Plan B Forum

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 16, 2020 1:51 pm

Andy Capp was my favorite.

We've got a stack of those Andy Capp books that were published, still amusing to flick through.

Yeah, it took me a while. Take all the time you need...

I'll do my part!....

86 45 11/3/20

As the ride carnies used to say, "short and sweet, nice and neat."

I think I'll make a bumper sticker for my car.

Lord Dampnut's base will never get it.

I agree with the general tone of the above, but sometimes the truth is not so simple.

In June KY had, amongst other things, a primary for the D candidate who would go against Moscow Mitch in November. Amy McGrath - Marine fighter pilot, white, conservative D with $$$ vs Charles Booker, black latecomer with $ but much more common liberal/left views on the issues. To cut a long story short McGrath won by a whisker and will go up against McConnell in November with the hopes of many outside Kentucky riding on her. If the campaigns had gone another week Booker might have taken it.

Anyway, that's not the point. I was horrified when the Louisville Board of Elections (or whatever they are called) announced a few days before the vote that there would be one polling station for a population of over 1 million instead of the usual 200 or so. It sounded like a huge disenfranchisement effort. They used the county fairground. A huge place with parking for thousands of cars. They put on free buses from all over town.

There actually was a record turnout. It meant that all the IT people usually looking after multiple voting machines in multiple locations could be right there where they were needed. There were few problems. They had to stay open a bit longer than usual but AFAIK all those who were in the building before the scheduled closing time (6PM) got to vote.

In this case at least, it appears that closing locations was actually a good idea and worked well.

With the possible exception of forcing everybody in the Louisville area into one place during the height of the COVID crisis.  The free busing to the polling point was a good idea, but I just wonder how crowded some of those buses were?

And by your own words, "AFAIK all those who were in the building before the scheduled closing time (6PM) got to vote."  This means that everyone, at least as it got to be close to the shut-down time, had to cluster up in the building rather than either (1) socially-distance themselves, or even wait in their car until it was their turn; or (2) been able to scatter themselves over the rest of the Louisville metro area to vote at their normal polling points.

Lastly, what's with the 6 PM shutdown?  Is that the normal time for KY?  Here in Wisconsin, polling stations are open until 8:00 PM local time, and I thought that was pretty much the norm across the country.

-"BB"-

Polls shut open at 6.30 am, and close at 10.00 pm here.

In Illinois it's 6AM-7PM.

State-by-state list. In the U.S. there's no such thing as "pretty much the norm across the country."

Econoline wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 7:55 pm

In Illinois it's 6AM-7PM.

State-by-state list. In the U.S. there's no such thing as "pretty much the norm across the country."

I guess one is never too old to learn something, and I stand corrected.  It's just with all the hullabaloo about how early predictions based on east coast returns unfairly influenced west coast voting because of later poll closings in the Pacific time zone, it made me assume that the closing times were standardized within the time zone.

-"BB"-

Polling times are a creature of state law. To make things even more complicated, COVID relief legislation in MA allowed localities to change (compress) the polling time for their spring annual elections, in conjunction with allowing expanded absentee and early mail in voting. So not only is every state different, but in MA many cities and towns were different than usual and different from each other. Obvs local elections have no impact beyond that locality, but expect more of the same in the fall for stats and federal elections, in an effort to keep poll workers safe (and to be able to recruit them).

"MONTGOMERY – Alabama Republicans Tuesday night decided to send former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville to face U.S. Sen Doug Jones in November.

Tuberville, a first-time political candidate who had the backing of President Donald Trump, defeated former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was seeking to return to the seat he held for 20 years."

Darren wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2020 10:46 am

... Tuberville, a first-time political candidate who had the backing of President Donald Trump, defeated former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was seeking to return to the seat he held for 20 years."

That sounds like a win/win for the Dems.

Doug Jones's campaign ads are going to write themselves: "Last time the Republicans ran a pedophile against me, this time they went with a thief. Do they think Alabamans will vote for any criminal with an R after his name?"

I wasn't at the fairgrounds for the Louisville vote, but from what I read and heard it was managed pretty well from the coronavirus point of view. Masses of space inside the building for queuing and maintaining distance.

Yes: KY is 6AM to 6PM. Half the state (area) is in the Central time zone so they are open an hour later. But most of the population (Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green and the Cincy 'burbs this side of the Ohio) is in the Eastern time zone so anyone trying to declare the state based on exit polls will do so while the voting locations are still open.

Scooter wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 15, 2020 2:30 pm

Doug Jones's campaign ads are going to write themselves: "Last time the Republicans ran a pedophile against me, this time they went with a thief. Do they think Alabamans will vote for any criminal with an R after his name?"

Frankly, all this toiletbowl buy would have to do is say, "Roll Tide" on his campaign ads and he'll get the votes. If he said, "Jones supports Clemson - ROLL TIDE!" he'd win in a landslide.

The panic is setting in. Trailing by double digits in the polls and the Tulsa rally debacle have tarnished the goiden boy irreparably.

Brad Parscale is history

It's worrying that they just might keep firing arseholes until they find a really effective one

Who needs polls?

NPR has maps breaking down donations to Trump & Biden by county. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/20/85834747 ... 0-election