From an immigrant friend on the East Coast:
I drove to my [athletic] club today and listened to NPR to get my pulse up.
Started counting how many times they said “democracy is on the ballot”, “election deniers”, “threat to democracy” and so on
47 times in 50 minutes
What was the period covered by this study? 5:20-6:10 pm. In other words, there was enough time for the righteous listener to wipe the sweat off his/her/zir/their brow after a demanding day of pretend-to-work-from-home and respond to these threats by driving the working-class-subsidized electric car to the still-open polls.
Sadly, the call was not heeded by the righteous in Florida. The candidate who warned of fascism rising and democracy ending if he were to be defeated actually was defeated, even in counties where the majority of voters are registered in his party.
From The Google:
Charlie Crist lost in traditionally Democrat Miami, abandoned by his Latinx brothers, sisters, and binary-resisters, despite having been endorsed by the Miami Herald. It isn’t surprising that Mr. Crist won in Tallahassee, where everyone works for the government or a government-run university. It would be interesting to try to figure out what made Orlando and Fort Lauderdale outliers. Why don’t they love Ron?
Suppose that you are concerned about the end of democracy here in Florida. The New York Times has us covered.
I do like the Science-based “Take a deep breath and then plunge your face into a bowl or sink filled with ice water for 15 to 30 seconds” idea, but I would prefer “Put your head deep into a toilet and close the lid on your back to feel safe, making sure not to compress your breathing straw.”
How are things going back in our former home state? History was made:
The Human Rights Campaign applauded Healey’s win, saying, “as one of our nation’s first lesbian governors, she will not only be a champion of pro-equality policies, but also a role model for the entire LGBTQ+ community.”
The U.S. also has a chance to see its second openly lesbian governor elected on Tuesday. Tina Kotek, Oregon’s Speaker of the House, is running for governor of her state against Republican Christine Drazan and independent candidate Betsy Johnson. Oregon has had a Democratic governor since 1987.
Maybe this new role model can find some common ground with Ron DeSantis? From Healey’s campaign page on immigration:
Maura has been a leading advocate for immigrant rights. As Governor, she will ensure that all Massachusetts families can thrive.
- Ensuring that eligible undocumented residents can receive a driver’s license, regardless of immigration status.
- Ending state and local law enforcement’s involvement in federal immigration matters.
- Expanding the state’s capacity to meet the language access needs of our communities.
- At the federal level, providing a meaningful pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
She wants to take care of migrants and the Florida legislature has appropriate funds to help migrants to where go to where they will be welcomed.
Related:
The red wave was a bust. Pavel, the menace from the north, has beaten us again!
You were right about Pavel!
Much of the coverage on NPR where I am yesterday was the COP22 Climate Conference. The Earth is burning and we are at the “Teeping Point” (according to António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres GCC GCL who sounds like an old Soviet Politburo member) and a “suicide pact” – and then what NPR described as being on the cusp of “Irreversible Climate Chaos.”
Perfectly suited to my hospital visit mood.
As the afternoon dragged on and the sun began to set the coverage shifted to the midterms and the timing and content described by your friend sounds right to me!
Some more election deniers include the far right NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/magazine/the-myth-of-the-hacker-proof-voting-machine.html
In the 15 years since electronic voting machines were first adopted by many states, numerous reports by computer scientists have shown nearly every make and model to be vulnerable to hacking.
And the far right Canadian government:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63551134
At least 11 candidates were supported by China in the 2019 federal elections, officials reportedly told Mr Trudeau.
It is clear that voting machines will have shoddily written software stacks, because no one wants to work in that field. Combine that with numerous exploits like the recent Linux kernel WiFi exploits (which do not require a connection, scanning for networks is sufficient!) and software developers which may be woke radicals from the U.S., or state sponsored from Russia, Ukraine, etc., and you have a disaster.
Voting machines need to be made unconstitutional.
comment on twitter :
”
A polling booth ran out of ballots papers (favored by Dems), which happened in a Pennsylvania in a close race. No requirement for ID in fact the poll worker was mildly annoyed when I showed my ID. No way to prevent double voting as in early voting by mail & then again in person
“
All but one of the “2020 election denier” candidates for Sec. of State (election administrator) were defeated, and Lauren Boebert was defeated. The fever may be breaking everywhere but Mar-A-Lago and Abacoa.
I agree all algo-driven voting machines should be illegal.
The plain tabulators that return a marked ballot for inspection and can produce duplicates for a hand recount should be ok. The irregularities reported for this type were erroneous printed ballots that should have been caught and resubmitted by the voter.
That said, I don’t see a problem with totally manual marking and counting, if voters are ok with delays. Elections are seriously understaffed for hand counts.
Upon further review, I understand the good voting machines do not print duplicates, they store the same hardcopy ballots inspected by the voter.