US Senators Introduce Resolution to Allow Remote Voting During Emergencies

Post by alasdair_ » Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

ordinaryradical wrote: post #41

karatestomp wrote: post #3

Oh, I thought the headline meant remote voting for, you know, voters, not Senators, and was very surprised to see an R next to one of the sponsor's names. The bill's just to let the Senate vote remotely. I'd imagine most of the interesting nuance is about "presence" and quorum-making. This is not about expanding remote/by-mail voting in elections, which Republicans have generally been strongly against, including and…

I used to be wowed by this kind of hypocrisy, but lately I've concluded that these things are happening so frequently because the voters have proved to them sufficiently that they will take no heed provided it "hurts the other team." Everything on the news looks ironic now because the political class has realized there's almost no limit to what they can get away with.

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 5:13 PM UTC

bobthepanda wrote: post #51

Uehreka wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn’t need to be a power-grab (“We’re taking over the election to make sure it’s done right”). In all likelihood it would be some sort of funding incentive (“If you resolve to do vote-by-mail, we’ll give you the money to hire people and buy equipment to do it, and even throw in some money for infrastructure as a cherry on top”).

The problem with this approach is that it leaves a patchwork solution and still leaves the most disenfranchised out of the running, because ideology trumps free money. See: ACA Medicare expansion.

Post by eanzenberg » Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

beatgammit wrote: post #29

ShakataGaNai wrote: post #11

They're making sure they can vote... but yet no one has worked to make sure all of the American people can vote safely (Read also: mail in ballots for everyone).

A lot of states already do it. I think all we need to do is get the POTUS to publicly shame any remaining holdouts. It's not that expensive, so it wouldn't likely present a hardship for states to implement, so a little push in the right direction may be enough.

Post by lozaning » Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #40

irrational wrote: post #36

I know this is talking about Senator voting, but I feel like it is time for states to seriously adopt mail-in voting like Oregon (and other states). We have to assume that there could be a shelter-in-place order in the future during the beginning of November. Better to prepare now rather than to scramble for a solution at the last minute.

How do we do remote voting securely? The moment you move from a tiny minority voting by mail to the overwhelming majority voting by mail, the payoff for corrupting that process goes up dramatically.

Post by eanzenberg » Tue, Apr 28, 2020, 5:15 PM UTC

J5892 wrote: post #64

I'm against this resolution, because it opens up the possibility of senate voter fraud. What's to stop dead senators from voting? Or senators from voting twice? This may even make it possible for former felons in the senate to vote!