One more day!
I typically write what is on my mind. Today is Monday Nov 05, 2024, and I have nothing but presidential election on my mind. It is sad, but I guess I am only getting older and can't detach from this thing.
Source
I don't like the Electoral College system. I don't like the fact that if a candidate wins a state by the narrowest of the margins, that candidate gets all the Electoral Votes from that state, thereby completely denouncing a large segment of the voting population. I don't like that the fact that the seven states listed above gets to decide a presidential election of the United States. But it is what it is. I don't get to change the rule now, and perhaps not in any time in near future. However, what bother me the most is the fact that some MORON can get on national television and say that there is fraud because he lost. He did this in the past, and he got himself and his cronies geared towards it this time around as well! I hate that. Because let me say it straight:
There is no election fraud in the United States! Period.
Early Voting
In the United States one can vote early, but there is no consistency! Some states allow it, others don't. Some allow in person early voting while others allow main-in voting as early voting. The timing varies widely. Not just state to state, but even county to county!! My goodness, land of the free we say! Too much freedom can be a bad thing after all.
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| Source | I ignored the last few states, I will paste below |
If you see the numbers, about 78.5 M Americans have casted their votes early (myself included!). That is nearly 40% of the registered voters. I am proud of report that my native state (country?) of Texas have voted 54% of all its registered voters. But notice how strikingly variable the numbers are! Key Swing States like Pennsylvania only voted 22%, and all of it is absentee ballots, because the great state of Pennsylvania doesn't allow early voting!! My goodness! The state that will potentially decide the election, will have to vote and count all the votes tomorrow, and likely well into day after! Isn't this a logistical nightmare! Why the stress?! You might ask, and the answer you will get will make no sense to you, because it is stupid. They will say, they don't 'trust' early voting! Dippity Do Dah!! That's all I can say to that.
Give the poor election workers some break? Nop!
There you have it. I expect to have limited sleep tonight. Likely zero sleep tomorrow night. Regardless of the outcome.
It’s incredible that the greatest power in the world still has such an outdated voting system. But I’m not one to judge since in my country we don’t even vote 😅 period
All eyes are on America these days, huge election I think.
I’ve read several news, but I would like to know firsthand...
Are very close elections expected? Closer than in 2020? Here in my country, the news are very politicized , even more when America is the topic 😐
Yes, on paper, it is closer than 2022 midterms or 2020 general. Lol, in my country, the news is very politicized as well.
Wish me luck. I mean it.
It’s still early, but good luck friend. Today will be a long day, and I hope you all choose what’s best for you.
Here, no matter the outcome, they will speak badly 😅 Cuba being Cuba 😐
Oh I have chosen days back. We can vote early in Texas. I have voted for Harris already.
There's less time left to know the result ⌛
How is Election Day going?
Here, news aren't talking much about it 'cause we're waiting for a new hurricane, so there isn't much news outside of that topic
Intense!
Everything is very peaceful so far. Record turnout of voters!
And Pennsylvania too?
Yesterday I read some news about Pennsylvania being one of the key states for both parties and maybe some issues will happen there
PA is too close....I'm hoping they're missing a lot of Hispanics who are fired up about the Madison Square Garden fiasco.
Whatever happens...see you Wednesday :) Very nervous tonight, and yet relieved it's almost over.
Oh dear....I just upvoted my own comment. 😮
No worries. Everything is okay today!
PA is the path to victory. I personally do not see any practical way around it. I am not going to work today likely won't go to work tomorrow either:)
Well done on voting!
I will almost certainly be glued watching Steve Kornacki's big screen tomorrow night. I'm honestly pretty confident that it'll be a good result, a moron will certainly show his face around 10 or 11pm to claim victory before all the votes are counted, but I'm certain all the stations will ignore him.
I really hope an alternative to the Electoral Collage is established - it's an outdated concept and I don't love that a voter in Wyoming has more weight than someone from a more populated state and that swing states end up with so much power.
I'd honestly love to see a non-partisan Federal Electoral Commission established that would set fair maps (eliminate gerrymandering), establish ranked choice voting, standardize voting conditions (early voting everywhere, etc), limit political donations, introduce ranked choice voting, set voting dates to a weekend and set strict rules on campaign advertising, etc. There's a lot that can be improved in the USA.
Yes, a lot can be improved here. I also believe America can't be isolationist. Historically that had been tried and it never worked. That's why it is a global election.
This truly is a global election - it's hard to understate how much is actually riding on this election from a global lens. It will affect every country in one way or another.
I’m likely going to be up all night tomorrow.
Yeah, being in Texas you'll have the timezones working against you... for example Oregon won't start counting until your 10pm unfortunately.
That said, I think they'll have a pretty good idea once they finish with NC, GA, MI, PA and WI.
Maybe not fraud, but when Trump supporters start burning ballot boxes in heavily Democratic areas, that is clearly tampering with the election. There is going to be way too much of this nonsense coming out in reports over the next few days.
It's not even about the fraud anymore, but simply the illusion that fraud is happening, that will incite people to defend their candidate. There is no more election integrity, even if fraud is not happening, because people have been conditioned to think that fraud is commonplace.
Just imagine if the US had the same political infrastructure as Estonia. They are so technologically advanced, every citizen has their own digital ID and they do all their voting online securely. Of course that would never happen in the US because both sides of the aisle would hate to see the American political system actually controlled by the will of the people. How else could the Republicans rule as a minority?!
Well that's crime :) People should go to jail for that.
Oh yes, there will be felonies. But how do you account for people who had their ballots burned? How do you make time to get those votes back? The whole thing is a mess!
The electoral college is terrible. As you might imagine, I always get many questions about it in Japan. Just being American makes me the "expert", I guess, so everyone asks me. And the more I research on it to give better answers, the more I dislike it (which is already quite a lot).
But it is as it is, eh? The saving grace is that America is becoming more and more liberal. Worrying trend of 18-24 year old single men moving to the far right aside, most of America seems to be moving in the right direction. Maybe, just maybe, this will work its way into the system and we might see some real change within our lifetimes. Well... if the system isn't hijacked by a demagogue, anyway.
I see it as a blowout for Harris, but I also am expecting Trump and his cohorts to scream "fake election" and try to claim victory, regardless of the actual results. The question on my mind is has the other side prepared enough to deal with this. We shall see...
The trend that you mention will eventually turn big state like Texas blue. It is inevitable. When it does, it's game over for the Republican Party. They have to come up with a completely different leadership and ideas. That would be the new dawn.
I guess the whole world is attached to US election. Whom do you support ? Good luck to you, to choose the right one, I personally feel, you don't have a good choice, rather you have to select the less evil.
I have already voted for Harris. She is the only choice for me. I am comfortable that she is an excellent choice for our family.
She is certainly better choice.
You are right about no fraud in US, I work with election people to make sure that the site stays up and displays election results and I know how hard we had to push to even make the most drastic improvements to the performance of the system. That is because they are so concerned that someone can challenge them on doing ANYTHING differently that in the last Presidential election even if technology has moved on... In fact in addition to official observers you can watch them process the ballots real time on streaming video... So yeah definitely no election fraud that could tip the scale in WA.
Lower level govt. workers in the United States will NEVER do any fraud. Especially election fraud with so many eyes on the ball!
In this election I don't have a favorite. I don't think that either candate is great. But both have some benefits in their favor. Since war is so close to us I hope that new president will continue to support Ukraine. At the same time Trump seems to be more pro Crypto...Why can't one candidate have all benefits? For me ideal candidate would support Ukraine and be pro Crypto. But then again as a lithuanian I have no saying in this election.
Nobody knows what Trump is. Whoever or whatever lines his pocket and works for his interests he will work for that. Crypto no crypto he has zero understanding of any of that.
Very strange voting system for outsiders, our Dutch news station made an YouTube explainer video about how it works, so basically when you're not in a swing state you're on the side line 🙄
Yes, basically. Not all votes have the same weight
At least no one will steal that sign! Eh?
True ✌️
Regardless of who wins... The Federal Reserve will still be in charge... and 2029 will have a lot in common with 1929
May reason and rationale win the day 😇
Great Depression is a different time, let us not go back there again!
I totally agree with you on the electoral college. It's an antiquated system. I'll watch for a while tomorrow but eventually I will go to bed knowing there is nothing I can change about it.
Yeah, nothing I can do about it either!
In my country, there are a lot of people watching the outcome of the US elections... as if they were the ones here, or as if that would change our lives... so I imagine how you must be feeling right now.
I don't really care at this point, but for you it must be something very significant...especially if he loses and declares fraud, and another circus comes again.
I hope you can sleep today and tomorrow, whatever it will be.
Yes, it is a big deal, and yes it is a big deal for the rest of the world too. However, around here it is on my face and there is no way to escape it. Also I don't want to escape it, that's the other thing.
Veremos qué sucede.
El mundo ya no es el de antes, pero tampoco merecen un cretino más en el poder.
Dios bendiga América.
Yes I personally don’t want an idiot in power. I hope majority of my fellow Americans acts the same way. If not, I still am glad I live in Texas;)
I think Colin Allred has a real chance tomorrow night!
Wow! I genuinely hope you are right. I have voted for him:)
Claiming that there is fraud on national TV due to his lost is one thing. Riling his supporters to storm the Capitol was another. I just hope that it do not happen this time around.
It won't happen this time because democrats are in power. They will just go straight to jail if they try it again
I'm surprised that it's still close after what we saw in the last election and it's aftermath.
Yes. I am surprised too, but life is full of surprises
Unless an election results to a landslide victory, there will always be what-ifs.
I wonder if the Philippines would follow the same electoral college system, would we get better results as compared to a National popular vote?
I think I would rather see the results based on how states/regions vote rather than just a consolidated result. It gives a better read on which areas follow a certain ideology rather than just a generic 'majority rules' concept. Especially nowadays in the age of social media where popular vote literally is based on one's popularity rather than credibility.
The Swing states then mean something, it is definitely what the aspiring candidates should persuade and strategize about. It can help candidates reflect on reasons why such states are kind of 'undefined' yet. The 'loyal' states are the boring ones unless there will be a sudden wind of change that would make the results interesting.
No only if people are corrupt disputes can happen