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2020 Presidential Election part 2

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Hey foreign types.

Context. How long does it take for you guys to get results after major but routine elections?

In Australia almost always on the night of the vote. Very rarely in a very close election we need to wait for the West Australian votes to be counted, so sometimes the next morning.
 
Trump Retweeted

Eric Trump
@EricTrump
The amount of FRAUD being reported in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin is unreal. Please report personal experiences. Please have all facts and evidence. #StopTheSteal
Oh they're gonna get so many troll-ish reports.
"I saw a dog vote for Biden!"
"I saw ten people dressed as Obama set a ballot box on fire!"
"Elvis was in line at my polling place! He can't vote, he's dead!"
 
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Donald Trump Jr tweeted

@DonaldJTrumpJr
The total lack of action from virtually all of the “2024 GOP hopefuls” is pretty amazing.
They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead.

Don’t worry @realDonaldTrump will fight & they can watch as usual!
 
As a non-USAian can someone explain if this has any basis in fact?

Not much.

Here's the relevant clause of the constitution

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors.....etc.etc.

I think the vast majority of people, including Justices of the Supreme Court, would say what that means is the legislature dictates how elections will be run, and how electors will be appointed based on those elections, and, having done so, the state is required to stick with that law that was previously passed. In other words, the legislature can say that there will be a baseball game on election day, and the winner will get the electors. However, what they could not do would be to say that, once the game is going into extra innings, that we will stop the baseball game, and draw straws instead.

Having decide that they will play baseball, they have to stick to baseball.

In reality, all states say that there will be an election, and whoever gets the most votes gets the electors. (Maine and Nebraska have a slight wrinkle on that.) Where the states have some leeway is in electoral procedures. That's why in some states ballots have to be received at a certain time, whereas in other states, they have to be postmarked at a certain time.

What the crazy all caps Fox guy (Larry Elder?) was saying is that if there is some sort of question about how things are going, the legislature can step in and decide who gets the electors, and to heck with whatever law was passed before. That's a bit nutty.

On the other hand, suppose there was truly an irresolvable situation. Let's say it's a very close election, and a fire breaks out in a counting center, and a number of ballots that is sufficient to make the difference are destroyed before they are counted. What then?

I don't think the law has ever been tested on those extreme situations. I think that generally, it is left to state courts to interpret what the appropriate actions are based on the laws of the state, and occasionally by federal law as applicable. Sorting out specific situations is up to the lawyers and judges. However, it is conceivable that a legislature might pass some sort of law about how to sort it out, and it is conceivable a judge would accept the legislative solution, as long as it was perceived that the legislatures were trying to follow the spirit of the existing law, just in a situation where it's impossible to follow it directly.

So, the short answer is, no. He's wrong. The slightly longer answer is, no, he's wrong, but in an extreme situation he could be a little bit right.
 
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Hey foreign types.

Context. How long does it take for you guys to get results after major but routine elections?
I think in Canada it's been next day at the latest, but I'm not absolutely sure.
Actually I don't think I've ever seen an election in Canada where the results (at least who won overall) did not come in before bedtime (well, assuming you were willing to stay up at least a little past midnight).
 
The areas in Nevada still to report are all ones likely to lean heavily to Biden and the mail ballots, which have been leaning to the blue end of the spectrum.
While I will take optimism wherever I see it, the NYT shows absentee ballots in NV heavily favoring Trump.



Trump Retweeted

Eric Trump
@EricTrump
The amount of FRAUD being reported in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin is unreal. Please report personal experiences. Please have all facts and evidence. #StopTheSteal

People are saying! What more evidence do you need? :rolleyes:
 
Hey foreign types.

Context. How long does it take for you guys to get results after major but routine elections?

Polls close at 3pm on Sunday.
Results are almost all known by, say, 10pm.

Parliamentary system with proportional representation in each province.
No EC, no first past the post, no winner takes all.
(And sometimes no real government for over a year.)
 
Actually I don't think I've ever seen an election in Canada where the results (at least who won overall) did not come in before bedtime (well, assuming you were willing to stay up at least a little past midnight).

I worked ten years of straight night shifts, so I'm easily confused by concepts like bedtime. You're probably right about the speed of picking a winner.
 
Polls close at 3pm on Sunday.
Results are almost all known by, say, 10pm.

Parliamentary system with proportional representation in each province.
No EC, no first past the post, no winner takes all.
(And sometimes no real government for over a year.)

I think the answer to who won the election (in Belgium, is it?) is “nobody ever frikkin knows!”
 
Pennsylvania:

From Twitter:

#Pennsylvania absentee votes are tracking absolutely rock-solid - it's literally a straight-line graph at 3 for Biden, 1 for Trump. If this holds, #Biden will overtake #Trump when another 200k votes have been counted. Present totals 3,237,000 for Trump, 3,135,000 for Biden.

Seems to be saying that of Biden in the postal votes is beating Trump three to one bringing down Trump's current lead to less than 100K.
 
So this is where we are standing.

Arizona. About 450,000 ballots left to count. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

Georgia. About 47,000 ballots left to count. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

Nevada. No real answer on how many votes are left to count. Mail in ballot can still be received until the 10th as long as they were postmarked by Election day. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

North Carolina. No results until next week.

Pennsylvania. 370,000 votes left to be counted. Could get the final count today, maybe not.

Alaska. It's cold.
 
So this is where we are standing.

Arizona. About 450,000 ballots left to count. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

Georgia. About 47,000 ballots left to count. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

Nevada. No real answer on how many votes are left to count. Mail in ballot can still be received until the 10th as long as they were postmarked by Election day. No firm timeframe on when they will be finished.

North Carolina. No results until next week.

Pennsylvania. 370,000 votes left to be counted. Could get the final count today, maybe not.

Alaska. It's cold.


I, for one, am very impressed about what I have seen from all the elected officials dealing with this counting. They are all respecting the rule of law, and the principles of democracy, knowing that accuracy is more important than speed, and the every vote counts.

All of the officials I have heard from are unanimous in that sentiment, except one.
 
Not much.

Here's the relevant clause of the constitution

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors.....etc.etc.

I think the vast majority of people, including Justices of the Supreme Court, would say what that means is the legislature dictates how elections will be run, and how electors will be appointed based on those elections, and, having done so, the state is required to stick with that law that was previously passed. In other words, the legislature can say that there will be a baseball game on election day, and the winner will get the electors. However, what they could not do would be to say that, once the game is going into extra innings, that we will stop the baseball game, and draw straws instead.

Having decide that they will play baseball, they have to stick to baseball.

In reality, all states say that there will be an election, and whoever gets the most votes gets the electors. (Maine and Nebraska have a slight wrinkle on that.) Where the states have some leeway is in electoral procedures. That's why in some states ballots have to be received at a certain time, whereas in other states, they have to be postmarked at a certain time.

What the crazy all caps Fox guy (Larry Elder?) was saying is that if there is some sort of question about how things are going, the legislature can step in and decide who gets the electors, and to heck with whatever law was passed before. That's a bit nutty.

On the other hand, suppose there was truly an irresolvable situation. Let's say it's a very close election, and a fire breaks out in a counting center, and a number of ballots that is sufficient to make the difference are destroyed before they are counted. What then?

I don't think the law has ever been tested on those extreme situations. I think that generally, it is left to state courts to interpret what the appropriate actions are based on the laws of the state, and occasionally by federal law as applicable. Sorting out specific situations is up to the lawyers and judges. However, it is conceivable that a legislature might pass some sort of law about how to sort it out, and it is conceivable a judge would accept the legislative solution, as long as it was perceived that the legislatures were trying to follow the spirit of the existing law, just in a situation where it's impossible to follow it directly.

So, the short answer is, no. He's wrong. The slightly longer answer is, no, he's wrong, but in an extreme situation he could be a little bit right.

How come all the electors from a state has to vote for the same candidate? Why don't they vote proportionally to how the votes fell? (As far as possible, at least?)
 
How come all the electors from a state has to vote for the same candidate? Why don't they vote proportionally to how the votes fell? (As far as possible, at least?)

Because no state legislature has said that's how it ought to be done. A state could pass a law saying that's how their block will be appointed.

The general reason for not doing it that way is that the states feel they have more clout in national politics if all their electors vote in a block.

Maine and Nebraska do elect split electors, based on the majority vote within congressional districts, so this year, Maine will have one elector for Trump, and three for Biden, while Nebraska will have one for Biden, and four for Trump. That's how their legislators said they will appoint their electors.
 
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