Trump just told us how mail delays could help him corrupt the election

[homersapien 11,352]

 

Greg Sargent

Columnist

July 31, 2020 at 10:31 a.m. EDT

It’s telling that after President Trump was widely rebuked for suggesting a delay of the election, he wasn’t remotely chastened. Instead, he floated another scenario that could help him accomplish the same goal of avoiding a free and fair election:

He suggested that only the votes that can be tallied on Election Day should count.

This may seem like Trumpian bluster. But it’s much more alarming in light of an important new exposé in The Post that reports on big backlogs in mail delivery due to “cost-cutting” by the new head of the U.S. Postal Service — who, by spectacular coincidence, just happens to be a top Trump fundraiser.

And here’s an additional reason for alarm that needs more attention: The impact of those delays could be dramatically exacerbated by state laws that invalidate ballots that are mailed before Election Day but arrive after Election Day.

Guess which key presidential swing states have such provisions invalidating ballots that arrive after Election Day?

All of them do, with the exception of North Carolina.

“In states where ballots won’t count if they are received after Election Day, the impact could be devastating," Vanita Gupta, the CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, told me, adding that this could “result in potentially hundreds of thousands of ballots getting rejected.”

“The delays are going to be unpredictable with the cuts being made on the postal service,” Gupta continued. “That impact could turn a swing state completely.”

The Post exposé reports that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is implementing changes that have critics charging that mail delays may be “the result of a political effort to undermine absentee voting.”

These changes, The Post reports, include “prohibiting overtime pay, shutting down sorting machines early and requiring letter carriers to leave mail behind when necessary to avoid extra trips or late delivery on routes.” The result:

The new policies have resulted in at least a two-day delay in scattered parts of the country, even for express mail, according to multiple postal workers and union leaders. Letter carriers are manually sorting more mail, adding to the delivery time. Bins of mail ready for delivery are sitting in post offices because of scheduling and route changes. And without the ability to work overtime, workers say the logjam is worsening without an end in sight.

A spokesperson for the USPS is vowing that the changes are temporary and are not intended to delay the transmission of mailed ballots. But delays could nonetheless end up having a massive disenfranchising effect whatever the USPS’s motives, due to the precise confluence of factors coming together right now.

What’s more, USPS officials can plead innocence all they want, but Trump himself is banking on these delays to save his reelection hopes. Trump is basically telling us so himself.

Trump said it out loud

At Thursday’s press briefing, Trump unleashed a stream of absurdities about vote-by-mail, and tellingly said this:

So many years, I’ve been watching elections. And they say the “projected winner” or the “winner of the election” — I don’t want to see that take place in a week after November 3rd or a month or, frankly, with litigation and everything else that can happen, years. Years. Or you never even know who won the election.

You’re sending out hundreds of millions of universal, mail-in ballots — hundreds of millions. Where are they going? Who are they being sent to?

It’s all there. Trump is looking to declare himself winner on Election Day, no matter how many mail ballots remain uncounted. He will say they are fraudulent. And if they tip the result against him, he will say that outcome is rigged, something he has already said publicly is inevitable.

And so, any such delays — whatever the USPS’s intentions — will be seized on by Trump to delegitimize all of those outstanding ballots.

Now add into this volatile mix those state laws mentioned above.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the Democratic-run Democracy Docket, swing states that currently do not accept ballots that are postmarked before but arrive after Election Day include: Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Georgia. Those states will decide the election.

This sheds more light on an important piece by David Wasserman predicting a disaster brewing around absentee ballots. Democrats will use vote-by-mail in far higher numbers than Republicans — due to Trump’s nonstop attacks on it — yet absentee ballots get rejected at disproportionate rates, due to procedural complexities.

We now see why that might happen in a particularly worrisome way: Because they arrive after Election Day. Indeed, as Paul Waldman pointed out, such invalidation is already happening in primaries.

A disastrous scenario

We cannot know in advance what sort of numbers we’re dealing with here, but in very close races, the impact could be serious.

“This is certainly one significantly disastrous scenario that is looming,” Wendy Weiser, who directs the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, told me.

It’s obviously very possible that Biden’s leads could remain large enough to negate such problems. But does anyone think it’s wise — or fair — to have to count on that?

Indeed, Weiser points out that this is doubly ludicrous amid current conditions — postal cutbacks even as a pandemic drives demand for vote-by-mail much higher.

“This is particularly unreasonable during a pandemic,” Weiser said. “We’re already experiencing substantial delays in the mail that will make it exceedingly difficult for many to meet those states’ deadlines, through no fault of their own.”

There is recourse here: Top Democratic lawyer Marc Elias tells me Democrats are litigating against these laws in every swing state, with an eye toward getting ballots counted that are postmarked before but arrive after Election Day. The absurdity of that deadline amid a pandemic and postal cutbacks might boost their legal case.

So it’s very possible Democrats could succeed in getting ballots counted after Election Day in many swing states. But even if that happens, try to imagine the paranoia Trump will whip up in his supporters about it. Then imagine what sort of civil conflict could erupt if Trump does lose after Election Day in exactly this fashion.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/31/trump-just-told-us-how-mail-delays-could-help-him-corrupt-election/?hpid=hp_save-opinions-float-right-4-0_opinion-card-a-right%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

[AFTiger 282]

Knowing the problems and inefficiencies of the USPS struggling with current delivery of mail, I don't see how it could cope with deluge of mail caused by the scheme to send everybody a ballot. We have already seen the problems in New York where a June election is still in limbo. 

A local CBS news station experimented with bad results. https://tinyurl.com/y5cf763x 

[homersapien 11,352]

4 hours ago, AFTiger said:

Knowing the problems and inefficiencies of the USPS struggling with current delivery of mail, I don't see how it could cope with deluge of mail caused by the scheme to send everybody a ballot. We have already seen the problems in New York where a June election is still in limbo. 

A local CBS news station experimented with bad results. https://tinyurl.com/y5cf763x 

That's exactly what the Trump administration is trying to get you think. (Which was the point of posting the OP).

This country can manage any type of election process that is dictated by the circumstances, period. We've done so in the past.

This is about the total lack of leadership to make it happen.

[AFTiger 282]

ooooookay?🥴

[aubiefifty 16,695]

On 7/31/2020 at 5:23 PM, AFTiger said:

Knowing the problems and inefficiencies of the USPS struggling with current delivery of mail, I don't see how it could cope with deluge of mail caused by the scheme to send everybody a ballot. We have already seen the problems in New York where a June election is still in limbo. 

A local CBS news station experimented with bad results. https://tinyurl.com/y5cf763x 

you know your boy trump votes by mail right? if it is good enough for him it is good enough for me. oh.....and of course he screwed his up with the wrong date or something. go look it up............

[AFTiger 282]

I voted in person in June. As far as anybody can tell, no body caught covid-19

I voted by mail the entire time I was on active duty. Am I positive my vote was counted? NO.

28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections  https://tinyurl.com/yaetjmq5

Quote

New York’s June 23 primary did not go smoothly. The issues election officials and voters faced were wide ranging, but hinged mostly on a massive number of absentee ballots flooding a system that was simply unequipped to process them. In the 2016 primary, New York state had 157,885 requests for absentee ballots; this year, the state, which at one point was the epicenter of the deadly battle against COVID-19, received more than 1.7 million requests.

https://time.com/5874571/new-york-state-general-election/

Quote

Nonsense, shout the usual suspects. That’s unfounded, he’s making it up, there’s no evidence, blah blah blah.

Ah, but there is evidence. Lots of it, and right in front of us, thanks to the continuing saga of two New York congressional races. Five weeks after the Democratic primaries, no winners have been declared. Results for two others were delayed for three weeks.

The major problem was the volume of mailed-in ballots — more than 400,000 across the city, against the 23,000 received and validated four years ago, The Washington Post reports. The Board of Elections, creaky, sloppy and unreliable on the best of days, is swamped.

https://nypost.com/2020/08/01/a-national-mail-in-ballot-election-would-be-a-disaster-goodwin/

Neo-communists are pushing this to confound the results and create chaos in November.

I don't think your boy Biden (Bernie) could even find a mailbox.

 

[GiveEmElle 1,559]

8 hours ago, AFTiger said:

I voted in person in June. As far as anybody can tell, no body caught covid-19

I voted by mail the entire time I was on active duty. Am I positive my vote was counted? NO.

28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections  https://tinyurl.com/yaetjmq5

Neo-communists are pushing this to confound the results and create chaos in November.

I don't think your boy Biden (Bernie) could even find a mailbox.

 

Remember that time Biden couldn’t find his limo?

 

[homersapien 11,352]

21 hours ago, AFTiger said:

I voted in person in June. As far as anybody can tell, no body caught covid-19

I voted by mail the entire time I was on active duty. Am I positive my vote was counted? NO.

28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections  https://tinyurl.com/yaetjmq5

Neo-communists are pushing this to confound the results and create chaos in November.

I don't think your boy Biden (Bernie) could even find a mailbox.

 

Well there are a lot of neo-fascist Republicans that are "pushing this" as well :

As Trump leans into attacks on mail voting, GOP officials confront signs of Republican turnout crisis

By

Amy Gardner and 

Josh Dawsey

August 3, 2020 at 10:47 a.m. EDT

President Trump’s unfounded attacks on mail balloting are discouraging his own supporters from embracing the practice, according to polls and Republican leaders across the country, prompting growing alarm that one of the central strategies of his campaign is threatening GOP prospects in November.

Multiple public surveys show a growing divide between Democrats and Republicans about the security of voting by mail, with Republicans saying they are far less likely to trust it in November. In addition, party leaders in several states said they are encountering resistance among GOP voters who are being encouraged to vote absentee while also seeing the president describe mail voting as “rigged” and “fraudulent.”

As a result, state and local Republicans across the country fear they are falling dramatically behind in a practice that is expected to be key to voter turnout this year. Through mailers and Facebook ads, they are racing to promote absentee balloting among their own.

In the process, some Republican officials have tried to draw a distinction between “absentee ballots,” which Trump claims are secure, and “mail ballots,” which he has repeatedly attacked. The terms are typically used interchangeably.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, describing a recent meeting with a group of Republican voters in Fort Payne, said he felt compelled to explain that there is only one kind of mail-in voting in Alabama, and that it is safe and secure.

“They were confused about two different kinds of mail-in balloting,” he said, “where one is ‘good’ and one is not.”

Merrill’s concerns were echoed by senior White House and campaign aides, as well as GOP operatives in numerous key states including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity to criticize the president.

“It is a problem,” said one Republican strategist in North Carolina. “The president has oversimplified the issue to criticize the method of voting, rather than the way it’s done. The details matter.”

Republican National Committee spokesman Mike Reed disputed the view that Trump’s attacks on mail voting are a threat to Republican turnout. “Some are going to vote absentee through the proper process as they always do, and you will see us encouraging them to do that,” Reed said. “But many of our voters just prefer to vote in person.”

With the novel coronavirus pandemic still raging across the United States, election officials in dozens of states have addressed fears of infection at the polls by preparing for a massive increase in mail balloting. Officials in both parties are building turnout operations geared specifically to mail voting on the belief that a majority of voters will prefer to cast their ballots this way.

At least 77 percent of American voters will be able to vote through the mail in the fall, according to a Washington Post tracker of state rules.

At the same time, Trump’s campaign and the RNC are fighting against the expansion of mail balloting, seeking to stop efforts backed by Democrats and voting rights advocates to loosen rules, such as witness signatures and identification requirements, that would make it easier for people to vote by mail. GOP party officials argue that such restrictions are necessary to prevent fraud.

Voting rules changed quickly for the primaries. But the battle over how Americans will cast ballots in the fall is just heating up.

The president has gone much further, however, launching wholesale broadsides against the concept of voting by mail that have emerged as a central strategy of his campaign.

“The 2020 Election will be totally rigged if Mail-In Voting is allowed to take place, & everyone knows it,” he tweeted July 26, one of more than 70 attacks he has made against voting by mail since March, according to a tally by The Post.

Senior Trump advisers, including RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, have warned the president that his broad rhetoric is complicating Republican turnout efforts, multiple strategists said. McDaniel and Justin Clark, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, have repeatedly encouraged the president to promote the use of absentee ballots. McDaniel has additionally urged him to stop his blanket attacks on mail voting and present a more nuanced message.

GOP officials around the country said more clarity from the president would help voters. “I think that is the distinction he is trying to draw,” Merrill said. “I would hope that he would be more specific in his explanation so people understand what the difference is.”

Trump has indicated that he has no plans to back off his attacks on the integrity of the vote, strategists said. Some advisers acknowledged privately that the president may be laying the groundwork to claim the election was rigged if he loses in November.

Just last week, Trump suggested delaying the election until Americans can safely cast ballots in person.

In recent days, Vice President Pence and Attorney General William P. Barr both spoke publicly about the risk of fraud they said was inherent in mail balloting, without offering evidence. The president also recently elevated Clark, a lawyer who has led his campaign’s litigation efforts to restrict the expansion of mail voting. And the White House is expected to repeatedly emphasize the risks of “mass mail-in voting” in upcoming months, according to a senior White House official.

“He tweets about this every day,” said a campaign adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking. “Clearly, it’s his concerted strategy.”

Trump encounters broad pushback to his suggestion to delay the Nov. 3 election

On Monday, the president accused Democrats in Nevada of “an illegal late night coup” after the state legislature passed a bill that would allow ballots to be sent to all active voters, while also requiring a minimum number of in-person voting locations. Trump tweeted that it “made it impossible for Republicans to win the state” and claimed the U.S. Postal Service “could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation.”

“See you in Court!” he added.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said there is nothing confusing about the president’s distinction between absentee balloting and all-mail voting. He declined to address concerns in the party that Trump has discouraged his supporters to vote absentee.

“President Trump was quite clear that universal mail-in voting, as Democrats are pushing, is ripe for fraud, while normal absentee voting by mail is completely different,” Murtaugh said. “There’s a vast difference between voting absentee for people who can’t get to the polls on Election Day versus mailing every registered voter a ballot, even those who didn’t request one.”

In fact, only a handful of states are planning to proactively send mail ballots to all voters. They include three that have successfully conducted virtually all-mail elections for years: Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

Democrats are not seeking mail-only elections in most states, in part because many of their voters, especially people of color and younger Americans, have historically been less likely to vote by mail.

Mike Babinski opens ballot applications at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Ohio last month. (Tony Dejak/AP)

Meanwhile, there are now growing signs of a palpable impact on GOP enthusiasm for mail voting.

A Monmouth University poll of registered voters in Georgia taken late last month found that 60 percent of Democrats are at least somewhat likely to vote by mail this fall, compared to 28 percent of Republicans.

Glen Bolger, a pollster with the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies, said that in one swing state he declined to identify, only 15 percent of voters planning to cast ballots by mail were Trump supporters. “Republicans are skeptical about voting by mail, and that’s a problem up and down the ballot,” he said.

Similarly, an analysis of current absentee ballot requests in North Carolina shows that Democrats have vastly outpaced Republicans, even though roughly the same numbers of Republicans and Democrats voted by mail four years ago.

“Everybody’s up,” said Michael Bitzer, a politics professor at Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., who conducted the analysis. “It’s just that Democrats and unaffiliateds are through the roof, and Republicans are not even on the second floor.”

Bitzer said Trump’s “mixed messages” about absentee balloting are probably one factor, along with more enthusiasm and greater coronavirus concerns among Democrats.

Trump’s attacks on mail voting are turning Republicans off absentee ballots

Republicans have been working in creative ways to try to counter the effects of Trump’s words. State and national Republicans are inundating their voters with Facebook ads and mailers promoting the message that absentee balloting is safe. Some of the messages claim that Trump is criticizing only the practice of “universal” mail-balloting — sending ballots to all registered voters.

One recent Facebook sponsored post from the Johnston County, N.C., Republican Party exhorted voters not to dismiss a GOP mail piece coming their way: “ATTENTION!!! If you receive an ABSENTEE BALLOT MAILER like shown in this picture, please know that it is legitimate!!!”

“Please don’t confuse North Carolina’s absentee system with other states’ all-mail elections,” read the message from party chairman. “NCGOP and JoCo GOP agrees with the President that our current absentee ballot request system is safe and secure.”

The assurance was met with skepticism from many commenters. “Burned it! I will go in person to vote straight Republican,” wrote one.

“Why is the GOP sending this out,” wrote another, adding: “You know damn well that we are arguing against this, and here it is our own damn party sending this horse dung out?!!! Whoever is in charge of this should be fired. I am going to the polls, Don’t send me one.”

Another recent ad, from the Alaska GOP, lamented how few Republicans have requested absentee ballots and urged supporters to submit their request “NOW.”

Reed, the RNC spokesman, said there is a “clear difference” between what Democrats are seeking this cycle and a typical absentee ballot request process.

“Washington Democrats and the media may not understand these distinctions or be willfully misconstruing them, but our voters understand it,” he said.

However, some of Trump’s advisers don’t think he has done a good job explaining the distinction — while others have admitted there really isn’t a difference. In one lawsuit pending in Pennsylvania, the president’s lawyers argued that “the terms ‘mail-in’ and ‘absentee’ are used interchangeably.”

More than 30 states — including Florida, where Trump voted absentee in the primary this year — allow any voter to cast a ballot by mail.

For their part, Democrats are challenging measures that they argue create unfair hurdles to voting, such as rules limiting who can cast absentee ballots, while also pushing to extend early in-person voting and ensure that all Election Day voting locations are able to open with full staffs.

Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who is leading voting litigation in 18 states this year, said the president’s muddled messaging has “sawed off the limbs of every House and Senate candidate in America” trying to maximize voter turnout during a pandemic election.

Some Republicans actions amount to an admission that Trump’s rhetoric might be confusing.

In Florida, Republicans have begun encouraging their supporters to vote early in person — an apparent concession to the mistrust of mail balloting Trump has sown.

And a GOP mail piece, sent to voters in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan, quotes part of a July 10 tweet by Trump, in which he wrote: “Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege.” But the flier blurs out the second part of the tweet: “Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20% fraudulent ballots?”

Reed defended the mailer, describing it as “completely in line” with Trump’s position, but he declined to address the blurring of the president’s tweet. The fliers were paid for by state parties but produced in coordination with Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee that includes the RNC.

A voter drops off her ballot in March for the primary in Washington state, which offers universal mail voting. (John Froschauer/AP)

Political operatives across the country say banking early and absentee votes is crucial to avoid leaving turnout to chance, including the vagaries of weather on Election Day as well as the potential of an autumn spike in coronavirus infections.

A shift to Election Day voting also costs campaigns money, several operatives said; ballots cast by mail shrink the universe of voters who still need to be persuaded with expensive mail pieces, robocalls and TV ads in the final days of the race.

In some states, Republican leaders who had previously followed Trump’s lead in discouraging expanded access to mail balloting are shifting their approach.

In Iowa, the GOP-controlled legislature passed a law earlier this year blocking the secretary of state, Republican Paul Pate, from sending ballot request forms to all registered voters without lawmakers’ permission.

But in July, after several Democratic counties in Iowa announced they would send request forms themselves, legislative leaders granted the state permission to do so, as well.

Democrats, meanwhile, believe Trump’s rhetoric has given them a potential turnout advantage — but they are also preparing for the possibility that the president is laying the groundwork to contest the results after Nov. 3.

Barring a landslide, what’s probably not coming on Nov. 3? A result in the race for the White House.

It’s possible that the Democratic advantage among absentee votes, and the potential Republican advantage in Election Day voting, will mean that the president will appear ahead that night — only to potentially lose as mail ballots are tallied in subsequent days.

The flood of mail votes could also prompt a barrage of litigation over which ballots should be counted.

“Must know Election results on the night of the Election, not days, months, or even years later!” Trump tweeted last week.

On voting issues, Elias, the Democrats’ lead tactician said: “Their sole purpose is to mount a cynical effort to undermine the elections and people’s confidence in the outcome.”

Even after he was widely rebuked last week for floating the idea of delaying the election, Trump did not repudiate the idea. Stephen Miller, the president’s senior policy adviser, defended his boss in a Fox News interview, falsely claiming that the identities of voters who cast ballots are not confirmed, allowing noncitizens to vote.

“This will be catastrophic for our nation,” the president said at the White House on Friday. “You’ll see it. I’m always right about things like this.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-race-to-promote-mail-voting-as-trumps-attacks-discourage-his-own-supporters-from-embracing-the-practice/2020/08/03/9dd1d988-d1d9-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_gopalarm-1045am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

 

Bottom line, all this is irrelevant.  Trump is going to lose regardless of any role mail in voting plays. The only question at this point will be the margin of loss.  And after all the votes are counted, it will likely be huge. 

And we have time left to get the mail-in voting right regardless.  Trump is just trying to demagogue it because he knows he's likely to lose.

 

[AUFriction 1,179]

As much as this gets talked about, there’s still no reliable evidence of absentee voting fraud. In fact, there’s more evidence of problems happening at the polls than there is of voter fraud. I’m still trying to figure out why this “myth” has take off, and more importantly why it’s seemed to only be a thing in far right circles. (FYI... I’m best described as a true moderate.)

[AFTiger 282]

You can ignore or deny facts as you do, it changes nothing. You have been presented actual facts about the mail in ballot. Fraud has been documented and the neo-comm plan to create chaos is clear.

People who don't understand the difference between absentee voting and the massive mail in ballot sent to every voter should abstain. Including so called "moderates."

Trump may or may not lose but under your scheme, we will not know that days or weeks after election day. 

[channonc 466]

On 8/4/2020 at 8:51 AM, AFTiger said:

You can ignore or deny facts as you do, it changes nothing. You have been presented actual facts about the mail in ballot. Fraud has been documented and the neo-comm plan to create chaos is clear.

People who don't understand the difference between absentee voting and the massive mail in ballot sent to every voter should abstain. Including so called "moderates."

Trump may or may not lose but under your scheme, we will not know that days or weeks after election day. 

There is no data that backs up your claims. 

Resources on Voter Fraud Claims

[homersapien 11,352]

On 8/2/2020 at 3:32 PM, AFTiger said:

28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections  https://tinyurl.com/yaetjmq5

 

 

(From the cited article)

"Although there is no evidence that the millions of missing ballots were used fraudulently, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which compiled the public data provided from the Election Assistance Commission, says that the sheer volume of them raises serious doubts about election security."

 

(From the "comments" section)

"Such bunk.

 

The 28M ballots did not "go missing." They were sent to people who chose not to vote. 12M alone were in just CO, OR and WA where everyone gets a mailed ballot, with about 70% turnout (usually in the top 5 in the country). By the same argument, there are 250 million (60M-70M per election) that don't show up at polling places. They aren't "missing."

 

The states that do mailed out ballots using best practices have each ballot envelope barcoded to the individual voter, only allowing one to count. They verify the signature on the envelope against the ones on file using bipartisan teams trained by law enforcement, and if it doesn't match the voter is contacted and can "cure" using something like a copy of a photo ID. They have ballot tracking in place (like FedEx) so both the voter and elections officials can spot any ballot that actually goes missing. Very few do. They partner with USPS national change of address (NCOA) and the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) to keep the voter address files current. Mailed ballots are non-forwardable. Any that can not be delivered are returned to the elections office and the voter file changed to "inactive" with no more ballots sent.

 

And this is not a partisan issue. Red UT votes 100% by mailed ballots. 70% of the voters in red AZ and MT do, too. 30 counties in ND and 11 in NE do as well."

[RMillander 32]

On 8/2/2020 at 3:32 PM, AFTiger said:

I voted in person in June. As far as anybody can tell, no body caught covid-19

I voted by mail the entire time I was on active duty. Am I positive my vote was counted? NO.

28 Million Mail-In Ballots Went Missing in Last Four Elections  https://tinyurl.com/yaetjmq5

Neo-communists are pushing this to confound the results and create chaos in November.

I don't think your boy Biden (Bernie) could even find a mailbox.

Same here. Voted absentee for 26 years in Air Force. Certain my vote was never counted in some elections, suspect it was never counted in many. Since my retirement, have voted in person, in EVERY primary, runoff and general election. I fought hard for 26 years for my vote to count. I'll be damned if some dysfunctional postal service system and somewhat competent probate clerk system will deprive me of my right. I've also volunteered to work the polls this November. If we can eat in restaurants, shop at Walmart and Home Depot, and allow protesters by the thousands, we can surely line up 6 feet apart and do our civic duty on election day. 

On 8/2/2020 at 3:32 PM, AFTiger said:

 

 

[homersapien 11,352]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2020/08/15/trump-biden-live-updates/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-high_election-luf%3Aprime-time%2Fpromo#link-VQL7LRCDSFCC3NEEMGE5OZNHMQ

Trump says he has confidence in DeJoy, but says, ‘I don’t know what he is doing’

Trump defended Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s changes to the U.S. Postal Service, which are resulting in mail delays, but said he couldn’t speak to the specifics of what DeJoy has done since taking office in June.

“He’s a fantastic man. He wants to make the post office great again,” Trump said during a news briefing at his private golf resort in Bedminster, N.J.

Asked whether he agreed with DeJoy’s decision to remove 671 high-speed mail-sorting machines, roughly 10 percent of the agency’s capacity, Trump said: “I don’t know. I don’t know what he’s doing. I can only tell you he’s a very smart man.”

Pressed on it again later, Trump said, “You’ll have to ask him.” DeJoy has not sat for an interview or held a news conference since taking office.

But in that time, the former logistics executive and major Republican campaign donor banned postal workers from making extra trips to ensure on-time mail delivery and cracked down on overtime hours. Localities across the country have struggled with USPS backlogs of up to a week. He also realigned the 630,000-worker agency, reassigning or removing 33 executives, including two responsible for delivery and retail operations.

Trump railed as he has for months against mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that it will lead to widespread fraud and that the results of the November election may not be known for “months or for years, because these ballots are all going to be lost. They’re going to be gone.”

He also claimed that he and DeJoy want more funding for the Postal Service to deal with the large quantities of ballots it will have to handle over the next two months, but he stated falsely that Democrats were holding it up that funding. He and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin blocked emergency aid for the Postal Service.

Trump has repeatedly spoken out against additional funding for post offices to help them with mail-in ballots as Democrats have argued for it. His administration blocked $13 billion of emergency aid to the Postal Service in March.

The money is included in a larger coronavirus relief bill that is stalled in Congress over other spending disagreements. Trump has said he would not veto a stimulus package that -------------------------

Well,  while the "I don't know what he's doing" fits with the 'incompetent model', my money is on the 'malevolent model'