65 thoughts on “Voting “Rights””

  3. It’s not for me to comment on US elections but it seems a bit odd that there are no queues here and voting is compulsory.

    Anyway, I know that anyone with an IQ above double digits has to vote for Biden ……but, could I ask please, that next time around you find candidates on both sides who are not of nursing-home vintage? It pays to be cautious around anyone driving a car over the age of 65 – God only knows why you’d let some geriatric drive the whole country. Look at how this one’s been driving, after all (not that senility seems to be his problem just yet).
    I can say these things. I’m a geriatric myself.

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    • Trust me … many of us wish we had a younger crowd to choose from. But until the old fogies finally die off, the progressives don’t have a chance. Too many are still living in the “olden days.”

      BTW, I’m no youngster myself, but I do like to think of myself as more “with it.” 😛

      Thanks for your input from across the pond.

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      • I would question the identification of younger with “progressive”. Bernie Sanders is the flagship “progressive” candidate and he’s been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Buttigieg was (I think) the youngest option among the Democratic candidates and he’s fairly conservative as Democrats go. There seems to be less outright right-wing wingnuttery among the younger population, thank goodness, but between the center and left I just don’t see much correlation of age with ideology — and politicians of any age are all over the map.

        And old isn’t always “old”. Pelosi is pretty damn sharp. She’s pwned Trump any number of times since the 2018 election. She’s the nearest thing we’ve got to a national leader at this point.

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      • “Sold down the river”

        We use it sort of loosely today, but at one time it was one of the worst fears of slaves. Living and working in the homes and plantations of the upper South, as a rule, was much preferred to being sold down the river to Louisianna, Alabama, and Georgia, etc.

        “Sold down the river”

        “Gone, gone, sold and gone
        To the rice swamp dank and lone,
        Where the slave-whip ceaseless swings,
        Where the noisome insect stings,
        Where the fever-demon strews
        Poison with the falling dews,
        Where the sickly sunbeams glare
        Through the hot and misty air:—
        Gone, gone, sold and gone
        To the rice swamp dank and lone,
        From Virginia hills and waters—
        Woe is me, my stolen daughters!”

        This is the third stanza of a song found, I think, in the Memoirs of Frederick Douglas.

        The time, the geography, and the faces have changed, but it is the same psyche, principles, hatred, the Christian ability to remove the guilt and excuse man’s inhumanity to man.

        If we want to know what the Black community really wants and needs, we ought to ask the Blacks and not leave it to those bigots in Washington D. C. and a host of State Houses across the nation.

        Let me provide a qualifier here. Usually, I allow ‘Black’ to represent all of our minority citizens. Sometimes the subject will make it clear. By the same token, pronouns.

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    • dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum –

      We work with what we have. Actions such as this video demonstrates, plus a long history of bigotry, have caused us to eliminate a lot of our talent pool. Black, Amerinds, and most minorities are only allowed to pay taxes. Our Black brothers and sisters will only have legislative and social parity when they are part of writing laws. Most of our White brothers and sisters are all for that change in society. The supreme beings, however, still want to return to that place they only dream of.

      “I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am”

      Stay curious, friend. It keeps us learning and pushing back the shadows. And humbling ourselves by what we find there.

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    • They exist. Obama was much younger, and so is Harris (very likely to succeed Biden). Buttigieg was even younger and his candidacy was attracting pretty solid support for a while. The party rank-and-file had quite a variegated smorgasbord of candidates to choose from, and if they went for Biden, well, that’s their decision.

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      • I think we had no choice. Buttigieg ran out of money and steam (and he was a bit toooo young, frankly), and Bernie has that fragile oldguy look about him now. The only one left was Biden. He at least has the cachet of actually having been part of a presidency, that has to help. It gives him a leg up, if you will.

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  4. Thanks, Nan. This should wake some people up. This will lift some of the fog. Good work.

    We have a White Problem in America. It is called “The Republican Party.” They see Black people protesting and ask, “what more do ‘those people’ want? ” White America lies to itself and say, “there is no systemic racism.” “There is no disparity in Black and White privilege.”

    Jim Hightower:
    “Government by the rich is called plutocracy. Government by police power is autocracy. Government by thieves is kleptocracy. Government by Trump and the gang, however, is all of the above, which adds up to something called kakistocracy: government by the very worst people in our society.”

    The lower minions of the Republican party suffer from the same oppression as the targeted Black and minority groups, aka, those people. Yet they support their oppressors. The human mind.

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  5. Here in NZ, the entire voting process including electorate boundaries, voter registration, candidate registration, political party registration, the running of the elections and the counting of votes is managed by an independent authority. Apart from the Prime Minister setting the date of the election (which by law must be on a Saturday, and within 3 years of the writs of the previous election being declared), it’s out of the hands of the politicians.

    I’ve voted in the NZ general elections every 3 years for the last 50 years, and not once have I had to face a queue of more than 5 or 6 people, yet we have a voter turnout that exceeds the US turnout by far. Admittedly we do it somewhat differently here. There’s no voting machines. We simply queue up to confirm we’re on the electoral roll. No electronics. Simply a large printed document containing the 60,000 or so names, occupation and addresses of those enrolled in each electorate.

    When it’s confirmed you’re on the roll, you’re given the voting papers and you go behind one of the many screens provided to fill out the forms on which you place a tick beside your choice(s). Then you place the folded up form into the appropriate voting box – one for the electorate vote, one for the party vote, and this year, for the two referendums (voluntary euthanasia, and the legalisation of marijuana for personal use).

    After polling closes at 7 PM, the voting boxes are transported to a central location for each electorate where the votes are counted manually. I’ve been a volunteer counter in the past but these days I prefer to watch the results as they come in on TV. Provisional results are usually in by 11 PM. Those covering a smaller geographical area are usually quicker than those that are very large. Here all electorates are required to have the same number of voters (plus or minus 5%) and in some electorates some polling booths might be hours from where the votes will be counted.

    If you cannot go to a polling booth in your own electorate on polling day, you can cast a special vote at any polling booth, or cast an early vote either by post or in person. It’s also possible for those with disabilities to cast a telephone vote.

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  6. The long lines are a definite problem, but universal mail-in without proper voter identification, not to mention ballot harvesting, is asking for massive fraud and chaos (lots of videos about that, too). There’s no reason not to use absentee ballots if people want to avoid long lines.

    But frankly, I’m beyond tired of all the fear-mongering on both sides. I just tune it out.

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        • I understand your point. The thing is, voting practices in this country have been in place for many years but all of a sudden, it’s a major point of contention. Sure, there’s been problems in the past, but not to the degree that’s being claimed by the current administration.

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          • Well, I think only nine states and D.C. are actually doing universal mail-in. And the electoral college will mitigate against any state-level fraud. But we’ll see what happens. And I hope we know the results in November and not January! But my point is, all of this is unnecessary.

            Our state mailed everyone an absentee-ballot request that they can fill out to get a ballot if they didn’t want to go to the polls. That’s a tried-and-true option without any controversy, and it’s verifiable. I personally don’t like states trying to mess with how we vote just a few months before the election. They are the ones creating the fear on a national level. Trump is just pouring gas on the fire.

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            • The states are doing what Trump wants them to do. They were not taking these measures in 2018. They are only responding to try to save their own butts. In the past 3 + years, the GOP has been exposed as willing to cede all their authority to Him. They went from hating him to being subservient. I don’t know what is going on in N. Carolina and Wisconsin, but Democratic governors with Republican Legislators in control will have little power to prevent changing election laws. When the GOP refused to remove Trump, he owned them lock, stock, and barrel. If not already. They gambled to stay in power, but now, Trump wields the power. We will have to do everything legally available to prevent a catastrophe.

              Liked by 2 people

            • It’s more likely the opposite of what you’re saying. Not sure what alternate reality you’re referring to but U.S. election laws (Article 1 of the Constitution) gave states the responsibility of overseeing federal elections.

              Liked by 1 person

            • Where did I say the states were not in charge of election laws? I may have overlooked it, but I don’t think I changed that law. I mentioned N. C. and Wis. governors specifically. I said the states are responding to what Trump wants from them. Giving Trump the credit for their actions doesn’t mean anything more than coercion. Not that most of them needed any extra push from Dear Leader.

              I didn’t mean to touch any nerves here. I thought we were more or less on the same page. My bad.

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            • Not personally aware of what’s going on with NC and WI governors on this. I wasn’t responding to specific actions. My point was that Trump does not have the power to change state election laws. If he actually had the kind of influence you’re talking about, all 50 states would be voting in person or by absentee ballots. But this all shows it’s being determined along party lines on both sides.

              No nerves touched. Just trying to make a balanced observation. 🙂

              Liked by 1 person

        • When did both sides start saying this? Republicans have long since declared voter fraud with no evidence. They have trouble accepting that the voters did not vote for them. But not even Republicans have ever declared voter fraud as Trump does, even as he is openly trying to screw up the process. Shutting down the postal service was not a matter of funding. It is just one more means to stop the vote. Both Republicans and Trump have said out loud they cannot win without cheating.

          Trump lost the 2016 popular vote by less than 3 m votes. He knows his popularity, even among Republicans, is in the cellar. He is terrified of a Democratic landslide. He screams voter fraud/election fraud to lay the groundwork for his challenge. With Barr, McConnell, and the GOP courts he has a reasonable chance to pull it off. If he does, welcome to Trumpland.

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          • The fear is that the PO is being targeted by Trump, to slow the process down. He never won the last election, he jiggered it; no one “loses” when they’re ahead by 3 million votes, unless something has been going on with the electoral college.
            I think that’s the scary part. We could vote someone in to win by 10M votes, but somehow they could manage to rearrange the deck chairs, and as Bush so artlessly put it after Florida ‘elected’ him, “I won”. Shrug and a grin. Surrrre you did.

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            • Absolutely, the PO is being used. A federal judge has ordered DeToy to halt the disabling of the postal service and to undo the damage already. In his decision, he made clear that he is aware that Trump is using the PO to hold up votes. Intentional interference with an election. The same article/report stated that most of the disabling of sorting machines was in states which the majority supported Clinton.

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College
              In forty-eight states and D.C., the winner of the plurality of the statewide vote receives all of that state’s electors; in Maine and Nebraska, two electors are assigned in this manner and the remaining electors are allocated based on the plurality of votes in each congressional district.[7]

              I don’t understand why, if the electoral college gives their vote to the nominee receiving the plurality of the vote, that the electoral college is a useful function. Unless there is a way to persuade the electors to somehow vote differently. Maine and Nebreska make this possibility look pretty easy to affect.

              electoralvote.com

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    • If states were not shutting down so many polling places there would be less of a problem with long lines. As the video pointed out, the closing of polls was directly intended for minority areas. Moscow Mitch refused to vote on a bill to provide extra money to go to election security. These issues have only become a problem since 2016.

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    • We have mail-in/early voting. Applications are made for a ballot. Ballots are numbered. Ballots do not go to unregistered voters because applications must agree with the registrars existing information. It has worked pretty well for a long time.

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          • @ basenjibrian
            S’okay, he banned John Z as well. Mel is irony – impaired and so wrapped up in his sense of self-importance he is unable to recognise just how creepy he is. Anyone who moderates as a matter of course often has personal honesty issues.
            Also, he actually believes he is making a worthwhile contribution when he posts here.

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            • I would never presume to undermine you or your blog and this has never been my intention and certainly not with regard Mel Wild.
              However, I stand by my assertion that he is a hypocrite and that his comments on this or any other topic, which are almost inevitably underpinned by his Christian worldview, have little or no value any more than the waffle espoused by people like Insanitybytes or Colorstorm.

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            • Becky’s comments are also underpinned by [her] Christian worldview. Do you also allege that what she says has little to no value?

              I’m well aware of your antognism against Mel, but on my blog, maybe it would be best if you just ignore his comments. OK?

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            • Rather than scour all Becky’s comments, this is one of your comments to her that rather succinctly illustrates the exasperation felt by most people who engage her, irrespective of the topic.

              Becky, it seems to me you just don’t “get it.”

              So, do I consider what she posts has little or no value? Hmm …. depends what one consider ‘value’ I suppose?
              🙂

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  7. Just read that Trump now wants to be referred to as “Princess” Trump. Apparently that’s what Putin calls him in their private “meetings”. Go figure, eh. Now, I’m off to get 56 thousand mail in voting ballots so I can easily rig this upcoming election in Biden’s favor. I did this for Obama and he won! It’s SOOOOO easy to do, Nan! I highly recommend all your readers do it. I mean, it’s SOOOO easy! HA!! Man…my side hurts from laughin’ cause of the numerous elections I’ve rigged. Well, off to watch our first American Princess lie like a rug on the “YouTubes”. See ya at polls–56 thousand times that is!!! HAHAHAHA!! SOOOO easy to do!!

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  8. Hello Nan. I think I can vouch that voting inequities are racially / income motivated. I live in Southern Florida. Years ago Ron and I use to have to go to a economically poorer neighborhood to early vote. It was racially diverse also. The place chosen for early voting was small, little parking, it was crowded and had long lines. However they have opened up a voting place in the area I live in for both early voting and regular voting day. The area I live in is majority white with very few minorities and I think generally has a higher average income. Our voting place has a lot of parking, really large parking. The building is large, the check in tables five times as many, the voting areas are plentiful, the tables set up for people like me that need to sit to vote are plentiful. In the years we have been using it Ron and I have never had a wait or a line. I wonder what is the difference in the two areas?

    Nan recently I tried to dig into the idea of voter fraud. Every legitimate verified source gave the same results that voting fraud either in person or by mail in has been negligible and couldn’t affect an election. For example

    But a Washington Post analysis of data collected by three vote-by-mail states with help from the nonprofit Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) found that officials identified just 372 possible cases of double voting or voting on behalf of deceased people out of about 14.6 million votes cast by mail in the 2016 and 2018 general elections, or 0.0025 percent.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/minuscule-number-of-potentially-fraudulent-ballots-in-states-with-universal-mail-voting-undercuts-trump-claims-about-election-risks/2020/06/08/1e78aa26-a5c5-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

    Be well. Hugs

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    • Hello Nan. Sorry I mean to add this also but hit the post button before I did. Hugs

      Despite this dramatic increase in mail voting over time, fraud rates remain infinitesimally small. None of the five states that hold their elections primarily by mail has had any voter fraud scandals since making that change. As the New York Times editorial board notes, “states that use vote-by-mail have encountered essentially zero fraud: Oregon, the pioneer in this area, has sent out more than 100 million mail-in ballots since 2000, and has documented only about a dozen cases of proven fraud.” That’s 0.00001 percent of all votes cast.*** An exhaustive investigative journalism analysis of all known voter fraud cases identified only 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud from 2000 to 2012. As election law professor Richard L. Hasen notes, during that period “literally billions of votes were cast.” While mail ballots are more susceptible to fraud than in-person voting, it is still more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than to commit mail voting fraud.

      https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/false-narrative-vote-mail-fraud

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    • Oh, not true, Scottie! Hell, I’ve voted 67 thousand times already! SOOO easy to do! Tell all the trumpers you know to vote multiple times! Tell ’em to brag about it to their election place officials. Tell them to say these words exactly,”I’m willingly and knowingly voting multiple times for Donald Trump because I want to.” Let ’em do that and let ’em show us just how easy it is to cheat and how “legal” it truly is to vote knowingly multiple times. God, I love Trump voters–smartest grapes on the vine, eh.

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    • Can you imagine the possibility of “forging” ballots? Do they not know that ballots have numerical/alphabetical codes and voter information that must match the registrar’s records? It works for the target crowd, though. Listening to Trump, I had this image of people going around with boxes of ‘forged’ ballots, passing them out willy-nilly. I assume the trumpetts observe what they are willing to do, and project that onto the rest of society. Where could anybody find enough people willing to attempt such a thing and chance the consequences when they get caught.

      I know that you know that Scottie, I just have to get it said.

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      • Hello cagjr. I agree with you about their projection. A bit off topic, but I listened to Ted Cruz on the Sunday news shows and he was accusing the Democrats of doing and wanting to do everything the Republicans were doing and wanted to do. Total projection and totally wrong, but he stated it all as if it was facts written in stone. The Republicans / cult of tRump have gone full in on gaslighting the people. They are not even pretending to normalcy, but out right lying about provable history. I can’t wrap my mind around what is happening right now in our government. Hugs

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        • Their plan is to create a false narrative and make it ubiquitous. That is the standard process for changing a government. Trump came out calling the press ‘the enemy of the people. He claimed the economy, which was booming, to be ‘a mess. Since 2017, our entire society, economy, electoral system, and our democracy need restructuring. A task that “only I can fix.” It is typical of dictators and tyrants. I’m thinking of the 1930s and 40s. A non-existent crisis becomes the new ‘reality.’ The frogs are comfortable in the cooking pot.

          When he started the assault, it was only him and his campaign team; now it has spread throughout, not just among the troglodytes, but the GOP legislators and a great deal of the more influential Republicans. State governors have allowed trump to dictate how they run their states, with no concern for their constituency. Michael Steele was on a news program trying to make the trump faithful aware that they have been had. He wasn’t on Fox, so I don’t know how many he reached.

          Now, RBG has passed, and people voice their hope that Trump and the GOP will ‘do the right thing.’ How can they expect people who are abjectly immoral and dishonorable to do anything opposite of their nature is beyond me. This is their hour. They have worked for this situation. The Republicans retaining any sense of morality, honor, or character have bailed out since Trump was elected.

          The Federalist Society, Fox, Q-Anon, Breitbart, OANN, ad infinitum (actually, I don’t know all the right-wing rags) have done their job. Propaganda works.
          Cheer!

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