We are all about to become experts in "Writ of Mandamus". I think Chris Karr will be getting judges to hand them out like candy this year. Not sure about other states.
First, the Georgia law did not ban passing out bottles of water in voting lines. It prohibited distribution by individuals who might be campaigning political partisans. I have voted where there were tubs of iced down bottled water outside the polling station. I'm still at a loss to understand why it is an issue during voting season when there are so many options for voting. I never stood in a line that was backed up outside even during the five presidential elections I voted in close-in metro Atlanta when there was only one day of voting.
Second, I agree that machine counts would be much faster and more accurate than hand counts. The people who want hand counts are off base on potential problems. If an election is extremely close, counting and recounting the ballots will probably produce consistent results. Verifying the legitimacy of the ballots on the front end is the best bet, and that's really what most people feel is lacking for mail-in and drop box ballots. Preserving envelopes and signatures to at least make sure the total vote count matches the number of ballots submitted and to verify legitimacy, if necessary, would help.
"Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush, tree-lined complex in Union City, an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents, nearly 88% of them Black. She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all, but decided to stay."
I have to call BS on this NPR reporting. The county where I voted in the last three presidential elections is in Georgia and has about 50,000 residents - more than twice as many as Union City. It has only one polling site and is ten times the land area of Union City.
With mail-in options and 30 days of early voting, it's obviously the people, not the system, at fault. Next complaint will be that the voting precinct does not send poll workers door to door to collect ballots.
They describe Georgia voting turnout as massive. Isn't that a good thing? First of thirty days early voting means nothing. There are more days and weeks to vote. This is nothing but liberal propaganda. I'm giving firsthand on-the-ground reporting.
I do not like drop box or mail-in voting as it is now done. I could fully support it if the privacy concerns were foregone in the interest of election trust and integrity. Safeguarded data bases would work. Multi-person control is what we used for nuclear authentications. That would seem to be a good compromise for voter privacy.
I don't know when you wrote this column, but just this morning I read where Trump has pulled ahead in 3 battleground states, and they are as follows: 3 points in NC, 4 in GA, and 5 in AZ...
One of those is a 10 point swing, which seems to fly in the face of other data points. It could be due to the small sample size (~700 respondents) and other polling issues - but it'll be added to the averages.
"Attorney General Chris Karr"
It's Chris Carr. Chris Karr is but a lowly HOA board president in Chicago.
(I just want to be properly managing expectations this cycle.)
LOL oops! I'll correct that unless you want the promotion.
To be fair, AG isn't one of the state positions that we see a lot of. At least not when things are working right.
I'm fine with not having my home address and phone number on #MAGA idiots' radar.
We are all about to become experts in "Writ of Mandamus". I think Chris Karr will be getting judges to hand them out like candy this year. Not sure about other states.
Where's Kris Kobach (Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity) when we need him?
A couple of thoughts.
First, the Georgia law did not ban passing out bottles of water in voting lines. It prohibited distribution by individuals who might be campaigning political partisans. I have voted where there were tubs of iced down bottled water outside the polling station. I'm still at a loss to understand why it is an issue during voting season when there are so many options for voting. I never stood in a line that was backed up outside even during the five presidential elections I voted in close-in metro Atlanta when there was only one day of voting.
Second, I agree that machine counts would be much faster and more accurate than hand counts. The people who want hand counts are off base on potential problems. If an election is extremely close, counting and recounting the ballots will probably produce consistent results. Verifying the legitimacy of the ballots on the front end is the best bet, and that's really what most people feel is lacking for mail-in and drop box ballots. Preserving envelopes and signatures to at least make sure the total vote count matches the number of ballots submitted and to verify legitimacy, if necessary, would help.
On the line issues: that likely has more to do with when and where you were voting.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924527679/why-do-nonwhite-georgia-voters-have-to-wait-in-line-for-hours-too-few-polling-pl
"Hundreds of people were waiting in the heat and rain outside the lush, tree-lined complex in Union City, an Atlanta suburb with 22,400 residents, nearly 88% of them Black. She briefly considered not casting a ballot at all, but decided to stay."
I have to call BS on this NPR reporting. The county where I voted in the last three presidential elections is in Georgia and has about 50,000 residents - more than twice as many as Union City. It has only one polling site and is ten times the land area of Union City.
With mail-in options and 30 days of early voting, it's obviously the people, not the system, at fault. Next complaint will be that the voting precinct does not send poll workers door to door to collect ballots.
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/13/more-than-10-hour-wait-and-long-lines-as-early-voting-starts-in-georgia
WaPo: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/georgia-early-vote-lines/2020/10/12/f8ffcd8c-0ca9-11eb-8a35-237ef1eb2ef7_story.html
USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/12/election-2020-georgia-opens-first-day-early-voting-long-lines/5972650002/
Or from the primary in June 2020: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/06/09/2020-primary-georgia-voters-see-long-lines-machine-issues-amid-pandemic/5327909002/
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/voter-turnout-soared-georgia-despite-massive-primary-day-problems-n1230806
And just to confirm: are we supporting or deriding mail voting now?
They describe Georgia voting turnout as massive. Isn't that a good thing? First of thirty days early voting means nothing. There are more days and weeks to vote. This is nothing but liberal propaganda. I'm giving firsthand on-the-ground reporting.
I do not like drop box or mail-in voting as it is now done. I could fully support it if the privacy concerns were foregone in the interest of election trust and integrity. Safeguarded data bases would work. Multi-person control is what we used for nuclear authentications. That would seem to be a good compromise for voter privacy.
You've provided an anecdote about your one area: does that necessarily mean that lines were not an issue elsewhere?
It does not. But it does mean the line issues elsewhere are the fault of the voters - not the system.
Unrelated: wth? https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1838350186097041668
I don't know when you wrote this column, but just this morning I read where Trump has pulled ahead in 3 battleground states, and they are as follows: 3 points in NC, 4 in GA, and 5 in AZ...
One of those is a 10 point swing, which seems to fly in the face of other data points. It could be due to the small sample size (~700 respondents) and other polling issues - but it'll be added to the averages.