Huh? I'm not making an argument that it's unfair or anything. I'm saying this is more likely the issue than ballots being miscounted, which would work against the Democratic argument. If what I'm saying is true, then Nelson has no chance.

Fair assessment, but at the same time, he's tapped a guy who's been vocal about believing the investigation should be reined in or even shut down; who wasn't confirmed by the Senate to serve in a post that requires Senate confirmation; and without being able to fall back on "recess appointment" because the Senate isn't in recess.

So whether or not you think he's "played this perfectly," he's still set himself up for a court fight that there is a non-zero chance he loses. Not over whether or not firing Sessions (and let's be clear, requesting his resignation is tantamount to the same thing) constitutes obstruction of justice, but whether he's in violation of the Appointments Clause with the selection of Whitaker.

He can defuse all of that by nominating Whitaker to the role on a permanent basis and getting Senate confirmation, and maybe he even will. There'd still be discontent, but I don't know what else really results from that.

Trying to forge ahead as if nothing's wrong risks getting smacked down in court, and having the courts ALSO throw out any action Whitaker takes in the interim as being an invalid order deriving from an unconstitutional action.

This was in your original post and is what I was referring to:


I don't understand that argument at all. It's the first race on the ballot if you simply follow the ballot by column. How does someone not see it? Also, it's one of the two most high profile races in the state. Even if someone missed it, how does one not say to themselves, "Gee, what about that Scott/Nelson race I saw approximately 5800 commercials for?"

Because most people don't read the instructions, and the ones who do will stop once they change language. The first choice most people are going to see is the govenor's race in the middle. Think about people in a crowded room, that have been in line for a long time, and feel rushed. How many are just going to start filling circles as quickly as possible to get done and get out?

I guess I read things differently than most people, then. Maybe it's because I'm left-handed and view things differently. I would (and did, when looking at that ballot) work from top left down the column to the end, then middle column top to bottom, then right column, then flip it over to see if anything was on the back.

I am left handed, and I saw the middle column first. I probably would have eventually noticed there were votes on that bottom left, but I could easily see missing them.

I will add: in 2000, I ran a poll in Alabama using optical ballots just like this. I remember having to point out a race laid out roughly like this to people all day because voters were regularly missing it.

Weird. It's set up in columns, meaning there's a left column, not just a center and right. *shurg*

In any event, I hope Nelson loses, not because of party affiliation but because I used to work for him (indirectly), and he's the biggest empty suit I've ever personally come across.

Most people didn't miss it. It's not like there's a 50% drop off, just more of one in that county than anywhere else. Some people just vote the top of ballot and don't even scan to the bottom. I think that's dumb, but it happens.

This isn't an issue for me here in GA since my counties use electronic balloting and just prompt the races in order.

Saying "I personally didn't have trouble following it (especially after being prompted there was some discord about the layout)" and translating that to "therefore absolutely nobody would (especially without any such prompting)" is quite a leap.

I'm not claiming it's a horrible thing, or a fire-able offense... but could that layout contribute to an undervote of a few percent? Absolutely. You wouldn't have to be an absolute numbskull to look at the first column, dismiss it as "the instructions" and just start with the second.

I didn't make that leap, you did. Our ballot layout was exactly the same kind of 3 column layout here, which I don't think anyone had trouble following.

I'm not even saying it couldn't happen, I'm simply saying it shouldn't happen. How is that race not top of mind for anyone who bothered to vote? It's not like it was your local constable race (which we have - and no one ran for).

Your town could have had Constable Ksyrup running the show? That's an opportunity lost.

I wrote-in the name of a retired Lexington cop who lives in my neighborhood. Although, I'm honestly kinda curious what happens when no one runs. Maybe a local board appoints someone, I don't know.

If I'm the only person to write in a candidate, and he gets the only vote, does he win? Is there some sort of minimum threshold?

Not sure what's worse, lying about the not knowing the guy you just appointed as acting attorney general or actually not knowing the guy you just appointed as acting attorney general.

It might be true, in the sense that he's not Rosenstein.

Why are the instructions even on the ballot? The ballot should be clean of other text and the instructions should be separate and posted in each voting booth.

I double check my ballot to make sure I did not miss anything.

Me too. And the whole paper ballot thing, I am always paranoid about not coloring in the boxes enough, or accidentally going outside the lines, so I usually go over them multiple times very carefully. I think I had 3 old people sit down next to me and finish before I did. I am assuming they just straight R'd it and left.

It's the name the Ouija board spelled. Trump just listened to what the spirits told him.

I am almost OCD over those damn lines LOL

Started back up.

Migrant caravan to leave Mexico City for US border | TheHill

This ballot thing fascinates me.
Ive only ever voted in SC. And as I think we all know, the concepts of South Carolina and technologically advanced civilization are pretty much mutually exclusive.


But since 2000, in SC they have had these electronic ballots that look like a huge glorified tablet.
The idea that places are still using a paper ballot and scantron bubble sheets is mind boggling to me.

In our podunk town, in my specific precinct, we had one electronic machine and 6 desks for manual scantron ballots. You could either wait in the line for 1 machine or the line with 5 more opportunities to (theoretically) get done quicker. I wasn't in there long enough to figure out how much quicker one line was going than the other, I just did the paper ballot.

We had 4 of those iPad looking machines.

We have no such excuse in Phoenix

I live in a town with a population of 589 (obviously not all voting age since my one neighbor has 8 kids under 18 - lol)


We had...I'm viewing the room in my head and seeing 7 ballot machines....but I remember voting "in" machine #8

I think for a lot of those places, they like having a paper copy of the votes.

Varies by state & jurisdiction.

I believe in most cases at least at higher levels, write-in votes for candidates that have not gone through the process to be certified as actual qualified candidates are simply discarded/uncounted.

Otherwise Mickey Mouse could end up with 314 offices in 47 states.

I think paper ballots make a lot of sense from the perspective that they can't be hacked by foreign actors. Plus, it gives you a literal paper trail if things go awry.

I dont' remember seeing a stat like this before. Trending in the right direction but still more needed.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/09/gun-...-defy-nra.html

I'll wait to see the details on the proposals but status quo is not acceptable.

I'm left handed also and I also saw the middle column first.

It probably did cause some confusion for people new/not used to voting paper ballots or possibly older folks.

My county was electronic so no problem here.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/bria...ey-abrams.html

Man who orchestrated brilliant voter suppression tactics has resigned.

whee

Many voting machines were just locked up and hand ballots were not authorized.

Gotta love it.

In Washington, we were mailed our ballot along with a magazine of every candidate who pitches themselves in their blurb. It saved so much time. And you just mailed it in without having to stamp it.

Well, he's gonna be the governor now so he's got much bigger suppressions to deal with now.

I wonder what happens to a state when their governor-elect is sent to prison. Asking for a friend.

The NRA was claiming near bankruptcy over the last year, meaning unless they're using Rubles they couldn't buy as many seats.

Probably have to ask Illinois for advice.

Sinema's lead now up to 20,000 in AZ, but still more to count there and she may lose some of that lead. Rouda has been declared the winner against Rohrbacker. Another CA Democrat, Josh Harder has pulled ahead of his opponent after being behind most of the tally.

GOP: Stop counting the ballots in Florida, where we're ahead, but count every last ballot in Arizona, where we're behind.

These posts aging real well.

Christine Blasey Ford is still being harassed, her lawyers say. She's reportedly had to move four times. She's had to pay for a private security detail. And she hasn't been able to return to her job at Palo Alto University. https://t.co/WJRC5uWmy9

— NPR (@NPR) November 8, 2018

"uh oh , Doctor it seems we've traveled back to 2000. There are people protesting and banging on things shouting for them to stop counting ballots of some sort. Why would they want to STOP counting ballots in an election?"

The one thing I do agree with Trump on is that it is an absolute shower that they are not able to count the votes within 24 hours, let alone 4 days.

The rest of his comments are the usual blinkered invective, but something needs to be done to prevent any possible inference of manipulation (either way). With district gerrymandering such as that posted earlier and delayed votes, it does emit echoes of Tammany Hall era politics.

It's been < 2 months. Let's have it really age and come back to revisit in 2-3 years.

There were the RCP and Slate links in the NPR artcle which also provided more context. Admittedly the RCP is something a right-winger would write but it does lay out some "facts". The Slate is more balanced while referencing the RCP article.

(Thanks for including the last sentence in the second quote. I still stand by that)

Anyone know why isn't there electronic voting in FL/Broward?

This happens every election, it's just that the margins are great enough that it doesn't effect the outcome. There's currently no evidence suggesting anything other than a typical election tally in both AZ and FL.

dola

So far today Trump has threatened to pull federal firefighting funds from CA and cancelled a trip to the American WW1 cemetery because it is raining.

Just because it happens in every election doesn’t mean it is acceptable in a developed nation.

According to this article, we do.

Should you request a paper ballot to keep your vote secure from hackers?

However...

No, but it does make it far less likely that it's driven by fraud.