Nov 6, 2018 - Midterms *MEGA* Thread

[Xeones]

So what year is that blue wave coming?

Seems that voting isn't going to be the way to make it happen.

[Fincayra]

It's ridiculous.

The position should be that those people are owed votes, and poll staff aren't going to be allowed to leave until everyone in line has cast that ballot.

If that means you're stuck in the poll station for four fucking days while you wait for new machines to be shipped in, so fucking be it. Get a better system.

There should be no case where anyone's vote is turned away.

that is the position. You in line before closing of the polls = you get to still vote. Not in line at closing time? no vote.

[Token token]

Wasn't talking about that. I was talking about losing despite winning. I say this as a resident of North Carolina where a 50/50 split in popular vote gives you a 3/10 split in seats and is repeated in many states throughout the nation. Effectively stolen seats then coupled with voter suppression and everything else.

I admit I am late to the party what voter suppression are we talking about? The need for ids?

[Belize]

What would be the optimal way of voting anyways? I'm open to an online process, but obviously that opens the door for bad actors to enter the mix. The process we have just fundamentally does not work though, and I'm not sure what the best method to say.

Easy, make gerrymandering illegal and set strict guidelines on how many polling locations there must be, and how close to public transport they have to be.

Alternatively, pull an Australia and force everyone to vote.

[Brubear]

Well this could be interesting for the 2020 election.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...lL_PVZbI-CVnGo

Florida voters during Tuesday’s midterm elections approved Amendment 4, automatically restoring voting rights in the state for people previously convicted of felonies.

Florida’s Amendment 4 restores voting rights for people in the state convicted of felonies as long as they have completed their sentences, although anyone convicted of murder or felony sex offenses would be excluded.

Based on the Sentencing Project’s 2016 estimates, this benefits more than a million people. The organization estimated in 2016 that nearly 1.5 million people in Florida have completed felony sentences but can’t vote — about 9.2 percent of the voting-age population in Florida. The total, though, includes some people convicted of murder and felony sex offenses, so not every one of those people benefits under Amendment 4.

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Live election results: Ballot initiatives
Black people, who are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated, will benefit the most. In 2016, more than 418,000 black people out of a black voting-age population of more than 2.3 million, or 17.9 percent of potential black voters in Florida, had finished sentences but couldn’t vote due to a felony record, according to the Sentencing Project. (Again, this includes some people convicted of murders and felony sex offenses.)

The amendment was officially supported by Floridians for a Fair Democracy, which gathered more than 1.1 million petitions to put it on the ballot. It received bipartisan endorsements from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Koch brothers–backed Freedom Partners.

Most states have at least some voting restrictions for people convicted of felonies. Most often, the law bars people who are currently in prison from voting. Some prohibit voting until a person finishes parole or probation, too.

Florida, however, barred people from voting even after they’ve completed their sentences. Only two other states — Kentucky and Iowa — currently do this. Virginia technically does under its Constitution, but former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and current Gov. Ralph Northam, both Democrats, have used their executive powers to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies.

Only Maine and Vermont let people vote regardless of their criminal record, which means that people in the two states can even vote from prison.

Courts, including the US Supreme Court, have generally upheld such voting restrictions under the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which indicates that the government may abridge the right to vote due to “participation in rebellion, or other crime.”

In Florida, there was a process in place for getting voting rights restored. But the process, set up by Gov. Rick Scott (R), was very arduous. It required people to wait as long as seven years to apply, and the application review itself could take several additional years. Even after someone applied, restoration of voting rights was far from guaranteed: According to the Florida Commission on Offender Review, only 3,005 of more than 30,000 applicants had their voting rights restored through the system since Scott implemented it.

As a result, Florida had disenfranchised more potential voters than any other state, with more than 10 percent of all potential voters and more than 21 percent of potential black voters in Florida unable to vote due to felony records.

With Amendment 4’s win on Tuesday, that will now change — and more than 1 million people will get back the right to vote.

[Keile]

So what year is that blue wave coming?

The year GOP stops doing voter suppression.

They basically have to cheat to win. Or do you actually think it's coincidence that all the voting issues seem to be happening in locations that tend to be Liberal/Minority and yet not really in areas that are Conservative/White populations?

[beanman12345]

Easy, make gerrymandering illegal and set strict guidelines on how many polling locations there must be, and how close to public transport they have to be.

Alternatively, pull an Australia and force everyone to vote.

Brazil forces everyone to vote too. I personally believe it should be compulsory.

[Video Games]

It's still awhile until Oregon's election results even start coming in. :sigh:

For those curious, I live in Coos County.

Where is thatttt? I'm in portland, but I'm still new.

[Beazy]

Cruz and Beto @ 49.5% each. =oO

[Belize]

Well this could be interesting for the 2020 election.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...lL_PVZbI-CVnGo

Well, I'm glad Florida didn't decide to go full idiot.

That's a nice change for once.

[Dacien]

You don't get to be violent because your ideals are not shared with the public at large... the Democrats learned nothing from 2016 why would you of expected them to do better?

At some point they have to clean house and become a political party again rather then simply being outraged at others.

More than anything I want this to be an indictment on politics of outrage. Of vilification and fury. That you need to convince, not strong arm. It's been one great national tantrum for two years and it absolutely disgusts me. As soon as eight years of Democrat rule in the Oval Office was over, they took their ball and went home from rational discussion.

Now they see the opposition and wonder, "How can I screw with this guy?" One big angry trollfest and national tantrum, and we cannot reward that kind of behavior.

[Eveningforest]

Brazil forces everyone to vote too. I personally believe it should be compulsory.

Brazil has mandatory voting; the still manage to vote in a fascist. Amazing.

[Xeones]

I admit I am late to the party what voter suppression are we talking about? The need for ids?

Putting polling stations outside of city limits for cities with large minority populations in locations with no nearby bus stops or sidewalk access.

Removing polling stations for minority heavy areas.

Conveniently having malfunctions in polling stations in minority heavy areas.

There is a lot of things they are doing. Georgia is by far the worst, and that criminal seems to have had it pay off.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, I'm glad Florida didn't decide to go full idiot.

That's a nice change for once.

Still seems quite likely they are going to elect an open racist for gov though.

[Kraenen]

Brazil forces everyone to vote too. I personally believe it should be compulsory.

Wouldn't that unfairly punish the lower classes and certain ethnicities?

[SethRoguen]

More than anything I want this to be an indictment on politics of outrage. Of vilification and fury. That you need to convince, not strong arm. It's been one great national tantrum for two years and it absolutely disgusts me. As soon as eight years of Democrat rule in the Oval Office was over, they took their ball and went home from rational discussion.

Now they see the opposition and wonder, "How can I screw with this guy?" One big angry trollfest and national tantrum, and we cannot reward that kind of behavior.

Jesus christ the projection

[Fugus]

I admit I am late to the party what voter suppression are we talking about? The need for ids?

Well, in North Carolina, we are voting on illegal districts. Our districts were literally ruled illegal by the supreme court in the Republicans favor to such an extreme that they did it racially as well. They were forced to redraw but also did so illegally but used the excuse that they didn't have enough time to redraw it again and so they got to use the illegal districts to vote on when really they should have defaulted to the pre-2010 districts which were more impartial.

On the old map a 50/50 split gave you roughly a 6/7 split in our seats, the current one gives a 3/10. The Democrats can win the popular vote 55/45 and the seats still go 4/9 in the Republican favor. They are also pushing for Voter ID Laws here after they got struck down a while back because they were so brazen they were literally caught doing studies to find which forms of ID's Minorities were most likely to lack.


Then you got Georgia with Kemp purging 600,000+ voters from the rolls while blocking 53,000 from registering and tried closing 7 of 9 stations in a black county till they were caught and all his other crap.


Then in North Dakota you have them trying to pass a rule that would prevent Native Americans who live on the Reservations from voting.

And the list just keeps going. Not sure IDs.

[Xeones]

More than anything I want this to be an indictment on politics of outrage. Of vilification and fury. That you need to convince, not strong arm. It's been one great national tantrum for two years and it absolutely disgusts me. As soon as eight years of Democrat rule in the Oval Office was over, they took their ball and went home from rational discussion.

Now they see the opposition and wonder, "How can I screw with this guy?" One big angry trollfest and national tantrum, and we cannot reward that kind of behavior.

BULL FUCKING SHIT.

You have a guy who stands there and lies non stop peddling conspiracy theories to a delusional base and you say we are out from rational discussion? Fuck off.

[Adam Jensen]

The year GOP stops doing voter suppression.

They basically have to cheat to win. Or do you actually think it's coincidence that all the voting issues seem to be happening in locations that tend to be Liberal/Minority and yet not really in areas that are Conservative/White populations?

Or how about the fact that every single "anti voter fraud" bullshit just coincidently benefits Republicans to the detriment of Democrats?

Despite there being something like fewer than 10 cases of in person voter fraud per a few million voters?

[Belize]

Wouldn't that unfairly punish the lower classes and certain ethnicities?

Make election day a national payed holiday.

Problem solved.

[Wyrt]

Cruz and Beto @ 49.5% each. =oO

It's interesting that that is so close, but the governor is not. Seems even Republican voters are tired of Cruz's shit.