse to close polling places.

That means less access to the polls by those in the area where the polls are closed. It adversely affects those who are poor (with less available transportation and with the loss of income for wager earners).

It also means longer lines at polling places that aren't closed - causing greater COVID exposure (especially as masks aren't required) AND impacting those who don't have the physical stamina or responsibilities that prevent standing in line for many hours.
In conjunction with that, Trump constantly pumps the message to his followers that these issues may be ignored - making it likely that his base will be well represented.


Also, Trump is spreading abject LIES about alternative voting methodology, such as voting by mail, that would give access to voting without risk of COVID, without the loss of income by wage earners, without the transportation requirement, and with the advantage of preventing other assaults on voting that are always part of polling places.

Overall, this is a CLEAR assault on our democracy that is focused on 2020 by Trump, who stands to benefit in his own campaign.

 

We've always been concerned about the threat of democracy if you'll remember we protested the idea of everyone in house arrest. This is a deadly problem, with no real perfect solution. You know what though? I'd be pro-mail voting if we could have assurance that the ballots would be protected and not altered by any person who would be responsible for transporting and counting the votes.

 

OK - the issue is protetion OF our democracy. The protection of our ability to vote for representatives, for example. We lose that when our ability to vote is abrogated.

Several states already have secure vote by mail.

Here in WA there are NO polling places. I get a ballot mailed to me. That ballot has unique identification of me and my registration database entry. If anyone copies my ballot it is useless, as it will be a duplicate - rejected during counting as obviously invalid.

I sign my ballot sleeve when I mail in my ballot. If that signature doesn't match my registration database signature, then the ballot is rejected.

If I mail it with a few days to spare before the deadline, I'll get notified if there is a problem with my ballot so that I can then fix it.


Let's remember that EVERY STATE has a vote by mail system called "absentee".

So, if that system in some state is easily corruptable (as Trump LOUDLY proclaims for all vote by mail solutions) then it should be fixed - and then USED!

I'd also point out that vote by mail includes an obvious paper trail and is far cheaper, because no poling places are necessary.

Also, some states have ANCIENT and easily hackable voting hardware - which would be very expensive to replace.


Bottom line, polling plaes are RIFE with vulnerabilities to assault on our democracy. And, we have a solution that has been tested for YEARS in multiple states.

Trump is absolutely wrong, and for purely partisan reasons, as he is opposed to the notion that anyone who wants to vote should have equal access to voting.

 

How many registered voters were in COVID high risk groups and thus chose not to stand for hourse in crowded conditions with people who had so little respect that they didn't even wear masks??

THIS is how polling places are used to defeat democracy.

They raise the cost of voting - wager earners lose income, essentially establishing a poll tax.

Those fulnerable to contagions are less likely to risk their health for voting.

Regions where the "in" party wants fewer to vote get allocated totally insufficient equipment, causing voting to take many hours, while those in areas where the "in" party wants well represented vote in minutes.

Etc., etc. Etc.

Now we have COVID - a whole new lever to use to martial who votes and who can not affod it.

 

The alternative is for Democrats who dominate state and local bureaucracies to lose millions of mail-in ballots. A clear assault by progressive fascists who care nothing about government of, for, and by the people, but only to assume totalitarian control to drive their agendas.

 

The popular vote ultimately means nothing in the election for president of the united states. The electoral college vote will determine who wins, so no amount of voting by the public is going to make any difference.

 

More than 16M mail-in ballots went missing from 2016 and 2018 elections: Report
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...t-missing-from-2016-and-2018-elections-report

 

This is just silly for several reasons. But, lets just note that your scam can not be done selectively. Polling place tactics ARE a long used as a selective weapon by tactics such as selective closing polling places, providing inadequate equipment, choosing hours of operation, etc.

Also, let's note that your tactic is not a new risk. Every state HAS vote by mail today. It is only a matter of allowing the full citizenry to USE IT.

Every state KNOWS how that can be done. We've had several states using vote by mail exclusively for YEARS.

 

Went missing? They don't even say what that means.

It's absolutely true that not everyone who receives a mail in ballot actually votes.

And, Trump is wrong about mail in voting being an opportunity for cheating in states that have secure mail in voting. - like my state long has had.

Nobody can use or copy my ballot in order to file a vote illegally. It has a unique voter registration ID and my signature is matched with my voter registration signature.

BESIDES, voting by mail is available in EVERY STATE, as asentee ballot programs. Trump's lies on voting by mail do not comport with what is happening today in every state in the union.

 

Two words. Al Franken. Franken won by a trunk load of ballots that showed up without being tracked. We know that Democrats are corrupt to the core, offer nothing Americans want and must cheat to win. The only reason they propose policies is to make it easier for them to cheat.

 

The united state supreme court has already stated that the state of Texas may not implement widespread voting by mail. Indicating such proposals will fare equally poorly in other states.

 

We don't have a democracy, but we do have the illusion of one.

In fact, we have an oligarchy with strong fascist ties.

 

Know what you mean. In Ohio, the Boards of Elections (BOEs) are placed by Democrat Mayors in the inner cities. 22 days of in person early voting are only provided at the BOEs to suppress the suburban vote. The equipment used by Democrats for 22 days are sent to the precincts and either broken or misconfigured by Democrat public employees for the one day more diverse suburbanites have to vote.

Complain about the unfairness of the early voting scam and we're told that it's necessary because black people are genetically predisposed to vote early and in person and any effort to make voting fair is racist.

 

I fully agree that we are losing our democracy.

Our founders included checks and balances as a necessary means of keeping our presidency under control.

This administration has shown marvelous progress on destroying that system.

Interestingly, this is EXACTLY why the USA NEVER suggests that new countries we help form use our form of government. We ALWAYS point out that the power of the president is significat enough that a "strong man" can use a system like ours to become dictator.

And, THAT is what Republicans have been dedicated to producing here.

 

Nothing I've said about voting has implied that there are no criminals in the Democratic party.

The point is that it has to be stopped, and that there is a PROVEN method of doing that - a method that even costs LESS than what we do.

 

Again, there are numerous cases of polling places and unsecured vote by mail systems being used (or appear to being used) in criminal fashion.

Yours is just MORE proof that secure vote by mail is a huge step forward for democracy.

We have multiple states who have implemented secure vote by mail systems. MN in the time of Franken was NOT one of them. So, whether a crime was or was not ommitted there is NO MORE than emphasis of how important the more to greaer security is.

The numerous failures degrade the trust in our entire system of government.

 

The united states is a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

 

Voter ID

Apparently not.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2...ud_in_new_jersey_mail-in_election_515452.html

 

Oh,good LORD!!

We make our decisions through a representational democracy.

 

My bet is that if the truth could be known, it's more the D side of the aisle that got this plandemic rolling. DJT was caught like a deer in the headlights, and being naturally awkward, he made the following several months a real mess.

Constitutional governance has not been practiced in this country for a very long time.

 

EXACTLY.

As I stated, many states do not have secure vote by mail for absentees.

The fix for that is known. And, it works for all voters, not just those who apply for absentee status.

Voter ID is not required. My registered signature is my ID.

 

That's just foolish.

For months, Trump has worked against every statement and suggestion from Fauci, Blix, CDC and WHO- all of whom have been in agreement.

Dems have had no possibility of affecting any of that - regardless of your nutty assumptions of what they might want.

 

I prefer to discuss the events from a medical or public health point of view, but few other people agree with me.

No doubt it has become, right from the beginning it seems, a political circus delivered by our Big Pharma MSM. Trump is an idiot, and that's why I did not vote for him.

The big mystery is how in hell did Anthony know, why did he tell that audience, that this administration was going to experience an epidemic?

 

This was absolutely NOT a circus from the point of medical science.

And, I have NO idea why you are upset with "mainstream" media.

Fox, Breitbart, Rushbo and others pushed the message that COVID was a plot agains Trump manufactured by Democrats.

That kind of fake news has been a serious problem. But, the MSM reported the truth for the most part, sometimes wavering to report what Trump said - which has been pretty much uniformly false.

I have no idea why you are upset with Fauci.

 

And such decisions can and have been overruled by the united state supreme court for being unconstitutional. Thus it is not a democracy.