US Elections 2020

I have never had to wait in line to vote, never having seen a line. I can see the church hall used as a polling station from my kitchen window, it is one of five polling stations in my ward, which is the sub-division of the Parliamentary constituency. These five stations account for approx 7,788 electors (2019 election). My recollection of my days as election organizer for the Labour Party in London in the 1980s is that there were about 4 polling stations in our Ward. I think 4-5 is standard, depending on the size of the Parliamentary constituency and whether or not it has urban as well as rural voters.

I wonder if there are stark variations in the number of polling stations in the US, be they in large cities or rural areas, and how this impacts voter behaviour. I don't think any voter should be more than a 5-10 minute walk to their polling station, though I accept this might not be possible in remote areas of Wales and Scotland or even rural areas in England.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

Is it legal for Nigel Farage to endorse the President at a public rally? Should the Election law not ban any US citizen from seeking, and/or receiving help from a foreign national? And how did Farage get into the country anyway?

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Slithered in on a trail of slime!

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Originally Posted by Stavros

I have never had to wait in line to vote, never having seen a line. I can see the church hall used as a polling station from my kitchen window, it is one of five polling stations in my ward, which is the sub-division of the Parliamentary constituency. These five stations account for approx 7,788 electors (2019 election). My recollection of my days as election organizer for the Labour Party in London in the 1980s is that there were about 4 polling stations in our Ward. I think 4-5 is standard, depending on the size of the Parliamentary constituency and whether or not it has urban as well as rural voters.

I wonder if there are stark variations in the number of polling stations in the US, be they in large cities or rural areas, and how this impacts voter behaviour. I don't think any voter should be more than a 5-10 minute walk to their polling station, though I accept this might not be possible in remote areas of Wales and Scotland or even rural areas in England.

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My regular polling place is right across the street from house. But the early voting station, which is what I did this past Saturday is about a 10 minute walk.

Like I said before, the longest I had to ever wait on line to vote was about 2.5 hours back in 2008. It was early in the morning before people were going to work.

In 2012, 2016, and the last NYC mayoral election, I voted in the afternoon and I was in and out in about less than 10 minutes.

When they started doing early voting here in New York State a week ago, there were long lines and waits. For example, both my father and sister in law each waited for two hours. I actually walked past my early voting station on the first day, saw how long the line was, and decided to leave. I made sure to give myself two days for the opportunity to do early voting before it was over. I think one of the reasons why the lines and waits were so long throughout the state was because everybody was in hurry to do it as soon as possible. Once everyone did, you started hearing less and less about those two issues.

I know in other parts of the country there have been long lines and waits. But there were other states that started doing early voting a month ago.

Win or Lose, Trump and Biden's Parties Will Plunge Into Uncertainty


http://news.yahoo.com/win-lose-trump...134212544.html

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Originally Posted by blackchubby38

Win or Lose, Trump and Biden's Parties Will Plunge Into Uncertainty
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The article you have linked is on the money, indeed, Jeff Flake was on Channel4 News in the last hour arguing that it is no longer possibe for the Republicans to win voters they don't try to appeal to -identfied by their youth and diversity -the 'base' no longer forms a solid enough platform, while as you know, the Democrats now have to juggle left and right, on issues such as climate change, health care and immigration. My guess is that if they win, Kamala Harris has the hardest job riding Biden's moderate platform -more focused on getting over the Covid crisis than other policies, much as in 2009 he had to deal with the financial crisis- while shoring up supporters for her 2024 run at the White House. And I assume a lot will depend on whether AOC and people like her have more, or less supporters in the House and Senate.

Moreover, the US is not alone in this regard. Boris Johnsn's Brexit adventure has not so much split the Conservative Party as all but transformed it into an ideological campaign, named Brexit. And what Covid has done, with its massive state intervention in the economy, is trash Margaret Thatcher's legacy, and beg the question, 'What is a Conservative'? The major defeat of the old socialist parties in France, Italy, the Netherlands, and if not their defeat, their eclipse in Germany, has seen a rise in 'the right' whether it is the moderate versions in France and Germany, or the more strident ones in Hungary and Poland -but all have shown themselves struggling with Covid, and even before Covid I am not sure what it was that the 'Right' had achieved that is of long lasting significance.

So I think we are living through an era of doubt, about the competence of politicians and their parties, and that what used to define them seems no longer to make sense.

From another perspective, I think the US is better placed to survive intact, notwithstanding the disturbing rise of armed militias. In the long term, Democrats have done what Lincoln did in the 1860s -rescued America from its own flirtation with self-destruction. Thus, FDR rescued the US from economic oblivion in the 1930s and 1940s. LBJ liberated the US from the curse of segregation, and Obama rescued the banking and financial system from collapse. The Clinton Presidency to some extent liberalized American society but played a key role in major concusions to armed conflict in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, and the Middle East, even though it failed elsewhere, but you can't get everything right. Whether or not Biden can restore some of that sense of mission based on the values the US believes in, remains to be seen, but he is better placed than anyone else to restore pride in American institutions, and faith in its politicians.

The UK, by contrast, has Brexit to deal with, and in my view is a broken country, and in the worst position in Europe.

The alternative is too grim to think about.

So all votes count? Then why is the President attempting to stop States from counting them? If there are so many postal votes it may take days to count them, how can we be sure that some States have settled their account? And, while it is well known that the 'Latino' vote in Florida tends to vote against the Democrats, voter suppression has almost certainly benefited the Republicans.

Long way to go, a pity the President can't keep his mouth shut.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

So all votes count? Then why is the President attempting to stop States from counting them? If there are so many postal votes it may take days to count them, how can we be sure that some States have settled their account? And, while it is well known that the 'Latino' vote in Florida tends to vote against the Democrats, voter suppression has almost certainly benefited the Republicans.

Long way to go, a pity the President can't keep his mouth shut.

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Completely agree that there is a long way to go in the 2020 US Presidential Election,and no one is going to know the outcome til all the ballots are counted.

Regardless of what happens, I think two things are certain going forward.

1. I think the Democrats can forget about winning Florida again in the foreseeable future.

2. Polls should never be used again and the polling industry should collapse onto itself. I didn't really trust any of the polls that I was seeing. But I wanted to see how the things went before commenting on them.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

The UK, by contrast, has Brexit to deal with, and in my view is a broken country, and in the worst position in Europe.

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Oh cheer up, it might be a resounding success.
It'll do you good to get out in the fresh air, digging patriotic turnips for the soup kitchens...Assuming there's any of us left alive on Plague Island, that is!

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Originally Posted by blackchubby38

Regardless of what happens, I think two things are certain going forward.

1. I think the Democrats can forget about winning Florida again in the foreseeable future.

2. Polls should never be used again and the polling industry should collapse onto itself. I didn't really trust any of the polls that I was seeing. But I wanted to see how the things went before commenting on them.

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1. Biden lost Florida by 3%. I don't know how you come to the conclusion that's insurmountable in future elections. It is now a red state but certainly a fairly close state in total vote.

2. There is no other guide than polling and however much error there is, refining polling methodology and accounting for uncertainty will continue. It's also possible that a lot of the error we are seeing is accounted for by ballots that were not delivered by USPS even after an order by a federal judge to sweep facilities for ballots. It's one thing to say you don't trust polls and another thing to have some alternative. Tea leaves?

Finally, let's see what happens when final tallies come in. It's close right now. Of course Trump doesn't want all votes to be counted because what remains in the midwestern states are mail in votes which went overwhelmingly for Biden.