291–300 of 311 posts
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Is there some part of the way states that already do it are doing it that you take umbrage with?
I'm not the person you responded to, but current vote-by-mail procedures do make it impossible to ensure a secret ballot.
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Scenario: I'm living in a household with three roommates, unrelated to me. Maybe they're not granted the right to vote. The mail-in ballot arrives and is completed by one other than myself, without my knowledge. How do you prevent this? Signing the envelope that you return the ballot in would further de-anonymize the vote. I'm asking not out of snarkiness but because I don't know.
Details for Washington: - The signature on on the envelope, not the ballot. You put your ballot into a privacy sleeve and then into an envelope. You seal the envelope, sign the envelope, and then mail it. -- The signature has to match (as judged by a human). If it doesn't, they contact you for additional verification. -- The ballots are separated from the signed envelopes and put in a separate bin before they are cou…
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>Everything on the news looks ironic I was born and grew up in Scotland. I remember the first time I watched Fox News after moving to the states - for almost fifteen minutes I genuinely thought I was watching some (honestly pretty funny) satire.
Wait till you watch Indian news. Fox news will look serious next to it.
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>Everything on the news looks ironic I was born and grew up in Scotland. I remember the first time I watched Fox News after moving to the states - for almost fifteen minutes I genuinely thought I was watching some (honestly pretty funny) satire.
I get really frustrated when people only mention Fox News and not CNN/MSNBC in the same sentence. There are people on Fox who are good, I.E. Chris Wallace. I mean he's my only example, but Jon Stewart did a skit with him and the quote that got me was, "how many times have you seen your show on my show?" It was a nod to the fact that Chris Wallace does actual news not opinion pieces. I'd actually say he's better and l…
1. Yup - the News Hour is where like 90% of the MSM consumers I know get their news now.
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Paper by mail voting should be our standard in the US. There is absolutely no need for real-time efficiency when it comes to potentially changing political office seats. There usually is a month or two before the successor takes office so we don't need to know that night, it could be a week later. Sometimes technology introduces more potential problems.
It will be hard to walk back from the election night hysteria we've developed as a populace.
How will we ever survive? /s
I moved up to Canada from ye olde US and their elections are so nice and simple. There are limits on the amount of time you can advertise as a campaign so no four year presidential campaigns up here. Additionally it's considered generally distasteful to excessively advertise during campaigns and, while you'll certainly get lots of phone calls from Liberals, Conservatives and the NDP - it's for a short window and then you're done.
The US runs it's elections like a game show because everything in America must be prime-time entertainment.
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Paper by mail voting should be our standard in the US. There is absolutely no need for real-time efficiency when it comes to potentially changing political office seats. There usually is a month or two before the successor takes office so we don't need to know that night, it could be a week later. Sometimes technology introduces more potential problems.
Postal voting undermines the secret ballot. People in your life with power over you can demand to see your ballot.
> They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.
1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/30/trump-republ...
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It will be hard to walk back from the election night hysteria we've developed as a populace.
Oh darn - will our elections be less of a circus? Will news channels be unable to milk election momentum coverage for nine straight months during the primaries? How will we ever survive? /s I moved up to Canada from ye olde US and their elections are so nice and simple. There are limits on the amount of time you can advertise as a campaign so no four year presidential campaigns up here. Additionally it's considered g…
You might get downvoted for the snark but you're not wrong at all. I remain convinced that entertainment value is the most important qualifier for a President in modern times, and that probably goes back to JFK. Americans no longer trust government and don't believe in political leadership but they love celebrities and a good show.
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I'm not against the idea of voter ID. But a well-intentioned voter ID law would make ID easier and cheaper to obtain. It would set up ID registration at banks, post offices, libraries, courthouses, city halls, senior centers, college campuses, churches or other religious/community centers, workplaces, school gyms, supermarkets and convenience stores, gas stations. Make it as easy as buying Girl Scout cookies. Heck, l…
You mention having that service at many places, including sending individuals to homes. What about that opportunity cost? You could use that budget for other community services. With voting as a part of your civic duty, one should be willing to incur small costs like spending a day getting a license every 4-7 years. My experiences have been fairly convenient, much better than other government agencies like the sherif…
Only in time and convenience, and even then, when it becomes egregious it could be a legal problem. The Supreme Court ruled almost a century ago that poll taxes on voter registration were unconstitutional.
If it were actually about fraud, then I think it is an easy problem to solve. But since it has nothing to do with fraud, I expect the debate to continue indefinitely.
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You mention having that service at many places, including sending individuals to homes. What about that opportunity cost? You could use that budget for other community services. With voting as a part of your civic duty, one should be willing to incur small costs like spending a day getting a license every 4-7 years. My experiences have been fairly convenient, much better than other government agencies like the sherif…
> With voting as a part of your civic duty, one should be willing to incur small costs Another way of looking at it is as an additional, backdoor tax. And a regressive one at that, since it disproportionately affects the poor. A day's wages is a pretty heavy tax.
Yep. And it's got a name, too. Poll tax. Unconstitutional.
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Selling the ballot was the concern, yes. I don’t see any part of that process that would stop me if I told my employees “I’ll give you $100 if you show me your ballot then send it right away the day before the election”.
* The employee can cancel the mail-in ballot and vote in person. * The ballots are sent to your home, not your workplace. * Employers can ask for a picture of an in-person ballot. Buying votes is illegal, which dissuades most people from buying votes. Your employees would turn you in, especially since people have very strong feeling about elections due to partisanship.
If you vote the day before Election Day and then submit a cancellation form an hour later, will you be able to submit another vote or will the system take too long to process your cancellation?