# 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:** 269
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5370 "2020-11-10T23:08:06Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > I don’t know why the GOP Senators would go along with blowing up our democracy unless they think they will be on the winning side. Because they’re terrified of Trump’s 71 million followers, and his king-making power even when out of office. They don’t want to say anything that would come back to bite them in the ass in 2 years, when Trump is bloviating on his cable show about who was loyal, and who wasn’t. That’s all. No one’s staging a coup, just protecting their phony-baloney jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5371 "2020-11-10T23:08:58Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > and only (I think) Romney and Collins in the legislative branch, has said they believe the Biden is the winner. Among those congratulating Biden were also Murkowski and Sasse in the Senate. And about a half dozen RP House members. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5372 "2020-11-10T23:09:29Z")
I think people are being too paranoid. It is hard to pull a coup when the military is very unlikely to support him. I would have been worried if Reagan or Ike pulled something like this, but honestly, no President in well over a 100 years needed to be worried about at all until Trump. Ike by his nature would never have considered this and I believe the same is true of Reagan. Only Trump would even think about it which is why I believe the military won’t support him and the Secret Service will uphold their oath to the Constitution and remove him first. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5373 "2020-11-10T23:09:43Z")
Dude, they never fucking cared. Why is anyone surprised? We assume that there will be a transition and that Trump will leave on January 20, 2021…because it’s a law? A tradition? Did we watch the Mueller and impeachment and somehow not think it would end this way? The republicans have been telling us all along what they thought of democracy. We just didn’t think they were serious. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5374 "2020-11-10T23:12:12Z")
Yes. There will be recounts in Georgia and Wisconsin, but Biden will still prevail – recounts don’t change the outcome of races separated by more than a few hundred votes, and Biden is leading by 10,000 in each. And Trump will file lawsuits. They will all be thrown out. [Here’s how he’s doing in court so far (tl;dr: not well at all)](https://www.npr.org/2020/11/10/933112418/the-trump-campaign-has-had-almost-no-legal-success-this-month-heres-what-they-ve) People will wring their hands over the prospect of state legislatures ignoring their state’s popular vote and substituting Trump electors. The chances of that are about the same as me being crowned Queen of Romania. No state legislator would commit career suicide for Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5375 "2020-11-10T23:12:24Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Among those congratulating Biden were also Murkowski and Sasse in the Senate. And about a half dozen RP House members. Ah, that is better then. Any legislative attempt would require a majority in the Senate to go along. If that many have bailed then it’s probably not possible. I will reduce my number to 1%. > [@jsc1953](#): > > No one’s staging a coup, just protecting their phony-baloney jobs. I agree that’s most likely. Remember folks keep going into McConnell’s office before making this crazy-ass statements. Maybe he’s filling them in on the playbook. But there is a small, small chance that he really thinks there is enough smoke around these ridiculous accusations that they can pull off the legislative override option. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5376 "2020-11-10T23:19:52Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I think people are being too paranoid. It is hard to pull a coup when the military is very unlikely to support him. Pretty much agreed. I guess I’m sure gonna look foolish when I end up I’m sweating it in a reeducation camp, but at the moment my take is that people are panicking a little too easily. Esper had already prepared his resignation some time ago - he knew he was on his way out. Most of this is just posturing. Probably. I did give myself a 0.001% out 😉. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5377 "2020-11-10T23:21:54Z")
At least there’s this. > **[Nearly 80% of Americans say Biden won White House, ignoring Trump's refusal...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-poll/nearly-80-of-americans-say-biden-won-white-house-ignoring-trumps-refusal-to-concede-reuters-ipsos-poll-idUSKBN27Q3ED?il=0)** > > Nearly 80% of Americans, including more than half of Republicans, recognize President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 election after most media organizations called the race for the Democrat based on his leads in critical battleground... Makes it a lot harder to pull off a coup when most of the people think you’re full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5378 "2020-11-10T23:22:25Z")
> [@](#): > > ``` > No one’s staging a coup, just protecting their phony-baloney jobs. > > ``` I feel like it even going that far is just so scary. It’s a terrible precedent. It’s damaging to democratic ideals. As are so many other things Trump has done (showing many of our traditions need to be made law, and our checks and balances toothless - not the first time for that, admittedly). While the people actually supporting these actions are disturbing, so too are all those who are “it’s just lockerroom talk” about when elected officials encourage having electors go against the vote, appointing them for that purpose, not accepting election results, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5379 "2020-11-10T23:28:35Z")
Latest Trump tweet: " Ballot Corruption will be exposed tonight at 9:00pmE on [@SeanHannity](https://twitter.com/seanhannity) on [@FoxNews](https://twitter.com/FoxNews)!" ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5380 "2020-11-10T23:31:01Z")
Do us all a favor and watch it, then report back with a detailed summary. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5381 "2020-11-10T23:31:17Z")
As Jan. 20 approaches, I am hopeful that more republicans will come around because the prospect of president Pelosi is far worse to them than president Biden. And as they gradually make their positions clear, Trump’s power over them will decrease. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5382 "2020-11-10T23:43:40Z")
Would you mind explaining how Pelosi would end up President? I don’t understand the chain of command. ---
**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 10, 2020, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5383 "2020-11-10T23:44:11Z")
0.5% is my guess. The route to keep Trump president would be very violent and I think most in the government/military will not go there. But there is Trump and a few others who absolutely do not give a shit about that and will happily see the country burn to keep power. Hopefully they can’t prevail. ---
**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 10, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5384 "2020-11-10T23:45:14Z")
Trump and Pence’s terms end January 20th. Pelosi has been re-elected. If there’s no President-elect, then the Presidential succession after the VP falls upon the Speaker of the House. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5385 "2020-11-10T23:46:56Z")
Thanks! ---
**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 10, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5386 "2020-11-10T23:47:17Z")
At noon on January 20, 2021, the new president takes office and the old one is out. If, by some whatever machinations Biden cannot take office it does not mean Trump continues. He is out at noon. Period. Full stop. So, if Biden is not president and Harris is not president we get to presidential succession which goes to the Speaker of the House next which is currently Nancy Pelosi. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5387 "2020-11-10T23:54:50Z")
Sorry for long post. Catching up. > [@GreenWyvern](#): > > I have the impression that the timing of the American electoral system is still geared to a bygone era when travel and communication was slow and difficult, perhaps even before railroads. > > Time to move into the 21st century. It was changed from March to January in 1933. So, after railroads, but starting to be close to a century since it was changed. It seems like it could probably be changed to mid-December or so, with commensurate changes to the certification deadlines. The main issue with that, though, is that it could leave too little time to sort out counting problems or recounts, or other (legitimate) irregularities. Some states allow votes to come in long after election day if they are postmarked in time. We should not let anxiety over delay in this year’s election process lead to changes that cause fewer people’s votes to be counted. I mean, I said earlier that I think it’s sensible to have an election-day deadline for all ballots to be returned, and there was a lot of push-back on that. I still think it’s fair and sensible in my state, where we’ve been doing it for years and everyone knows they need to use a drop box (which are plentiful) if it’s too close to election day. But maybe it’s not fair and sensible in other states, where mailed ballots are still the exception. Basically, I guess if the date of inauguration day were to be changed, there might also need to be some election reforms at the same time to make the timelines work. > [@RickJay](#): > > Maybe this is another thread’s worth of discussion, but… suppose Trump got Trumpist judges to give up the states of PA and GA, giving himself the election. > > What would happen? What would you do? It would not think Trump won the election, even with those changes. He’d also have to get NC, which hasn’t been called yet, but he’ll likely get, plus at least one other state. With NC, Trump has 229. PA and GA are 36. That would only give him 265. So, I would not worry at all about your scenario, and I’m not very worried about him getting to 270, because it would mean reversing the results in at least 3 states. > [@Jas09](#): > > As to why that triggered a resignation, I can’t exactly say. It’s because the prior policy was to wait until state officials had certified the results. So USDOJ saw its role, not as protecting individual election results, but, rather, as policing the process. So, if there were allegations and a state did not seem to deal with them appropriately by the time the results were certified, USDOJ could investigate then. Results would typically not be overturned, but corruption or fraud could still be rooted out and punished. The change in policy means USDOJ could be investigating while states are investigating, and without waiting to see if the states can resolve the issues (if any) through their own processes. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Among those congratulating Biden were also Murkowski and Sasse in the Senate. And about a half dozen RP House members. According to Jake Tapper, some Republican house members have been asking Dems to pass on congratulations, because they feel they can’t do it publicly. Or they will say they know Biden has been elected, but only “on background.” We need a Welch/McCarthy moment to help these people find their spines. > **[Joseph N. Welch](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_N._Welch)** > > Joseph Nye Welch (October 22, 1890 – October 6, 1960) was an American lawyer and actor who served as the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, an investigation known as the Army–McCarthy hearings. His confrontation with McCarthy during the hearings, in which he asked McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?", is seen as a turning point in ... ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5388 "2020-11-10T23:54:51Z")
Cross posting from Cluserfuck. I’m sure Hannity will cover this in detail > **[Postal worker recanted allegations of ballot tampering, officials say](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/postal-worker-fabricated-ballot-pennsylvania/2020/11/10/99269a7c-2364-11eb-8599-406466ad1b8e_story.html)** > > A Pennsylvania postal worker whose claims have been cited by top Republicans as potential evidence of widespread voting irregularities recanted to U.S. Postal Service investigators. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/5389 "2020-11-11T00:00:06Z")
> [@Malden\_Capell](#): > > Trump and Pence’s terms end January 20th. > > Pelosi has been re-elected. > > If there’s no President-elect, then the Presidential succession after the VP falls upon the Speaker of the House. All these various scenarios is why I hope Biden is holding off on his “46th President of the U.S.” business cards. He could end up anywhere from 46th to 48th, with Pence and/or Pelosi sandwiched in between. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=268) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=270)