2024 USA Election: Wishin' and Hopin'

[Fitzcarraldo]

"Addressing conservative LGBTQ+ supporters at the sold-out fundraiser, Melania Trump said money raised that night -- more than $1 million, according to organizers -- would go toward an effort to deploy resources to key swing states in educating voters about conservative LGBTQ+ causes and delivering pro-Trump messages among gay and lesbian communities, said Bill White, one of the co-hosts and a longtime friend of Donald Trump."
Melania Trump announces initiative to woo gay voters during fundraiser, organizer says - ABC News (go.com)

Hmmm..conserve what? I am under the impression a second Trump term would take away the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans. Or is this the first scene in a messy divorce?

I didn't hear from Dozing Don, 'I approve this message'.

He'll gladly accept money from anyone foolish enough to give it to him.

[Stavros]

Something puzzles me about the US election system. Am I right in thinking that a ballot paper is a single sheet of paper with all of the candidates standing for election for multiple posts: that is: President, Senator, Congressional Representative, Attorney General and other public offices?

If so, when Trump says votes for him were flipped for Biden, doesn't this mean all the other votes were also flipped? I don't understand the technology here. One voter may choose Biden over Trump, but the Republican Senator over the Democrat. Or vice versa with Trump and a Democrat. How can each ballot paper be flipped to ensure one name on the sheet is changed, but none of, or any of the others?

I have also been told that many voters just choose one party for all of the available offices, rather than choose each one as they prefer.

I don't know so I am asking for clarification. In the UK we separate ballot papers: last week I had two ballot papers: one for a local council seat, the other for the region's Police and Crime Commissioner and each one had its own colour: yellow and green. I don't understand why in the US you cannot have a separate ballot paper for the Presidential vote, and give them their own colour if people are confused.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Voting varies by state and by county within the state. In my county, we use paper ballots and we fill in our votes for individual candidates with a pen, and the ballot is then run through a scanner. There is no straight-ticket option on my county's ballots.

Trump's nonsense is self-centered, as always. He doesn't care about any other offices. He's claiming votes for president were flipped via computer, and also that ballot boxes were stuffed with phony ballots including votes for Biden.

[Stavros]

Voting varies by state and by county within the state. In my county, we use paper ballots and we fill in our votes for individual candidates with a pen, and the ballot is then run through a scanner. There is no straight-ticket option on my county's ballots.

Trump's nonsense is self-centered, as always. He doesn't care about any other offices. He's claiming votes for president were flipped via computer, and also that ballot boxes were stuffed with phony ballots including votes for Biden.

Thanks. I once read some ballot papers are very large and they can be inserted into a machine, like a casino fruit machine, and you can select 'All' and pull a level or do something else for some votes, don't know if that is what happens or how it works.

Why a scanner? Here the ballot papers are taken to the count, and manually separated into piles, but that is possible when there is only one office up for grabs. I was an election organizer for the Labour Party many many years ago and sat across from the staff as they put the ballot papers on separate piles -for, against, and spoiled (usually an X in the space between the candidate names, sometimes abusive words). Once counted the candidates can then inspect the votes and ask for recounts or for the spoiled ballot to be awarded to them, eg if the X is half in half out of their box.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Thanks. I once read some ballot papers are very large and they can be inserted into a machine, like a casino fruit machine, and you can select 'All' and pull a level or do something else for some votes, don't know if that is what happens or how it works.

Why a scanner? Here the ballot papers are taken to the count, and manually separated into piles, but that is possible when there is only one office up for grabs. I was an election organizer for the Labour Party many many years ago and sat across from the staff as they put the ballot papers on separate piles -for, against, and spoiled (usually an X in the space between the candidate names, sometimes abusive words). Once counted the candidates can then inspect the votes and ask for recounts or for the spoiled ballot to be awarded to them, eg if the X is half in half out of their box.

Scanner gives them a quick computer tally, but there is a paper backup if a manual recount is required. It's supposedly the best method. Some places are all electronic.

I remember in the '70s going with my mother to vote, and in that case it was a large machine where you moved individual toggles to select candidates, and then you pulled a lever to register the whole ballot.