# 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:** 357
**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 29, 2020, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7135 "2020-11-29T05:12:53Z")
I just looked at the sign up page. In addition to email it asks for a mobile phone number. I didn’t enter any info so I don’t know if they want more info than that. I would assume first and last name is required at some point. I doubt they would ask for much else. ---
**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 29, 2020, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7136 "2020-11-29T09:16:17Z")
I guess the question is where those libertarians go. Did I read somewhere that libertarians are surprisingly more Dem leaning than expected? I guess it depends on the candidates though. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7137 "2020-11-29T13:30:49Z")
It depends. Some Libs are more concerned about being allowed to smoke their pot. Others are more about sharply reduced taxes. Others just think it’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7138 "2020-11-29T15:36:06Z")
The clown parade continues: “Former [Overstock.com](http://Overstock.com) CEO Patrick Byrne said that he’s financing “a team of hackers and cybersleuths” in an attempt to prove that President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, [according to The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-overstock-ceo-says-hes-put-together-an-army-of-various-odd-people-to-save-trump). Byrne, who stepped down from his position at Overstock last year [after admitting to a relationship with a Russian spy](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/business/overstock-ceo-patrick-byrne.html), recently went on the One America News Network (OAN), a conservative news outlet and a favored media destination of Trump, to detail what he described as a “rigged” election process.” > **[Former Overstock.com CEO says he's funding 'a team of hackers and...](https://www.businessinsider.com/patrick-byrne-overstock-biden-trump-voting-conspiracy-theories-election-2020-11)** > > Patrick Byrne, known for his eccentric behavior, has endeared himself to conservative media outlets for his far-fetched claims of voter fraud. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7139 "2020-11-29T16:11:43Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > Did you have to give them any personal info other than an email address? I have a yahoo address that I use when signing up for stuff like that. And a fake name, too, but it matches the yahoo address so as to add credibility. 🙃 If a phone number is required I sometimes put the number of a land line that I had in the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7140 "2020-11-29T16:51:24Z")
[Wisconsin’s final recount results are in](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-recount-over/2020/11/29/b4896ade-30c9-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html). For the low, low cost of $3 million, the Trump campaign managed to grow Biden’s lead by 87 votes. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7141 "2020-11-29T16:52:25Z")
I thought about signing up for Parler, but they seemed to require a real phone number, one that could receive an authentication text. I didn’t want to give them that, and my usual fake for this kind of thing 864-511-0320, wouldn’t work. So I dropped the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7142 "2020-11-29T16:56:40Z")
If you really want, you can set up a Google phone number which will forward to your real one. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7143 "2020-11-29T17:03:13Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > [Wisconsin’s final recount results are in](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-recount-over/2020/11/29/b4896ade-30c9-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html). For the low, low cost of $3 million, the Trump campaign managed to grow Biden’s lead by 87 votes. It’s pretty clear to me that Trump was always going to use the recount (in the state’s two biggest counties, both of which are strongly Democratic) to raise challenges on absentee ballots in the state, rather than any sort of expectation that he’d somehow win the state on the recount. Even so, given that similar lawsuits have failed repeatedly in other states, it certainly seems like it’s $3 million that’s been pissed away. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7144 "2020-11-29T17:32:26Z")
A good chunk of that money went to paying workers, right? It’s a stimulus package! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7145 "2020-11-29T18:42:21Z")
It cost Trump $34,482.76 for each vote that Biden gained in the Wisconsin recount. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7146 "2020-11-29T19:39:11Z")
Fergit that! I’ll just rely on Dopers to keep me informed. Like I do on all important topics that I don’t want to explore for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7147 "2020-11-29T19:42:04Z")
Saw this on Twitter: > ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7148 "2020-11-29T20:27:59Z")
The obvious… He’ll release it in two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7149 "2020-11-29T20:29:10Z")
With his taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7150 "2020-11-29T21:35:46Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > [Wisconsin’s final recount results are in](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-recount-over/2020/11/29/b4896ade-30c9-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html). For the low, low cost of $3 million, the Trump campaign managed to grow Biden’s lead by 87 votes. That’s the kind of investment acumen and business savvy that’s made him the huuuuuge success he is! How do you make a small fortune the Trump Way? Start with a large fortune. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7151 "2020-11-29T21:43:56Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > How do you make a small fortune the Trump Way? > Start with a large fortune. This thing you say, it is good. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7152 "2020-11-30T04:22:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > How do you make a small fortune the Trump Way? > Start with a large fortune. Heh. Back in Bangkok, they used to say that about making a small fortune owning a bar. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7153 "2020-11-30T04:23:51Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > What is the difference, again, between the scenario where the House votes for president and each state only gets one vote so “trump wins” versus the one where the House and the Senate could be at odds over the results and Nancy Pelosi is president while the two houses are at an impasse? I mean, what problem with the electoral college produces one situation versus the other? There are two different scenarios that could in theory lead to Pelosi as acting president, but they’re both highly unlikely. One scenario comes from the Constitution, and the other comes from the federal statute which governs the counting of the electoral votes in Congress. The first scenario comes from the [Twelfth Amendment.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) It provides that the person who wins “a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed” shall become president, but if no person has a majority, then the House votes by state delegation to elect a president from the top three candidates with electoral votes. Since there are only two candidates, this possibility would only arise if there were a tie in the electoral votes, 269-269. The House is directed by the 12th Amendment to choose “immediately” by ballot, but there is no deadline. In the first contingent election in 1800, held under the original wording of Article II to break the tie between Jefferson or Burr, it took 35 ballots, over the course of a week, before Jefferson was elected. Given the composition of the House, that kind of lengthy vote seems unlikely, but one never knows. And then there is the election of the Vice-president. If there is a tie in the electoral votes for the Veep, the 12th Amendment provides that the issue goes to the Senate to elect the Veep. The Senators vote individually, not by state delegation. In the only Veep contingent election, in 1836, Richard Johnson was elected on the first ballot. If it goes to a contingent election for Veep, will the two Georgia senators be eligible to vote? and who would they be? and if there is tie, does Veep Pence get to break the tie by voting for the person who is best qualified in his personal opinion to be Vice-President? (that would no doubt be himself, of course). And how long would that balloting take? The other scenario is based on the federal statute which governs the counting of the ballots, [3 U.S. Code § 15 - Counting electoral votes in Congress](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/15). It’s very long and detailed and full of complicated legalese, but what it does is deal with the situation if there is a dispute about the validity of electoral votes from a state. If that happens, the House and the Senate leave the joint session and sit separately, and try to resolve which set of electoral votes should be accepted. Again, there’s no clear timeline for that process. Since it is inherently political, there’s the potential for lengthy delay and horse-trading. So where does Pelosi as Acting President come from? That’s from another constitutional amendment, the [20th Amendment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution). That Amendment provides that if neither a President nor a Vice-President has been elected by January 20, then the person next in the line of succession established by Congress shall be acting President, “… and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.” So, if there is a contingent election, under the 12th Amendment, or there is a dispute about some of the electoral votes, under 3 USC 15, _and_ under either process the issue of the President _and_ the Vice-President isn’t resolved by January 20, _then_ Pelosi, as next in line under the Presidential Succession Act, would be Acting President until either the House has elected a President (under the 12th Amendment), or the Senate has elected a Veep, or the House and the Senate have resolved the dispute about the electoral ballots, under 3 USC 15. (As I have commented in the past, given all this uncertainty, I never again want to hear US Dopers criticising the Westminster parliamentary system as being too vague and uncertain, compared to the certainty of a written constitution like the US has. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/7154 "2020-11-30T05:49:27Z")
Ugh. How could I forget how convoluted it was? Thanks @Northern_Piper. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=356) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=358)