The violence i am fearing is violence at polling places. It doesn’t take a lot of violence to scare people away.
Georgia’s incredibly restrictive rules damn near guarantee my vote will not count because there’s no way it will arrive in time to be counted. And, yes, by mail is my one and only option since I’m overseas.
That reminds me. Whatever happened to those preachers who have said that voting for anyone other than Trump is a sin?
I’m not so much worried about violence if Harris wins as I am about right wing violence, period. If she wins, there will be enraged violence, if she loses there will be celebratory violence. Destruction and violence is how they express themselves.
Seriously? 3000 people killed on 9/11 drove two decades worth of wars. 58,000 KIA over the course of the Vietnam War traumatized a generation. 100,000 killed in the aftermath of an election would irretrievably alter the nature of American Democracy.
I don’t think the body count would ever be that high, even under the most pessimistic scenarios discussed here, but if the wheels do come off that badly, shit is going to be fucked for decades to come.
And somebody who doesn’t, doesn’t really understand humanity.
I get that more than a dozen people die every day, but even a dozen from unnecessary violence would certainly shock me, at the least, even though I know it’s only a small a fraction of 1%.
A little known historical event called the French Revolution had an estimated body count of 200-300,000 people, over the course of several years, and look how that event changed the whole world. A bloodbath with 100,000 victims of a resurrection-like or even revolutionary event in the aftermath of the election would have massive consequences, no matter which side would “win” such an unrest.
I do think DeJoy will have a harder time messing with the election mail in 2024 than he did in 2020, simply because the Biden Administration is on to him. They’ll be watching.
Still, I wouldn’t waste a moment of time returning your ballot. Mail it as early as possible, and if you have the option to check and make sure it’s been received and counted, even better.
Good luck!
Ditto.
In addition, while it’s a pretty red area, there are publicly vocal Democrats etc. who haven’t been being harassed. I’d be astonished to have trouble at the polls here.
Despite which, for this election, I’m planning on voting early in person. Wouldn’t want to risk being sick on the day, even in a (gerrymandered recently to be even more red) district in a very blue state.
I’m also in a rather red area, although there a fair number of Dems around here. I plan to vote early in the day of the election, just so I can see if there are any shenanigans going on around the polling place. Although I don’t ever remember anything happening in previous elections, this election will be anything but typical.
I’m hoping that he will be defeated so decisively that it makes any claims of a “steal” appear totally absurd.
Half of the voters in this country have proven themselves entirely blind to absurdity.
Only 5 people were killed in the Boston Massacre and it sparked the American Revolution. People don’t understand that a spark can (but not always) leda to an explosion given enough tinder to make it take off.
But that said, I think there isn’t enough support from MAGA to support an actual revolution. The truely organized groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are still on the skids since the last election.
I’m not expecting anything in particular, but I am speculating that there could be sporadic bursts of violence. Nothing on the scale of what you describe. But a couple thousand people, a lot of them with guns, attempting to storm the Capitol? Fires set at the home of a few Democratic governors who were open Harris supporters? Protest in various cities that turn to violence and looting and end with several police and rioters being killed? That I could see happening.
I generally agree with your posts, but I think you’ve missed the mark with that comment. First, death is not the only metric by which to measure mayhem. Injuries, property destruction, disruption by blocking people from carrying out their daily lives, strikes - all of that matters even if no one dies.
Second, it is not about the number of people who die but how and why. Should we have said “ho-hum” to Kent State because only four students died? Was the assassination of Lincoln trivial because only one politician died?
If thousands of people succumb to cancer every year, that’s unfortunate but it’s not news. If a few hundred people die because an airplane manufacturer was grossly negligent or flouted safety regulations, that’s something I want to know about, and that society, through the court system, revised regulations and enforcement, changes to manufacturing processes or whatever, should act in response to.
What happened on January 6 was certainly newsworthy even though the ultimate death toll was low. But that event reverberated throughout the US and the world because of what it said about the state of America. I would expect that violence following a Harris election (or, as some posters here have conjectured, during the voting process) would have a similar impact.
Because “who voted” is a matter of public record (so they don’t need security around checking that) it’s really really easy in my state to check. I never remember exactly how, and Google something like “mail in voting [my state]” and poke around the state website until i find the right link. I can technically check if anyone’s ballot has been received and whether it was accepted or rejected, if i have their name and address.
I always check mine, and urge everyone who votes by mail to try to do that.
I love that in Washington State, I get notification when they send my ballot, notification when they receive my mailed-in ballot, and notification when they confirm my signature and my ballot will be included. I did have to sign up for that service, but it gives me total confidence in the process.
It’s a little more work in Oregon, but not much. I can go to my county’s website and easily look it up. The site will tell me the current status of my ballot: Mailed, received, processed, etc.
I also love that I will be able to complete my ballot weeks ahead of the election and drop it off at a drop box on a date and time convenient to me. Our drop boxes are constantly monitored, so there are few opportunities for shenanigans by bad actors.
I plan to turn my ballot around very quickly this year.
Of course, we live in states that will count for little in this election. We’re safe blues and at the tail end of the counting, barely worth a mention by Kornaki when results are made official. I’m very interested in some local races and issues, but the EC votes for president aren’t in doubt here. Salem may see some nastiness around the capitol building. There will surely be lots of displaying in rural areas. But I doubt much attention will be paid to our states by the MAGAs.
(This was hilarious, by the way. 
)
Yeah I am still pretty worried about the fact that what appears to be a right-wing crazy attempted to shoot Trump. Even if they’re turning on themselves, it’s not cool. It all comes back to what TFG has sown and it worries me.
They all went to hell for lying to their flocks. Obviously.
Ditto. Although I’ve never seen it received and not yet accepted, those seem to happen at pretty much the same time.
Also, an advantage of voting early, especially if you are in a swing state, is that once the state reports that your ballot has been accepted, no one (with a current list) will call, knock, text, etc. to urge you to vote. Anyone with any organization will focus on those who haven’t yet voted.
Excellent point.