US State and Local Politics: Parks and Recreation and Nazis

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US State and Local Politics: Parks and Recreation and Nazis

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

A good friend of mine provided some after-action commentary about election fuckery in Porter County, Indiana.

quote:

The night before the election, the Democratic Party relayed my name to Becky Rauch in the
Porter County government as someone interested in working the polls the next day. I received a
call shortly before 9pm from Becky, who explained the process and offered to have me work as
a Democratic Judge in Center Township precinct 23. The polling location was Prince of Peace
Lutheran Church. She explained that since the Inspector for that precinct was a Republican, I
would need to assist in transporting the ballots back to the county building after they were
counted, and while on the call she emailed me a list of training videos on how to be a judge.
There were two precincts at my polling place, 23 and 32. Both inspectors were present, as were
all 4 clerks and three judges. Two of our judges were Democrats, one was a high school
student, and the fourth (the Republican judge for 23) did not arrive or respond to calls. I sent
Becky a text notifying her that this judge did not appear and received no response.
We opened our polling place at exactly 6:00am, and polling went quite smoothly for the entire
day, with the exception of the lingering knowledge that the absentee ballots were many hours
late. Those ballots never arrived. We closed the polling place at exactly 6:00pm. After about two
hours of waiting and calling County officials, we were finally told by two different officials to pack
up the polling location and come in. We did so, and I accompanied our inspector to the County
Administration Building.
We arrived in the parking garage shortly before 9pm. A crowded line of judges and inspectors
with suitcases had formed that spilled out into the parking garage. Most had not received their
absentee ballots. Those who had were being summoned to the front of the line. One man
angrily left the scene with a full suitcase in tow. A uniformed officer returned a short time later,
carrying only the suitcase. Someone walked through the line shortly thereafter carrying several
water bottles and a bundle of Subway sandwiches, which were just enough to allow anyone with
a health condition to eat something while we all waited.
We received the following explanations from County officials or others present, who did not
identify themselves. One said that this delay was caused by two departments, the Voter
Registration Office and the Clerk’s Office, not working together. Another said that she was a
kindergarten teacher who had been recruited by the County to count absentee ballots. A third
(quite a while later) said that the procedure had been just changed to allow poll workers to leave
without waiting for the absentee ballots to be counted, but the staff in the hallway continued to
call anyone whose absentee ballots had been delivered to their precinct to the front of the line.
After nearly two hours in line, we arrived at the tables set up in a small atrium at the center of
the building, where our suitcase was checked. This process went relatively smoothly, and we
left at approximately 11pm the same way we came in. The line of poll workers was nearly as
long as it was when we arrived.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2018 23:34

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 08:56

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

lmao

The Republican candidate suddenly has a problem with Maine's ranked-choice voting now that it looks like he's gonna lose.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/13/667435326/facing-defeat-maine-republican-sues-to-block-states-ranked-choice-voting-law

quote:

U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine, has a filed a lawsuit in federal court that seeks to block state election officials from conducting the nation's first ranked-choice voting tabulation in a federal race.

The lawsuit asserts that Maine's ranked-choice voting law violates the U.S. Constitution in multiple ways. Among the claims: It does not award winners who obtain a plurality — or the most votes — but rather a majority by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2018 22:33

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

NaanViolence posted:

Twitter is annoying and bad and this thread would be much better if quotes were posted instead of links to tweets. As is, it's barely readable. That's a shame because this thread has some good info and discussion otherwise.

Counterpoint -

Twitter is by far the best way to share news stories on-site because of how tweets embed.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2018 19:22

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

friendbot2000 posted:

As much of a filthy socialist liberal that I am, I dont want any poltical party in chsrge of redistricting

I'm in Illinois, and while I'd love fair redistricting, I am not in favor of unilateral disarmament.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2018 15:56

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Edgar Allan Pwned posted:

so what has to be done to get ohio blue? i mean if Virginia can become blue...

Trump keeps campaigning in Ohio.

His own campaign doesn't think the state is a lock.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2019 18:34

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Fabulous Knight posted:

I'm not from the US so I have to ask. Is there some way the KY GOP could actually prevent Beshear from being sworn in, aside from an actual recount that Bevin wins? Is it more complicated than just the governor-elect taking office and being done with it? I just don't see what they could actually do. Does the state senate need to confirm the winner of the election?

This is day-after denial. The short answer is "No."

Beshear will get sworn in, any recount will turn up maybe a dozen votes in total, and the Republican Legislature will more than likely take cues from North Carolina and Wisconsin (if they even need to go that far) and work legislatively to strip the new Dem governor of as much executive power as they can.

From what 538 said, they only need a simple majority to overturn a veto, so they will just keep on doing terrible conservative stuff.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2019 20:03

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

theflyingorc posted:

Can't imagine the point of a veto if it's overturned by a majority. It already met that bar to hit the governor's desk!

The point is "but we can't gerrymander the governorship so how else can we keep doing everything we want" near as I can tell. Maybe I'm wrong; I admit I haven't checked the history here.

Same as with that dumbass movement to repeal direct election of senators.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2019 20:35

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 08:56

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

friendbot2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/amaxsmith/status/1226919756747493379

Holy loving poo poo! This is huge!

lmao that 13 people voted against that.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2020 19:04

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