Election 2020

[BoSoxGal]

Voting by Mail
Under the Massachusetts Constitution, absentee ballots are available for all elections to voters who are disabled, out of town on Election Day, or have a religious belief preventing them from voting at their polling place.

A new law has been passed clarifying that any person taking precaution related to COVID-19 in response to a declared state of emergency or from guidance from a medical professional, local or state health official, or any civil authority shall be deemed to be unable by reason of physical disability to cast their vote in person at a polling location.

It is the opinion of this office that you qualify for an absentee ballot due to physical disability if:

You are ill;
You are confined to your home because you may transmit infection; or
You cannot leave your home because you are a member of a population vulnerable to illness;
You are staying in your home or avoiding your polling place as a precautionary measure in response to COVID-19.
The law has also been updated to allow early voting by mail for any election held on or before June 30th. Early voting by mail is similar to absentee voting, but unlike absentee voting, no excuse is required.

Applications for absentee ballots are available to be downloaded and printed, but you may also request an absentee ballot by writing a letter to your clerk's office, if you do not have access to a printer. Be sure to include your name and address, the election(s) for which you are requesting a ballot, and your signature. If you need the ballot mailed somewhere other than your home, be sure to provide that address.

Early ballot applications are available for upcoming local and special elections now. As with absentee ballot applications, any written request is acceptable.

Completed absentee and early ballot applications must be submitted to your local election office. Applications may be mailed, hand-delivered, faxed, or emailed. If you are emailing your application, you must be able to send an image of the application as an attachment, either by scanning it or by taking a picture of it. A hand-written signature must be visible.

All mail-in ballots must be back at your city or town hall by the close of polls on the day of the election – a postmark is not sufficient. Absentee ballots may be mailed or hand-delivered by a family member. Please be sure to allow enough time for the mailing of your application and your ballot.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth has filed legislation which, if passed, would offer expanded mail-in voting options for all voters for elections this held [sic] year. Any updates on new laws will be posted on this page.

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/covid-19/covid-19.htm

True enough, it’s not yet extended to November - but is pending. This being Massachusetts, I’ll be shocked if it does not pass.

Actually, reading it again, it appears that absentee due to covid concern has already been extended to November, as I previously asserted.

[Guinevere]

Nope. Read the actual law, not a summary. Or, speak with Michelle Tassinari, the Secretary of State’s counsel, as I have, multiple times in the last several months. The COVID provisions only apply to elections held on or before June 30, 2020.

[Bicycle Bill]

Trump has always had a hard-on against the USPS (the United States Postal Service).  Recall how he claimed that USPS was giving Amazon.com a "most favored customer" rate for the handling of their packages?  And he is only following the lead of many other Republicans in the past to cripple if not eliminate the post office, including their most-recent egregious attack against the USPS by hamstringing them with the obligation to pre-fund their pension plan as far as 75 years into the future — something no other government organization or private enterprise has to do.  And there have been several efforts to eliminate the postal service, starting as far back as the 1970s when the Post Office Department was converted into the USPS with a mandate to make itself self-sustaining within 10 years (which it did; for the record, it has been something like 35 years since the USPS received so much as one thin dime in funding from the federal exchequer), and allow it to be replaced by for-profit services such as UPS, FedEx, DSL, and others; or — in a more likely scenario — turning the USPS into a fully privatized entity that would then be forced to battle in the marketplace with the afore-mentioned competitors.

I assume that he will next try to use the COVID crisis to further cripple the post office's ability to fulfill its Constitutional obligation (Article I, Section 8, Clause 7) — as an end run to fulfill his true desire to severly restrict or totally eliminate mail-in voting.  After all, if there's no post office, then he doesn't have to worry about the wrong people voting by mail, does he?

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

Nope. Read the actual law, not a summary. Or, speak with Michelle Tassinari, the Secretary of State’s counsel, as I have, multiple times in the last several months. The COVID provisions only apply to elections held on or before June 30, 2020.

Sorry, but I’m not going to assume that the public information on the Massachusetts Secretary of State's website is wrong and you are right. It’s ridiculous that you’d assert thusly - or you should be on the phone with your buddy advising her that the SOS is wrongly informing the entire population of the Commonwealth little miss smarty pants.

And thanks for the reminder that it’s a waste of my time to read your posts, especially when you quote me - I should have known that scenario would definitely be another instance of your inner shit coming out as snark spewed at me. So over it after 11 years.

[RayThom]

I received my PA Primary -- June 2 -- mail-in ballot yesterday which need to be posted by May 15.

I'll probably request a mail-in for the November general election some time after that.

[Guinevere]

Whatever.

[Lord Jim]

Here's some really good news...

All the "All is well, time to open everything up!" deadly propaganda campaign has been an epic fail...

Support for science and and facts seems to be carrying the day with American public opinion:

In new poll, 60 percent support keeping stay-at-home restrictions to fight coronavirus

WASHINGTON — Nearly 60 percent of American voters say they are more concerned that relaxing stay-at-home restrictions would lead to more COVID-19 deaths than they are that the restrictions will hurt the U.S. economy, according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

The poll also finds a significant change in attitudes about the coronavirus. The percentage of voters saying they're worried that a family member might catch it has increased by 20 points since last month's survey.

The NBC News/WSJ poll was conducted April 13 to 15 during a national debate over when to reopen the country amid the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 35,000 people in the U.S.

On Thursday, Trump announced federal guidelines that essentially leave it up to the states to decide when to begin pullbacks from stay-at-home orders.

Then, on Friday, Trump tweeted at states with Democratic governors who have instituted stay-at-home orders.

"LIBERATE MINNESOTA!" the president said.

In the poll, 58 percent of registered voters say that what worries them more is that the U.S. will move too quickly to loosen stay-at-home restrictions, resulting in the coronavirus' spreading and more lives' being lost.

That's compared with 32 percent who are more concerned that the U.S. will take too long to loosen restrictions, which will harm the economy.

McInturff, the GOP pollster, said the numbers represent a "powerful signal" that the country isn't ready for business as usual on May 1.

But there's also a familiar partisan divide inside the numbers: While 77 percent of Democratic respondents and 57 percent of independents are more worried about the coronavirus than the economy, Republicans are divided — with 48 percent expressing more concern about the economy and 39 percent more worried about the coronavirus.

Only 36 percent of respondents in the poll say they generally trust what Trump has said when it comes to the coronavirus, while 52 percent say they don't trust him.

By comparison, 69 percent say they trust the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 66 percent trust their own governors; 60 percent trust Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert; 46 percent trust New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; and 35 percent trust Vice President Mike Pence.

And in a CNBC poll conducted in early April by the same polling firms, 27 percent said they personally know someone infected by the coronavirus. Now, just more than a week later, it's 40 percent.

"Socially and economically, we have seen a sea change in attitudes in just a month," said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of

In the race for the White House, the NBC News/WSJ poll shows Biden ahead of Trump by 7 points nationally among registered voters, 49 percent to 42 percent.

That's down from Biden's 9-point advantage last month, 52 percent to 43 percent, although the change is well within the poll's margin of error.

Looking inside the overall numbers, Biden's biggest advantages are with African American voters (among whom he leads Trump by 85 percent to 7 percent), Latinos (60 percent to 26 percent), voters ages 18-34 (54 percent to 31 percent), women (56 percent to 35 percent) and whites with college degrees (55 percent to 37 percent).

Trump's greatest strengths are with white voters (51 percent to 42 percent), men (50 percent to 41 percent) and whites without college degrees (60 percent to 33 percent).

And when the race is reduced to 11 swing states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — Biden holds a combined 6-point lead over Trump, 49 percent to 43 percent.

More:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-t ... s-n1187011

[MajGenl.Meade]

Trump's greatest strengths are with white voters (51 percent to 42 percent), men (50 percent to 41 percent) and whites without college degrees (60 percent to 33 percent).

They didn't include douchebags. He must be about 99% in those.

[RayThom]

On the horns of a dilemma.

I have a 30 year old daughter and we have discussed the #MeToo topic on many occasion. She knows when I have a choice I'll always "believe the women" because it's the right thing to do.

And now I'm torn. A vote for our Orange Mussolini is not an option. Should choosing democracy over fascism be this hard?

I pray Papa Joe will explain this away without sounding like his old sexist self, and find higher moral ground between now and November 3rd.


https://www.thenation.com/article/polit ... democrats/

[BoSoxGal]

I’ve read a number of articles about this allegation, I’m a former domestic violence and sexual assault victims’ advocate who is inclined to believe victims, I understand why victims often don’t immediately report and/or report in part,

but,

I doubt Tara Reade’s account. I wish it didn’t exist, it makes me uncomfortable, but bottom line her allegation doesn’t square with Joe Biden’s decades long history of ‘boundary violations’ in the form of being overly affectionate with women not in his own family, and there are zero corroborating reports from other victims as there have been for Cosby, Weinstein, Trump, and numerous other serial sexual predators.

I’m not saying it’s not possible she was the one person he assaulted that way and he just never again attempted that kind of behavior and never attempted it for the first time until he was 40-something - but based on what I know from decades of training and experience working with sexual assault victims and prosecuting (and defending, very rarely) sexual predators, behavior like that usually doesn’t occur or exist in a vacuum.

I also know that while much rarer than the toxic male paradigm likes to suggest, false reporting of sexual assault does occur - often correlated with mental health issues.

[Bicycle Bill]

On the horns of a dilemma.

I have a 30 year old daughter and we have discussed the #MeToo topic on many occasion. She knows when I have a choice I'll always "believe the women" because it's the right thing to do.

And now I'm torn. A vote for our Orange Mussolini is not an option. Should choosing democracy over fascism be this hard?

I pray Papa Joe will explain this away without sounding like his old sexist self, and find higher moral ground between now and November 3rd.

Romans 3:22-24 (NIV)

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

We are but human, all of us, even the most upright and outstanding among us, and we are weak and easily led into sin.  Yes, we are judged by our deeds, but we are also judged on our repentance for those deeds.

Of the two, Trump or Biden, who do you think is the more repentant — and the more worthy of redemption?

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

BB--you apparently misunderstand the verse you quote; redemption is not earned or something one is worthy of; it is a free gift. No one is more, or less for that matter, worthy of redemption, Trump. Biden, or Mother Teresa for that matter.

[MajGenl.Meade]

BB--you apparently misunderstand the verse you quote; redemption is not earned or something one is worthy of; it is a free gift. No one is more, or less for that matter, worthy of redemption, Trump. Biden, or Mother Teresa for that matter.

Gonna be some surprises in eternity. Well said.

[RayThom]

[BoSoxGal]

Retired Republican Senator Jeff Flake will vote for Biden over Trump and says GOP needs 'a sound defeat' in 2020 election

'A sound defeat' for Mr Trump in November would be the best thing for the Republican party, Mr Flake said

Griffin Connolly Washington
14 minutes ago

Retired Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona will not be voting for Donald Trump this November. No, he'll be voting for a Democrat for president for the first time in his life.

"This won’t be the first time I’ve voted for a Democrat — though not for president [before]. Last time I voted for a third-party candidate. ... But I will not vote for Donald Trump," Mr Flake said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Mr Flake insisted that he is "not trying to burn the place down or anything else," but that he's trying to get back what he feels is the lost soul of the Republican party.

The best thing for the future of the Republican party would be "a sound defeat" for Mr Trump in November, Mr Flake said. "No doubt. Long term for the Republican Party, you bet. And for conservatism as well."

By the end of his first and only term as senator from 2013 to 2019, Mr Flake had the worst relationship with Mr Trump of any Senate Republican, as he openly and consistently denounced many of the president's controversial remarks and opposed a handful of his political and judicial appointments.

Trump claims he has ‘very good idea’ about Kim Jong-un’s condition
The men's relationship was never strong. Mr Flake called on Mr Trump to withdraw from the 2016 presidential race after the emergence of the Access Hollywood tape where Mr Trump openly brags about sexually assaulting women. Mr Trump was so enraged with Mr Flake that his White House was recruiting GOP primary challengers against the senator in the summer of 2017.

While many Republican senators who were critical of Mr Trump early in the 2016 campaign, such as South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, eventually fell in line with the president and have become some of his closest political allies, Mr Flake remained defiantly on the periphery. When he announced his retirement from the Senate in the fall of 2018 amid politically untenable approval ratings, he delivered a scathing speech against the state of politics in Washington that spared no one, not least of all his Republican colleagues nor Mr Trump.

The GOP's aggressive public embrace of the president's hard-nosed political style isn't a Washington-only phenomenon, Mr Flake lamented in his interview with the Post. Trumpism has ensnared Mr Flake's home state politicians, too, including many people to whom the former senator has long personal and political ties.

Arizona Republicans have been complicit in a "total capitulation of the party to Trumpism," Mr Flake vented in the Post interview.

In February, more than 14,000 people flocked to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix for one of the president's notoriously lively and raucous campaign rallies. In years past, many Arizona lawmakers were reticent about appearing onstage with the Mr Trump. That's no longer the case.

"The other night it was painful to watch the rally in Arizona: the president onstage with virtually all of my Republican colleagues from Arizona — the governor on down, some of whom had been reluctant previously to be on a campaign stage with the president. But who have just completely and utterly thrown in," Mr Flake said.

It is not all gloom and doom for his party, though, Mr Flake suggested. In private conversations, many Republicans acknowledge they've submitted to a "trade-off" in which they publicly tolerate Mr Trump's bombast and anti-institutionalism in exchange for his signature on conservative policies, his nomination of conservative judges and his enactment of tax and regulatory reform. That trade-off is not intended to last forever.

Mr Flake expressed confidence that the GOP can veer back towards a vision that is more inclusive and not fuelled, in his own words, by "anger and resentment."

"I don’t know anyone who thinks that this is the future of the party. This is a demographic cul-de-sac we’re in, if nothing else. Anger and resentment only go so far; you have to have a governing philosophy. I don’t know of any of my colleagues who really believe this is it."

[Crackpot]

Looks like Justin Amash is running as the libertarian candidate. Could he be an effective spoiler for either candidate in a close race?

My bet is he will peel away a lot of former Trump votes in Michigan and possibly Wisconsin. I just wonder how may of those would have gone Biden without him on the ticket.

One thing is for sure the nastier the campaign gets the more votes Amash will get.

[Lord Jim]

I really hope he reconsiders..

I think he'll take more votes from anti-Trump Republicans than from the 2016 Trump vote.This race is likely to be tight as a tick,and given the states where he is most likely to take votes, even with less than one percent of the vote he could swig the election...

Every anti-Trump vote that doesn't go to the one and only candidate with any prospect of defeating him (Joe Biden) is a vote for four more years of this nightmare...

If Amish truly cares for the future of his country, he will reconsider this move. This is no election cycle to be making a vanity run...

[Crackpot]

I think he has considered it and is trying to ensure Trump doesn’t get elected. There are more than a few “will not vote Democrat” people in the region with a libertarian bent that could see this as an acceptable protest vote while the general “red/blue” divide is close enough that many sure -1s for Trump would outweigh a few +1s for Biden.

While I don’t agree with Amash on too much his actions have shown him to be principled as well as severely anti-Trump.

[RayThom]

The NYT sez: "Mr. Amash, an independent congressman from Michigan who left the Republican Party last year..."

This guy is a Repug in Indie clothing. He's out to siphon Dem votes, giving the Big Grifter a better chance for success.

He'll not get my vote, nor any thinking Democrat for that matter.

[Crackpot]

To be clear unless Biden manages to really fuck up there is very little chance of him peeling votes off Biden as most of Amash’s positions are farther right than Republican norms and those that aren’t are not very big vote getters. As long as he runs a Campaign based on his beliefs and not an attempt to appear centrist I don’t see it as a bad thing.