# Election Day \[Week\]\[Month\[s\]\] \[Year\] 2020 follow-along thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618 "2020-11-03T05:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 107
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2123 "2020-11-05T07:08:27Z")
Yeah but if Biden lands squarely on 270 EVs then expect Trump to fuck with the Electoral College. He would only need one faithless elector to send it to the House where he would win. Surely they can manage to find one elector they can bribe/coerce. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2124 "2020-11-05T07:14:34Z")
I can’t imagine the reaction of the election is turned by a faithless elector. Would that technically be legal/constitutional? It might be, and yet it would be an obvious coup and massive injustice. I would desperately hope the whole fucking country would come out and get pretty fucking angry if that happened, because if they just roll over and take it, this country is done. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2125 "2020-11-05T07:15:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I would desperately hope the whole fucking country would come out and get pretty fucking angry… Nearly half the country would cheer it seems. But yeah. I would expect massive riots if that happened. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2126 "2020-11-05T07:53:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Yeah but if Biden lands squarely on 270 EVs then expect Trump to fuck with the Electoral College. He would only need one faithless elector to send it to the House where he would win. Surely they can manage to find one elector they can bribe/coerce. Why would he win the House? The majority are Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2127 "2020-11-05T07:54:26Z")
So all in all a shitshow Man you guys are really making it hard for Washington area think tanks to write their “reports” and WaPro/NYT think pieces about authoritarian and flawed democracy in . ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2128 "2020-11-05T07:54:58Z")
The votes are by delegation not membership. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2129 "2020-11-05T08:04:12Z")
Thing is you _know_ Mitch McConnell has a plan to dispute or reject returns from states on the basis being unreliable or fraudulent. The only thing that matters for the election is the Jan 6 counting of votes and the certifying of the winner by Congress. Congress has in the past refused to accept electoral votes from states. ---
**Author:** ![yarblek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/71e660/32.png) [@yarblek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yarblek)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2130 "2020-11-05T08:24:10Z")
Mean and median is the same when talking about 100 on the (by definition normalized) IQ graph. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2131 "2020-11-05T08:35:21Z")
The data guys on Twitter seem to be confident that Biden has PA in the bag. For example someone called Gogi Gupta has a bunch of spreadsheets tracking the progress of results on Georgia and PA. He says Biden is likely to win PA by 100000 votes which is around 1.5%. As it happens that is around the amount that Biden is running ahead of Hillary by my calculations in the counties that have almost fully reported, which is a different method. ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2132 "2020-11-05T08:53:11Z")
Just a prediction from an outside observer, but, whatever the final outcome, I think the failure of this election to repudiate Trumpism makes it very likely there’ll be a Trump, or Trump-in-law, on the Republican ticket in 2024. Donald might even be vain enough to stand again himself… OB ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2133 "2020-11-05T09:30:18Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > When the US physically separates from the rest of the planet is the time to give us our own political spectrum. Do you believe that international political sentiment has any effect on US elections? I don’t think it does. Internationally, Trump is pretty unpopular. Yet in the US, he’s just a few thousand votes away from re-election. > **[U.S. Image Plummets Internationally as Most Say Country Has Handled...](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/09/15/us-image-plummets-internationally-as-most-say-country-has-handled-coronavirus-badly/)** > > In several countries, favorable views of the U.S. are at their lowest point since the Center began polling on this topic two decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2134 "2020-11-05T09:32:04Z")
On a State-by-State basis the GOP has most States in the House. When electing a POTUS the Reps in the House vote as State blocs. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2135 "2020-11-05T09:47:32Z")
Saw [this video](https://www.reddit.com/r/PublicFreakout/comments/jocicd/trump_supporters_chant_count_that_vote_and_stop/) posted on reddit. Two videos, side by side. In Michigan, Trump supporters surround the vote counting location and chant “stop the count!” and in Arizona Trump supporters surround the counting location and chant “count the vote!” I don’t want to rush to any conclusions, guys, but I’m starting to think maybe Trump supporters don’t have any principles and will say whatever they think benefits them. Shocking, I know. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2136 "2020-11-05T10:02:10Z")
Indian counts 500 million ballots plus. Pakistan counts 100 million or so. Indonesia about the same. In 12 or so hours. As you guys so charmingly call us, all “Turd-world” countries. Yet, you guys can’t seem to count votes for **checks watch** 48 hours and counting. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2137 "2020-11-05T10:14:19Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Someone before asked “maybe we need to take a long hard look at the Democratic policies that are turning people off”, and I was just trying to do that. The flurry of responses apparently demonstrates, at least in this small sample size, that people don’t want to do that. They just want to rage and rage against the evil Trumpers. Democratic policies are supported by a majority of Americans and Democratic Presidential candidates have received a majority of (popular) votes in every election bar one for the past three decades. Republicans, on the other hand, have devoted their efforts to suppressing legitimate votes and voters in every way possible, legal or illegal. So I question the perspective of anyone who still thinks the conversation ought to be “Why don’t the Democrats change their policies to overcome the malign behaviors of the Republicans?” rather than “Why don’t Republicans adopt policies that appeal to a majority of Americans rather than just undermining democracy on a fundamental level?”. > [@bengangmo](#): > > Indulging my inner conspiricist > > - they thought they were but there was a bigger swing towards Biden than they “allowed” (if you were cheating, wouldn’t you want it close and less obvious than a North Korea level 98%) > - whatever the cheating process involved - there were logistical limits on how much they could adjust the results (i.e they couldn’t tamper with all the machines or the cheating method they did limited them in some way) > - Mail in and early voting overwhelmed the methodology they were using And if you look at states where the result was significant off from the polls, there’s around a 6-8% Trumpward shift across the board. So if one is considering the possibility of illegal “adjustments” of voting numbers, one might wonder why the gaps are so consistent. > [@AK84](#): > > Indian counts 500 million ballots plus. > Pakistan counts 100 million or so. > Indonesia about the same. > In 12 or so hours. > > As you guys so charmingly call us, all “Turd-world” countries. Yet, you guys can’t seem to count votes for **checks watch** 48 hours and counting. In most other countries, everyone _wants_ the votes counted. On a different note, this happened: > **[North Dakota candidate who died from Covid-19 wins election](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/us-politics/north-dakota-candidate-dies-coronavirus-election-win-b46297.html)** > > A  Republican candidate has won a seat on the North Dakota state legislature nearly a month after he died with coronavirus. Not going to make a joke on the subject of someone’s sad demise but still - this happened. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2138 "2020-11-05T11:15:51Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > On a different note, this happened: > > A Republican candidate has won a seat on the North Dakota state legislature nearly a month after he died with coronavirus. > > Not going to make a joke on the subject of someone’s sad demise but still - this happened. This is not the first time a dead person has been elected. I honestly do not know if the people voting for them are that clueless or that they have to because otherwise the “other” person wins and they can’t have that. Vote the dead person in and let the governor choose (assuming the governor is on their side) or have a special election. (I think how it works out is dependent on state law so this can vary from place to place.) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2139 "2020-11-05T11:18:32Z")
Our problem is we have 50 states which can independently choose how to go about counting votes. Also, counting votes costs money and many states would just as soon skimp on that where possible. My state (Illinois) got it all done quickly. No fuss and it is not a small state. Alaska, which is much, much smaller (population-wise) is still farting around. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2140 "2020-11-05T11:33:15Z")
On the news this morning they reported the stock market is significantly up and interpreted the reason for that is because the market is betting Biden will be President and the Senate will remain red, which the market likes because it means there won’t be any significant policy changes anytime soon. So there’s that, if you believe that interpretation of the market rise and buy into the “wisdom of the crowd” thing. The news also said NV was going to report in at noon ET, but I think that was mentioned upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2141 "2020-11-05T11:37:46Z")
Did Pennsylvania stop counting overnight? When do they resume? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/2142 "2020-11-05T11:55:18Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > counting votes costs money On the face of it, money by the bucket full wouldn’t seem to be a general problem with US elections. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=106) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=108)