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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
It seems like colossal incompetence more than anything else. The Republicans are calling this "ballot harvesting", claiming Democratic ballot harvesting lost them the 2018 election in Orange County, but what they're doing is possibly illegal and inept, because these aren't official dropboxes so you don't know if your ballot will actually be delivered. And most of the dropboxes seem to be in locations favorable to Republicans, so they're just shooting themselves in the foot.
Edit: For example the Fresno GOP has a list of ballot collection box locations on their website, none of which are official. Half the places on the list are gun shops, one is the Fresno GOP HQ. Democrats aren't gonna be dropping off their ballots here in any significant numbers.
Edited by nova92 on Oct 11th 2020 at 10:50:00 AM
They basically think this will help them get more GOP votes since they think the only reason they lost was because "ballot harvesting" made it easier for Democratic voters to get their ballots submitted.
The thing you gotta remember about these people is that many of them aren't just malicious, they're also idiots.
Edited by M84 on Oct 12th 2020 at 1:56:05 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised"Possibly illegal"? You bet that is illegal. It is effectively the same as breaking open an official mailbox and stealing the ballots. And that is a federal offence
:
Edited by Redmess on Oct 12th 2020 at 2:37:24 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesOn its website, the Fresno County Republican Party also shared a list of “secure” ballot collection locations. None are official county drop box sites, with the local GOP instead listing its own headquarters, multiple gun shops and other local businesses.
So the hearing for Amy Coney Barrett is going on right as we speak, but is there any chance the actual nomination doesn't go through before the election? Or are we just screwed?
We're most likely going to win the Presidency and there's a better-than-good chance we take the Senate. Will that help us at all, even with a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court?
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.Also, while debates remain ongoing as to whether or not it's a good idea, court packing becomes an option to at least temporarily curb partisan shenanigans from the Supreme Court if we control the Presidency and the Senate.
Failure to take the Senate, however, will likely result in a policy deadlock for at least the next two years. Republicans won't be able to pass any new horribleness without the White House or House of Representatives, but Mitch will spend the next years putting his feet up and refusing to do his job. No confirmations. No bills passed. I wouldn't be surprised if he even messes with cabinet nominations at this point.
It cannot be understated how critical the Senate is to our government. Everything goes through the Senate. It's the single most power piece of the entire puzzle. The White House gets all the press and all the hype and all the attention, but the Senate Majority Leader is actually the most powerful throne in the kingdom. Whosoever controls the Senate, controls Washington.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Oct 12th 2020 at 7:08:27 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Since the Judiciary can only interpret law, and Congress passes law, you can use legislation to turn back previous SC decisions. It's a long process, though, and you can count on Senate Republicans to filibuster.
Strapped for cash, Trump yanks TV ads in key states as Biden spending surges
: The Republican funders have abandoned him—it's all but over now, as the house of cards collapses.
Someday, people will have a saying about how "Trump twittered whilst the nation burned."
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.Not if we yank the filibuster. That's another one of those weird "There aren't actually rules" things. The filibuster only exists because the Senate just decides to allow it to exist. And any Senate session can choose not to stop allowing filibusters. If we control the Senate, then we can, at any time, declare that Republicans just can't obstruct anymore. We permitted them to obstruct in 2009-2010.
Republicans don't want us to do that because once it's gone, it's not coming back. Both parties, when they control the Legislative, will be free to pass whatever legislation they want whenever they want. The Legislative would be able to create dramatic sweeping changes. The notion of minority obstruction would be dead.
That's a pendulum that swings both ways, but it benefits Democrats (who desire radical change) much moreso than Republicans (who desire to preserve the status quo). So Republicans have worked very hard to convince moderates that it would be a bad thing to do, either because it's meddling with "The Mechanism" and Democrats don't do that, or by making the valid threat that Republicans too would get a turn at that wheel.
It's a gamble. But it's a gamble Mitch desperately doesn't want us to make because it's harder for a regressive to reverse course on a popular change than it is to simply stop changes from being made in the first place.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Oct 12th 2020 at 7:17:46 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Sounds like they're putting out unofficial decoy boxes so people's ballots get lost - or, more likely, sorted, and the Republican ones are brought to official boxes.
It's been fun.