One million Americans have already cast 2020 vote in ‘historic’ early voting surge

[Thomas Veil]

Biden is also out-fundraising Trump. By a lot.

 

[Eric]

Biden is also out-fundraising Trump. By a lot.

Even then I wonder if it's enough to combat the onslaught of Trump's bombardment of the airwaves, he's using the bully pulpit to his advantage in every way right now which is hard to compete with.

 

[iLunar]

Even then I wonder if it's enough to combat the onslaught of Trump's bombardment of the airwaves, he's using the bully pulpit to his advantage in every way right now which is hard to compete with.

And doing so in complete violation of the Hatch Act. It disgusts me to see the White House dressed up like whore for Trump.

 

[Eric]

And doing so in complete violation of the Hatch Act. It disgusts me to see the White House dressed up like whore for Trump.

One of the more light weight of Trump's crimes in the scheme of things.

 

[Alli]

We might not know the results of this election for days...or weeks. Unless the early results are so overwhelming that the late results won’t matter. Be prepared for a bumpy ride.

 

[Eric]

We might not know the results of this election for days...or weeks. Unless the early results are so overwhelming that the late results won’t matter. Be prepared for a bumpy ride.

I keep hearing that and know it's a possibility but in 2016 they called it for Trump by midnight on election night and he didn't win by that much. Wondering why people think it's going to be so much different this time?

 

[iLunar]

I keep hearing that and know it's a possibility but in 2016 they called it for Trump by midnight on election night and he didn't win by that much. Wondering why people think it's going to be so much different this time?

Mail-in ballots take longer to process, and some very important swing states have moved to mail-in voting. PA in particular is going to take a few days, I think. Philadelphia and Pittsburg are heavily voting by mail. Those two cities alone will account for 50% of PA's votes, and it will likely take days to process them. The state-house republicans blocked pre-counting of those ballots, likely by direction from the Trump campaign.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Trump declares PA for himself on election night, the votes come in and prove him wrong, and then he sues to overturn the results. I think that's been their strategy for quite some time now.

 

[lizkat]

Even then I wonder if it's enough to combat the onslaught of Trump's bombardment of the airwaves, he's using the bully pulpit to his advantage in every way right now which is hard to compete with.

Still the Dems are raising money by bucketloads even this late in the races... more than a hundred million via Act Blue contributions just since Tuesday. This is the kind of post-ad-buy money that's needed for the last part of the season, to gear up the get-out-vote efforts among likely voters.

The Rs have been shuffling their plans back and forth as polls change or Trump says yet one more stupid thing... pulling money out of Ohio or putting it back in, running some "daylight" ads (between Senate incumbents and Trump) now in tight races.

 

[rdrr]

Some of the Rs are starting to jump ship. Charlie Baker Gov MA stated he won't support Trump in 2020 (doesn't disclose who he is voting for thought), and Sen Sasse has recently openly criticized Trump. My prediction if things get worse for Trump you are going to see a lot of "Barely knew the guy..."

 

[Eric]

Some of the Rs are starting to jump ship. Charlie Baker Gov MA stated he won't support Trump in 2020 (doesn't disclose who he is voting for thought), and Sen Sasse has recently openly criticized Trump. My prediction if things get worse for Trump you are going to see a lot of "Barely knew the guy..."

A Republican not supporting Biden is something I can understand. A Republican supporting Trump is something I can't.

 

[lizkat]

Mail-in ballots take longer to process

Well the GOP may well have a thumb on that scale if they can manage it...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Why?
https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1315662020453240833/

The last time I saw something like this in real life, was outside a polling station (I was inside, formally observing the actual preparations of the staff in the hours before they opened for polling) more than an hour before polls opened at 7.a.m. on polling day in Kosovo in 2000, in the first free democratic election in that country's history, and where people stood - with commendable and stoic patience - in sub-zero temperatures.

It was something that was impressive, and was both moving and immensely powerful to see.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Mail-in ballots take longer to process, and some very important swing states have moved to mail-in voting. PA in particular is going to take a few days, I think. Philadelphia and Pittsburg are heavily voting by mail. Those two cities alone will account for 50% of PA's votes, and it will likely take days to process them. The state-house republicans blocked pre-counting of those ballots, likely by direction from the Trump campaign.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Trump declares PA for himself on election night, the votes come in and prove him wrong, and then he sues to overturn the results. I think that's been their strategy for quite some time now.

This is the scenario that I fear.

 

[Clix Pix]

On my way to another destination this afternoon, I passed the library and took a look -- there was once again a long line around the building. Very encouraging, especially since today's weather is nowhere near as pleasant as yesterday's..... People were standing out there in the chilly afternoon, with occasional rain spitting on them, and the clouds above hinting at more rain to come, and yet there they were, because, by gum, they wanted to cast their vote and let their wishes regarding who governs this country be known......

 

[iLunar]

This is the scenario that I fear.

Me too.

PA will likely determine the election.

Swing State Tracker: No Pressure, Pennsylvania, but the World’s Fate Rests on You

Bad news for those tired of hearing the word “fracking.”

slate.com

 

[Thomas Veil]

Still the Dems are raising money by bucketloads even this late in the races... more than a hundred million via Act Blue contributions just since Tuesday. This is the kind of post-ad-buy money that's needed for the last part of the season, to gear up the get-out-vote efforts among likely voters.

The Rs have been shuffling their plans back and forth as polls change or Trump says yet one more stupid thing... pulling money out of Ohio or putting it back in, running some "daylight" ads (between Senate incumbents and Trump) now in tight races.

It's nice to have this luxury. Not only are the Dems spending plenty on Biden, they're spending plenty on regaining the Senate.

I hope it works. I want to see a blue tsunami. I want election night to look like this for the GOP:

​

 

[Eric]

Me too.

PA will likely determine the election.

Swing State Tracker: No Pressure, Pennsylvania, but the World’s Fate Rests on You

Bad news for those tired of hearing the word “fracking.”

slate.com

There are no polls that show Trump taking PA, they've made adjustments from lessons learned in 2016 and all paths lead to Biden where he's maintained a solid lead. We just can't let up and I don't think he will.

Pennsylvania : President: general election Polls

The latest political polls and polling averages from FiveThirtyEight.

projects.fivethirtyeight.com

 

[iLunar]

There are no polls that show Trump taking PA, they've made adjustments from lessons learned in 2016 and all paths lead to Biden where he's maintained a solid lead. We just can't let up and I don't think he will.

Pennsylvania : President: general election Polls

The latest political polls and polling averages from FiveThirtyEight.

projects.fivethirtyeight.com

I really hope you're right! As long as PA stays above the margin of error, that's a good sign. Hillary was pretty much assured PA in 2016 by all the polls, but it was the first state to "go south", so speak.

Trump is spending so much money here and his campaign is registering a lot of people last minute. I think this was always their ground game in PA. Let the polling show a Biden lead regardless of the outcome, and then in the final weeks charge up his voting base. I have no doubt there are going to be some really insane things Trump says in the upcoming weeks related to middle PA (ie Harrisburg is awful, fracking is safe & Biden hates fracking, Philadelphia is bad, the thugs in Philly are coming for your suburbs, etc). I also think he'll go after commie-california-kamala in targeted social ads in western (mostly racist) parts of the state.

Biden has a lot of ties to Scranton, and I am so hoping he leverages them as much as possible. Biden speaks like he's from PA, so there's a lot of familiarity and confidence there for him. I'm hoping it turns into votes.

I encourage anyone who knows people in PA to reach out and ask about their voting plan. Last day to register in PA is October 19th!

 

[Eric]

I really hope you're right! As long as PA stays above the margin of error, that's a good sign. Hillary was pretty much assured PA in 2016 by all the polls, but it was the first state to "go south", so speak.

Trump is spending so much money here and his campaign is registering a lot of people last minute. I think this was always their ground game in PA. Let the polling show a Biden lead regardless of the outcome, and then in the final weeks charge up his voting base. I have no doubt there are going to be some really insane things Trump says in the upcoming weeks related to middle PA (ie Harrisburg is awful, fracking is safe & Biden hates fracking, Philadelphia is bad, the thugs in Philly are coming for your suburbs, etc). I also think he'll go after commie-california-kamala in targeted social ads in western (mostly racist) parts of the state.

Biden has a lot of ties to Scranton, and I am so hoping he leverages them as much as possible. Biden speaks like he's from PA, so there's a lot of familiarity and confidence there for him. I'm hoping it turns into votes.

I encourage anyone who knows people in PA to reach out and ask about their voting plan. Last day to register in PA is October 19th!

Your concerns are valid. Hillary was favored 77% to Trump's 23% and we know how that ended. They're saying this time that Biden is over 50% and that makes a big difference, for whatever that is worth. But a 5 point lead is not comfortable by any stretch, it looks like he's not ignoring at least, which was Hillary's biggest problem back in 2016.

 

[ronntaylor]

​

I remember posting about efforts to suppress Black & Dem votes and many were reluctant to call it truthfully. The last couple years have proven that it is a concerted, disparate effort of Republicans to stay in power and deny rights of voters that are Black & Brown, Democratic, young, poor/working class, progressive, or any combination of these.

From writer & professor Viet Thanh Nguyen's FB page

I wanted to share this story from a friend of mine in Texas. She is Black, which I mention because it is relevant to her story about voting in Houston:

Yesterday I had to fly home to Houston to Early vote! I went on line to request an absentee ballot a month ago. Last week, what I got in the mail was instructions for requesting an absentee ballot!! I had to fly home to Houston from OKC to vote. I even rented a car, so I wouldn’t disrupt my family’s schedule.

I also decided to vote on the White side of my suburb because I’d heard of the lines were very long and wait times were long on the side of town where there are higher populations of BIPOCs. Sure enough, there was NO wait time on the white side of town. They had tons of voting booths and workers. On the other side of town, there were fewer booths and few poll workers. Sickening.

So I paid the highest poll tax in history! My grandmothers are in heaven shaking their heads right now.

Here’s my take on it:

Plane ticket home to early vote $300
Rental car to drive to the polls $70
Voting on the White side of town? Priceless!
--
Republican leaders in Texas, Florida, Georgia and other places are doing their best to make it harder for people to vote. And, no surprise, what that means is making it harder for people of color to vote. Eliminating ballot drop off boxes, reducing the number of polling stations, requiring witnesses for mail-in ballots, demanding that former prisoners pay all their fines (even if the state itself doesn't know what those fines are). There are pictures of people in Georgia waiting in huge lines for many hours. They are doing it because they know that their vote counts and that voting is the least all of us can do to protect ourselves and our democracy.

Black people in particular know that this country has tried to rob them of their vote. After the end of the Civil War, in the American South, liberated, formerly enslaved people used their vote to elect Black officials throughout the South. Racists in the South put an end to that with things like poll taxes and trick questions about a voter's viability that were impossible to answer. If the South couldn't prevent Black voters from voting for Black leaders, then the answer was to drastically limit the access of Black voters at the polls.

We are seeing this happen all over again, and Black people damn well know it. That's why they're waiting in lines for hours.

As for the rest of us, it's our right and privilege to vote. Use it!