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Oh yeah! Texas!!



Actually, Texas does count mail in/absentee ballots the week before election day. They start tabulating in person early in person votes on election day afternoon. All this to say, we could have a pretty good idea how Texas voted by late in the evening. If, huge if, Texas were record say 9 million votes for Biden early, that would be it... Texas has about 17 million registered voters and is a winner take all state. Not predicting that it will happen but it could.
 
I hear you but several things come to mind. If early voting is a proxy for turnout, this is good for Dems. Also, early voting over a two-week period limits lines. Wouldn't it be a table-turner, if the GOP has long lines on Nov 4, the way they used to suppress the vote in black neighborhoods by causing long lines?
 

I take it there is no concern about mail-in ballots changing the way others will vote in 13 days? My mom told me for that reason, our ballots cannot be counted until after all polls close on November 3 even though we voted on September 29.

This still does not change the state's current tossup status. It would have to a blowout for either candidate to hear he won Texas shortly after all the polls close.
 


There is no concern because none of the counts are released. Texas has very, very restrictive absentee ballot requirements so there will not be a large number of absentee ballots. Again, the number of registered voters is around 17 million. If Biden gets a count of 9 million votes, mathematically, there is no way absentee ballots would change the result. It's pretty simple math. Not predicting that will happen just pointing out the possibility.
 

I hope not either; we need to retain some kind of confidence in our system of governance. What I find asking myself every time Trump bashes mail in voting is "well, you're the president, so what are you doing about that?". I don't expect the president himself to solve it, but surely more could have worked with those who can to ensure voters can trust the mail in voting process rather than have the president cast all sorts of doubts about it.
 

His opinion, like most of them, didn't influence me. What influenced me was my own experiences with the Post Office and rural carriers. Just this past week a package was delivered a day late because my driveway was allegedly blocked. No, it wasn't.
 
They could have long lines in Texas on Election Day. I believe Republicans changed the ballots so you can no longer vote a straight ticket. That makes voting take longer because you have to vote each race individually so the lines could be longer. Apparently they thought Beto got close to taking down Cruz because too many people voted a straight Democrat ballot.
 

There obviously will be no long lines on November 4.
 
nota bene said:
His opinion, like most of them, didn't influence me. What influenced me was my own experiences with the Post Office and rural carriers. Just this past week a package was delivered a day late because my driveway was allegedly blocked. No, it wasn't.
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Do you think that situation is so common that it would throw off an election by thousands of ballots? Some states have managed to do mail in ballots with little to no issue.
 


You are correct, straight ticket voting was eliminated in Texas this year.
 
Maybe it is a George W. Bush effect? Isn't he quite popular in Texas?
 
Trump is the best thing to happen to democrats since the Roosevelt presidency.
 
ElChupacabra said:
Do you think that situation is so common that it would throw off an election by thousands of ballots? Some states have managed to do mail in ballots with little to no issue.
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ElChupacabra said:
Do you think that situation is so common that it would throw off an election by thousands of ballots? Some states have managed to do mail in ballots with little to no issue.
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This I don't know. There have never been any issues at all in my community, not with hanging chads, defective balloting machines, or mail-in ballots. Could what happened in Kentucky a week+ ago (the discovery of ballots that had been dumped) happen elsewhere? Yes. And while "only" hundreds of lost ballots wouldn't substantially change a Presidential election (I don't think), these lost ballots definitely would have an impact on the local/county and state issues/candidates on those ballots.
 
Clown said:
I'm a big AZ Cardinals fan. I certainly enjoyed the beatdown the cowgirls received on Monday night.
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Yeah that was a great game, but the final score should have been 45-3.
 

Senator Beto O'Rourke agrees with them polls.
 
MTAtech said:
Trump has been complaining that because of absentee ballots not counted as of election night, we won't know right away who won. He wanted the SCOTUS to rule that ballots couldn't be counted after election day.
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Which of course isn't at all supported by the law anywhere. There's nothing that says we have to know who won on Election Day.
 

I am sure you know what the rattlesnake was doing about it. He tried very hard to minimize the number of mail-in ballots by defunding the USPS and did not keep his intentions a secret. His fear was not voter fraud, but the partisan disparity, knowing most ballots will be filled out by Democrats.
 

It is impossible to prevent someone from voting straight ticket. Even if the letters D and R do not appear on ballots, everyone knows who to vote for except those who paid no attention to federal and state politics all year.
 

Yeah, it's an absolute crapshow. That the president of the US has stated the only way he will lose is if there is fraud says all you need to know about his stance. Not acknowledging the very clear possibility a significant amount of the population doesn't want to vote for him is pretty absurd.
 

He knows the real reason people don't want to vote for him and has been lying about the risk of voter fraud. At least one other member said even Trump himself votes by mail.
 
nota bene said:
... Kentucky a week+ ago (the discovery of ballots that had been dumped) ...
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Note that these ballots were NOT filled but were going TO the people to be filled. In other words, if they never received them, most of them would have to request them again or go vote in person. (Yes, some would not be able to - so some votes would be lost but nowhere near the "100s" I would think)

Also note that if ballots are dumped going FROM people TO county election boards, then they'd never get confirmation that their ballots are received. In some states you have to check the status to see that. So it's true that some (many?) people may not check on status of their ballot and not realize it's never received back.

In any case, hopefully this is an isolated incident (likely inspired by Trump).
 

Your mom is mistaken. Ballots can be counted as early as 22 days before the election. However, results cannot be released before county polls close.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES...ing=&URL=0100-0199/0101/Sections/0101.68.html

Obviously, if ballots have been pre-counted, unofficial results can be released as soon as the polls close.

As for Texas:

"(a) The early voting ballot board may determine whether to accept early voting ballots voted by mail in accordance with Section 87.041 at any time after the ballots are delivered to the board.

(b) The board may not count early voting ballots until:

(1) the polls open on election day; or
(2) in an election conducted by an authority of a county with a population of 100,000 or more or conducted jointly with such a county, the end of the period for early voting by personal appearance."

https://law.justia.com/codes/texas/...le-a/chapter-87/subchapter-b/section-87-0241/


Blue Donkey said:
It is impossible to prevent someone from voting straight ticket. Even if the letters D and R do not appear on ballots, everyone knows who to vote for except those who paid no attention to federal and state politics all year.
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Dunno about Texas but I have lived in states where the ballot included boxes for "Democrat" and "Republican" as well as for individual candidates. You only had to check the party box to vote a straight ticket. Or you could split the vote by checking boxes for each race.


Blue Donkey said:
He knows the real reason people don't want to vote for him and has been lying about the risk of voter fraud. At least one other member said even Trump himself votes by mail.
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As of noon news today, WEPC-CBS12 reported Trump has not requested an absentee/mail ballot. There is speculation he is coming to Florida soon and may vote in-person.
 
swing_voter said:
Trump is the best thing to happen to democrats since the Roosevelt presidency.
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...and, in the long run, Republicans. They paid no attention to their autopsy in 2012. With the party in shambles next year (and likely losing many statehouses, and being gerrymandered out of the House for a while .... what goes around comes around).... they will be forced to dust off the autopsy to use it as a guide. In the end, they will agree with Joe. They will "build back better"
 

I have never seen or heard of such a thing. Voting straight ticket only means you look for the party letter select the name beside it, which nobody can be prevented from doing.
 
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