It’s worth pointing out that when the final vote is tallied, Biden will have won by between 4-6% and this is still a nail biter. Discussions about the merits and drawbacks of the electoral college aside, this is not healthy.
Nate Silver: “I’m not a decision desk, but I suppose I think Nevada is on the verge of being callable at this point. Two-thirds of the state’s population is in Clark County and Biden is gaining big in Clark County! Not sure I see the route for a Trump comeback.”
One, it’s already been reported that they stopped because of a court order.
Two, poll workers are people specifically hired to do this. Many, traditionally, are students, retirees or SAHP or other people without regular employment. The rest are people taking time off work. It is paid, but not well. The hours are brutal–they tell you to expect a 16 hour day. This year, it’s especially dangerous, because while they are masked, they are still around a lot of other people and handling a lot of paper that comes from god knows where.
So, like, cut them some slack. They are doing a great thing for democracy, at real risk and personal cost.
That’s why I was so angry and frustrated to hear it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy plane tickets to some country that doesn’t have a U.S. Covid ban or an extradition treaty. Going to be slim pickin’s…
I probably shouldn’t joke about it. I’m happy they’ve made arrests in the investigation and I hope it brings the victim’s family some peace and closure.
Per the NYT, there was also a lawsuit that granted GOP observers in Philly that is being appealed. So the count in Philly was briefly paused, but has now resumed while the state SC considers the appeal
So, if Jo Jorgenson were not running, I’m assuming those votes would be Trump’s, right? If so, giving her 11,633 votes to Trump would make Nevada a tie at this point.
And what’s the deal with someone voting “none-of-the-above” in an election of this magnitude?
I know all that. My post was more tongue in cheek than anything else. For one thing, the people doing the actual counting aren’t the ones making these decisions.
(Regarding the court decision/agreement, I was actually trying to append that to the end of my post, but was getting blocked by Discourse. Apparently you can’t edit your post if people are already quoting you?)
Seconded. My wife volunteered this year and put in the 16-hour day you mention, starting at 5 a.m. They were not allowed to refuse entry to people without masks. Now she’s quarantining in our basement until she can get tested, probably Saturday. Yay, democracy!
My argument is that if AOC can draw 17 million for a congressional campaign and her opponent can draw 10 million in a district she won by 38 points, there has to be a way to find money to set up a vote counting system that is better than this one. I do recognize AOC and Cummings’ money comes from donors and the money to pay vote counters would come from somewhere else. My point is there seems to be a massive economic imbalance in the electoral system that needs to change.
This is not to denigrate vote counters. Quite the opposite. They should be paid more money and there should be a lot more of them.
Nate Cohn says, while still unofficial, you can pencil Nevada into the Biden column at this point.
This would make the AP’s and Fox News’ call of Arizona for Biden a bit…dangerous. Nevada getting called for Biden, while Arizona is still counting ever-tightening results, would mean the race could be called for Biden, and then rescinded (possibly temporarily) if Arizona starts looking hinky.
ETA: Nate Silver sees a similar problem with Arizona’s (possibly premature) call:
A little inside baseball, but this dynamic may affect how different networks are handling Nevada. If you’ve called Arizona (which I don’t think you should have!), then a Nevada call would give Biden the election. But Nevada is probably callable at this point!