# 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:** 57
**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 4, 2020, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1121 "2020-11-04T10:04:38Z")
Have those people counting the polls just been working for like 16 hours straight I wonder? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1122 "2020-11-04T10:05:57Z")
Three hours of sleep later. I texted my “boss” (he hates it when I use that term) and he said “Have a nap later.” No way I can work on science today. I think today is going to be a read the literature day (we’re working on a review paper), refresh the election results every few seconds (not literally), and nap. I do not feel good at all. I’m still shocked that Trump is getting the level of support I’m seeing. Trump is as obvious a criminal as I’ve ever seen. Even ignoring that, he’s incompetent. Why would you put him back in charge? I watched a couple of interviews with pro-Trump supporters on CBC, and they seemed to say: 1) Trump is good for the economy, 2) I like that he says what’s on his mind. No BS. 3) (on lying) I don’t think he lies, the media just says he lies. I don’t believe the media, I believe Trump. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1123 "2020-11-04T10:06:59Z")
That would be disorganised as fuck. I know that the counting staff is different from the polling day staff in most countries, but maybe in the US? The counting staff is told to prep for an all nighter. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1124 "2020-11-04T10:07:47Z")
Definitely gonna be taking a personal day today. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1125 "2020-11-04T10:08:58Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > BTW…I cannot fucking believe Susan Collins looks to be keeping her seat. Just jaw dropping if it holds. Yes. Unless Biden loses, that’s the biggest disappointment of this election for me. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1126 "2020-11-04T10:09:07Z")
Sorry, I should’ve said “ballot counters” rather than “poll counters” I think most states have people counting the absentee/mail-in votes from the opening of the polls, but they’re separate workers from the people working the actual polls. But I was just wondering if they had shifts or if the same people who started counting ballots at 7am are still counting them now. I guess that’s actually closer to 24 hours on the east coast than 16. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1127 "2020-11-04T10:09:39Z")
I was so hoping for a complete rejection of Trumpism. America lost this election regardless of the outcome. “Sad.” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1128 "2020-11-04T10:10:33Z")
They talked about it somewhere, think it was WI but I’m not sure, that there was a special staff that was responsible for counting the mail in votes. They had one team opening all the ballots starting this morning. They went home and handed them off to a smaller staff who was feeding it into machines. One would hope they are working staggered shifts. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1129 "2020-11-04T10:15:44Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Have those people counting the polls just been working for like 16 hours straight I wonder I’m a poll worker in Wisconsin. We started work at 6:00 this morning, reported our two wards’ numbers at 9:00 PM (one hour after polls closed - we had a super-efficient and accurate team), and were done with everything at 10:30. With half an hour to eat lunch and a mini-dinner (it was a lovely, unseasonably warm day, so I ate my lunch in a nearby park), that makes it…let’s see…16 hours. After sleeping four hours the night before, and now three hours tonight. I plan to sleep a few more hours, but I’m dying to see how my state goes. It’s a nail biter, but I’m pretty sure Biden will win it. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1130 "2020-11-04T10:15:50Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I was so hoping for a complete rejection of Trumpism. America lost this election regardless of the outcome. “Sad.” Fully agree. The options we have left for the results is “very bad” to “horrific and probably unrecoverable” This needed to be a complete repudiation of everything Trump and the Republicans stand for. Having this be a close win (and without the senate) after 4 years of incompetence, failure, and malice in the worst fucking week in a pandemic that killed 250000 Americans and will kill 250000 more is absolutely pathetic. I’m honestly not sure it’s real. The Republicans have been systematically weakening election security for 4 years, voting to defund election security, de-tasking the FBI from having a role in election security, and leaving the DHS department of election security understaffed and with no one in the leadership position. It’s hard to believe they did that with no plan to make use of that… ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1131 "2020-11-04T10:16:03Z")
Biden/Harris are behind about 100k votes, so I hope there’s another big county. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1132 "2020-11-04T10:18:34Z")
Michigan’s turning Biden’s way slowly. I was jittery before. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1133 "2020-11-04T10:18:56Z")
The Fox analyst just said something that really surprised me. He was talking about Wisconsin but I assume it applies everywhere. His point was that they showed that 99% of ballots were in but that that percentage was based upon the number of votes that they expected to be cast and that they had to revise their numbers up several times. All along, I assumed that these numbers were provided by election officials. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1134 "2020-11-04T10:18:58Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Biden/Harris are behind about 100k votes, so I hope there’s another big county. Politico & Bloomberg are showing Biden/Harris ahead by about 8,000 in Wisconsin. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1135 "2020-11-04T10:20:23Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > I know that the counting staff is different from the polling day staff in most countries, but maybe in the US In my part of WI, it’s up to each polling place’s “chief inspector” to assign duties to trained poll workers. We’re trained for most duties. My inspector told me on Saturday I’d be focusing on processing mail-in ballots, but to be ready to help with other tasks as the day went on. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1136 "2020-11-04T10:21:22Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I was so hoping for a complete rejection of Trumpism. America lost this election regardless of the outcome. “Sad.” This, so much this. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1137 "2020-11-04T10:22:48Z")
Alright, walk me through where we’re at again. If Biden wins Nevada and Wisconsin, what else does he need to win to take the election? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1138 "2020-11-04T10:22:54Z")
Sad just scratches the surface on this. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1139 "2020-11-04T10:23:46Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > His point was that they showed that 99% of ballots were in but that that percentage was based upon the number of votes that they expected to be cast and that they had to revise their numbers up several times. All along, I assumed that these numbers were provided by election officials. Definitely not by election officials, it’s not like they are counting ballots before they count results. They have estimates based on precincts reporting. If a precinct says they a done, then they adjust the percentage based on predictions about other precincts that are partially reported. It’s always an estimate based on moving projections. But…I think that entire premise falls apart with mail in. No precinct can really know it’s done and no one can really know how many unsorted mail in ballots there are. ---
**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 4, 2020, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618/1140 "2020-11-04T10:23:49Z")
AZ and MI would just about squeeze it by a whisker. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=56) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-week-month-s-year-2020-follow-along-thread/924618.md?page=58)