General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe mail-in ballots may have saved the day.
I do believe that Republicans cheat in elections, and that they've been doing it for a long time. Electronic voting machines are the culprit. The fact that so many Democrats mailed in their ballots - which allows for more transparency - may have saved the election from Republican interference.
We should do more of it, even when covid is behind us.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)I am a big fan of the mail in voting that we have here in Oregon. I hope that the same system can be adopted in a 50 states.
magicarpet
(14,175 posts)Harder to tamper with.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,447 posts)CottonBear
(21,596 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,812 posts)AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Sadly, I couldnt get an absentee ballot because Indiana needs a valid reason. Fear of COVID wasnt enough. Id like to see that changed, but with a GOP supermajority here, thats very unlikely to happen.
Amaryllis
(9,525 posts)I'm in Oregon and vote by mail has so much to recommend it. I got my ballot 18 days before the election. GAve it to my mail carrier two weeks before the election and got email confirmation of receipt the NEXT DAY from county elections. Two days later checked online and my ballot had been signature verified and cleared for processing. Ballot counts start a week before the election. OR, WA and CA had results by the 8PM election day. No waiting.
A number of those swing states had GOP passed laws that did not allow them to even start processing ballots until election day. THat's why it took so long to know the results.
IllinoisBirdWatcher
(2,315 posts)I'm convinced the "plan" from the beginning was to have the Post Office in such shambles that the majority of the ballots would never reached their destination until well after election day. Then Dumpster Donnie could claim that all ballots received after election day would be "illegal," wouldn't count, and and would have an argument for his hand-picked SCOtUS.
Donnie and De-not-so-joy triggered their plan too soon. They didn't take into account the loyalty and dedication to duty of long-term postal workers and their value system to start going public so quickly. Had they gained another week of secrecy, all the sorting machines would have been gone, employees gone, and no chance for repair. They also didn't plan for a judge like Judge Sullivan taking such a hard line.
judesedit
(4,443 posts)made a huge difference. And the number of people voting on electronic machines in every precinct in every state overwhelmed their efforts to flip enough votes to win. They didn't know how many they'd be up against. We outnumbered and outsmarted them. And the Biden team was watching over everything. Why else do you think they were trying to shut down the postal service? They didn't want those ballots getting through and getting counted. Woohoo! President Biden and Vice President Harris. Sounds good, doesn't it?
milestogo
(16,829 posts)renate
(13,776 posts)All the ballots that were brought in by hand instead of mailed could have been lost and no one would have known in time.
stillcool
(32,626 posts)there's a reason why Trump didn't want those ballots mailed. I don't know how GOP run state governments manage it, but have no doubt they have many ways of messing with our votes.
napi21
(45,806 posts)the rest of us vote on at their precinct. I agree that mail-in voting enabled the highest voting response in History. Part if it was the ease of voting at your own time and convenience. Part unfortunately was because many people are at home because of the virus. It eliminitated the need to stand for hours in line!
I truely hope permanent mail-in voting is adopted by all 50 States. Maybe finally we won't have to be ashamed of being the lowest participation in voting of any Country in the World!
milestogo
(16,829 posts)I don't think the ballot scanners are the problem. Its the touch screen voting machines.