This really scares the crap out of me. I dont know the potential number of people who will end up voting by mail, but given Covid, I assume that would be significant. Messing with that system will really screw Americas voice and essentially block democracy. What can we do to make sure that our government know that this is unacceptable
Because we're seeing the postmaster general, a major Trump donor, take steps that would potentially threaten the efficacy of mail in voting?
And while I agree with the GP, it should also be noted that we've been saying "this is unacceptable" about a wide variety of things for the past 4 years, and it hasn't really had much effect, as far as reining in the crazy.
This is about interference with the delivery the ballots (both from the election officials to voters and to vice versa), not about the security of the ballots themselves.
If the past four years have taught us anything, is that just about every aspect of our government is ripe for fraud when the party in charge doesn't care about the well-being of the institutions they supposedly hold dear.
It seems like you're trying to make the case that we should listen to the man telling us mail-in votes are fraudulent... because his administration is exhibiting signs of committing said fraud?
For what its worth, we've been mail-in voting in Colorado for a while. Works great when the government isn't actively trying to undermine democracy.
Exactly. There is so much fraud related to mail-in ballots, mostly on the handling side, not the voting side. This needs to be safeguarded if we go down this route.
I saw no mention of fraud, or mishandling of mail-in ballots, or absentee ballots. The crux of the short article was not on voting fraud but on the new Postmaster DeJoy's actions that are being investigated.
If you're talking about the NY primary, it didn't have much to do with the mail, it was mostly people who were unfamiliar with the process and mixed up things like forgetting to sign it.
Patel said his campaign is looking at thousands of other votes that seem to be missing postmarks entirely—a post-office error... He sent me a photo of a box of 3,000 absentee ballots from just one part of the district that have been ruled invalid because they lack a postmark.
Personally I've heard a lot about the mail being an issue in NY.
I'm also terrified. I thought voting and literally the core of our democracy would be off limits to the current administration, but here we are. Our elections are being undermined to the best of the president's ability. The news over the past few months is honestly something more fit for a third world country on the verge of dictatorship, not the United States.
Appointed, not elected, and this was the plan. I just sort of hoped that there was a layer of bureaucracy at USPS that might be able to resist this kind of blatant sabotage, but I guess not..
"believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters."
... I'm not 100% sure from this article what shifts took place. It's quite possible to handle the increased volume of mail (and lack of funds) these changes were necessary in an attempt to prioritize her concerns.
Honestly, articles like this appear as propaganda to me.
Take my opinion as you will -- neither party represents me, so I don't feel overly supportive of one side (perhaps making me more sensitive to said propaganda).
I agree with your point - the article does not mention what shifts happened or how that affects USPS aside from what you can imply from Pelosi’s letter. But if you trust Pelosi‘s sentiment, which I do, then the article doesn’t seem like propaganda.
Instead it looks to me as if you’ve given in to the other propaganda that you can’t trust either side and that they are both equally detrimental to US democracy - which is false. At this point the biggest threat to US democracy is Trump and the Republican party. Period. Vote him out and then convert the remaining anti-racist Republicans to Libertarian or vote them out. Republicans do not deserve to be in government. In my public opinion they have tarnished their reputation through DECADES of deceit, culminating in this wretched administration. There are two things they stand for now - racism and classism. Vote them out.
> But if you trust Pelosi‘s sentiment, which I do, then the article doesn’t seem like propaganda
I tend not to trust any of my politicians on the onset, I need evidence. Without evidence, it's just political theater.
Even the rest of your statements, are reiterating (in my opinion) propaganda. I've listened to a massive amount of republicans and democrats. It's a game, both are trying to rile up their base.
Eh that’s a novel, but it looks like you are definitely equivocating the two sides.
No one candidate or party will ever represent you and your beliefs fully. You have to pick based on certain issues, identity, affinity or fear.
From your writing though I would guess you fall into some Libertarian box.
Also - to respond to part of your article - just speak your mind. If you get fired for what you say you either deserved it or you don’t want to work for that company. ‘Cancel culture’ isn’t a real thing, it’s a right wing pejorative term for social activism.
> Eh that’s a novel, but it looks like you are definitely equivocating the two sides.
> No one candidate or party will ever represent you and your beliefs fully. You have to pick based on certain issues, identity, affinity or fear.
Kind of think you missed the point... (and didn't read what I wrote, at least in full). The point is that each of the two parties are manipulating riling people up to vote "against" someone else. That's dangerous, less effective, and will lead to the destruction of our society if continued.
I think if one steps back and considers their value system they're able to make more reasonable decisions. Truth be told, neither party represents me because both parties are looking to take away my liberty. They have to. The whole point is to "get the other side". Even the policies are inconsistent: "guns aren't safe, we shouldn't teach about firearms in schools" or "We shouldn't be forced to vaccinate because we own our bodies, but abortions should be illegal"
It's a false dichotomy. I don't have to pick which side I fall on based on certain issues, no one does. It's a choice to compromise for the "least evil". If we instead were inspired and focused on what we wanted, we'd decimate both parties and reconstitute them. I sense no one is fully happy, the deal we are making is the deal with the devil.
The article has a neutral headline. It includes statements from people on both sides of the political divide - you just included one of the quotes from one of the sides.
We could argue until the cows come home about how many words the article contains that were quoted by whom, and whether the right words were quoted, and someone might feel that the article leans to the left or leans to the right.
Keep in mind that having everybody well informed and voting is the main idea of democracy, which is what the democrats are trying to achieve and what the republicans are trying to hinder.
It really is scary how open the current administration is about attacking the postal system before a historic mail in election. I sent my ballot application in the other day and it is already taking an extra two days compared to what I am used to. The intent is clear.
That, plus the constant narrative about voter fraud (which apparently only happens in blue leaning states) and then the comment about delaying the election. He's setting himself up so that if he loses in November he can scream "they cheated" and try to override our democratic process. Voting is the core of democracy and it's crazy that it's coming under attack. Whatever the outcome of the election is, this November is going to be a scary time.
It's interesting to see the election being manipulated right in front of the public's eyes and be unable to do anything about it. This post office bomb is only one part. We are being told by our representatives about their briefings from intelligence agencies on foreign attacks on our elections, yet are not allowed to know any details. The white house clearly supports both domestic interference and foreign. They are actively perpetrating the fraud domestically and passively doing nothing about foreigners. There are other players, like Facebook which intentionally allows conservative conspiracy theories to thrive. It's hard to imagine this year's elections will be fair with so much meddling allowed to happen. Will we have another election decided by the Supreme Court because ballots can't be counted quickly enough? Full me once shame on ...
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 87.7 ms ] threadAnd while I agree with the GP, it should also be noted that we've been saying "this is unacceptable" about a wide variety of things for the past 4 years, and it hasn't really had much effect, as far as reining in the crazy.
It's a scary situation indeed.
It seems like you're trying to make the case that we should listen to the man telling us mail-in votes are fraudulent... because his administration is exhibiting signs of committing said fraud?
For what its worth, we've been mail-in voting in Colorado for a while. Works great when the government isn't actively trying to undermine democracy.
Here's an atlantic article about it: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/new-yor...
That said: I think New York is an example of why the debate about this is worth having. 20% of ballots getting tossed is catastrophic.
From your link
Patel said his campaign is looking at thousands of other votes that seem to be missing postmarks entirely—a post-office error... He sent me a photo of a box of 3,000 absentee ballots from just one part of the district that have been ruled invalid because they lack a postmark.
Personally I've heard a lot about the mail being an issue in NY.
As Nancy Pelosi brings up the concern:
"believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters."
... I'm not 100% sure from this article what shifts took place. It's quite possible to handle the increased volume of mail (and lack of funds) these changes were necessary in an attempt to prioritize her concerns.
Honestly, articles like this appear as propaganda to me.
Take my opinion as you will -- neither party represents me, so I don't feel overly supportive of one side (perhaps making me more sensitive to said propaganda).
> But if you trust Pelosi‘s sentiment, which I do, then the article doesn’t seem like propaganda
I tend not to trust any of my politicians on the onset, I need evidence. Without evidence, it's just political theater.
Even the rest of your statements, are reiterating (in my opinion) propaganda. I've listened to a massive amount of republicans and democrats. It's a game, both are trying to rile up their base.
Full thoughts here: https://austingwalters.com/on-committing-suicide/
(wrote that so I wouldn't have to explain every time).
No one candidate or party will ever represent you and your beliefs fully. You have to pick based on certain issues, identity, affinity or fear.
From your writing though I would guess you fall into some Libertarian box.
Also - to respond to part of your article - just speak your mind. If you get fired for what you say you either deserved it or you don’t want to work for that company. ‘Cancel culture’ isn’t a real thing, it’s a right wing pejorative term for social activism.
> No one candidate or party will ever represent you and your beliefs fully. You have to pick based on certain issues, identity, affinity or fear.
Kind of think you missed the point... (and didn't read what I wrote, at least in full). The point is that each of the two parties are manipulating riling people up to vote "against" someone else. That's dangerous, less effective, and will lead to the destruction of our society if continued.
I think if one steps back and considers their value system they're able to make more reasonable decisions. Truth be told, neither party represents me because both parties are looking to take away my liberty. They have to. The whole point is to "get the other side". Even the policies are inconsistent: "guns aren't safe, we shouldn't teach about firearms in schools" or "We shouldn't be forced to vaccinate because we own our bodies, but abortions should be illegal"
It's a false dichotomy. I don't have to pick which side I fall on based on certain issues, no one does. It's a choice to compromise for the "least evil". If we instead were inspired and focused on what we wanted, we'd decimate both parties and reconstitute them. I sense no one is fully happy, the deal we are making is the deal with the devil.
We could argue until the cows come home about how many words the article contains that were quoted by whom, and whether the right words were quoted, and someone might feel that the article leans to the left or leans to the right.
But straight-up propaganda?
The Democrats want greater voter participation because they believe it will swing elections their way.
The Republicans want mostly in-person voting by motivated citizens, in the hopes it will swing the vote their way.
It's an unprecedented situation and no one seems to know what's going to happen.
That, plus the constant narrative about voter fraud (which apparently only happens in blue leaning states) and then the comment about delaying the election. He's setting himself up so that if he loses in November he can scream "they cheated" and try to override our democratic process. Voting is the core of democracy and it's crazy that it's coming under attack. Whatever the outcome of the election is, this November is going to be a scary time.