The Washington Examiner reportsthat Georgia Republicans are in a tizzy because they’re afraid that Dem voters will become energized as a response to the voting fuckups. So some of them want to get the problems fixed, not because it will enhance the cause of democracy but because they have calculated that the blowback from failing to act will affect the party negatively in November. They just can’t bring themselves to do the right thing just because it’s the right fucking thing.
Yes, absolutely, because one side has benefited substantially from not playing by rules. That requires a correction. I’d give Gorsuch and Kavanaugh a chance to resign first. Knowing they won’t, a court packing seems entirely fair.
The Supreme Court should be “packed” with competent, level-headed, sensible, experienced legal professionals who are capable of seeing and listening to all sides of an issue and making a decision free from the taint of political (i.e. PARTY) favoritism.
Another idea: take over the white house and the senate, and then threaten the republicans with massive court packing and court rigging - threaten to expand the number of justices to 15 or more. Threaten to turn the senate into a machine that pushes conservative judges out and extreme liberals in - let Fox News whine and cry like little babies all day and all night long.
Then, while Fox News cries, negotiate with the senate to either get two justices to retire or resign, or to expand the court by two justices by including two liberals - that’s the bare minimum outcome. Once the Dems get that, then they can work with republicans about more permanent reforms that include a more nonpartisan approach.
The Democrats will have to be bold and use their power as appropriate.
I am all for this.
At the least tell them to remove Brett Kavanaugh (either get him to resign or impeach him) since this was a stolen nomination. If they cannot do that then pack the fuck out of the court.
I know, I know, conservatives will tell me that they might do the same down the road.
Fine. This is the bed the conservatives made and they have to lie in it. Liberals can no longer “play nice” hoping conservatives will play nice too. That ship has sailed.
McConnell and company have gone all-on on their take-no-prisoners method. They get to reap what they sowed.
If a supreme were to vacate their seat now, does anyone think that Moscow Mitch would propose to wait until after the voters decide in November to fill the seat.
give the republican party a chance to allow “kavanaugh” to resign, or level the playing field by expanding the justices
I want justices that do the right thing, call balls and strikes, and be a bit modern in their thinking. Sadly, that isn’t the trend of the past couple of years.
What were the final results? Did they mirror what the polls said? I am just wondering if this blatant tactic worked to change the outcome. If it didn’t, that would be encouraging. Because this shit is going to continue to happen.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but do all communities in the U.S. have only one polling station that they must use? Would the African American voters be able to go to a white neighborhood that is in the same jurisdiction and vote there? Or is the gerrymandering so complete that every neighborhood is designated Democrat or Republican and voters must only go to their designated polling place?
When I was voting in person I was assigned a precinct and had to go to that precinct’s polling place to vote because the polling book which had my information (and which I had to sign) was located there; also, the ballot which had offices and issues specific to my district was only available there. I may have been able to cast a generic provisional ballot elsewhere, but I was never in a position to test it. Now that we’re vote by mail, the question is moot.
Other states may (almost certainly do) have different rules.
The issue - not just in Georgia - is that when polling stations close down, people have to go farther to vote which takes more time. This is far more negative for someone who is poor or lower-middle class, and that group is dominated disproportionately by minorities, the elderly, and students. And aside from the extra time and expense to get the polling station, there’s also the extra wait that happens when a lot more people are voting at a polling station.
It’s easy for me, a middle class guy, to jump in the car instead of walk to my polling station and tell my job that I will be a little late to work because of the line. It’s not as easy for others - and those others are more likely to vote Democratic.
Voter suppression is supposed to be a marginal thing. Make it marginally harder for people to vote and a certain percentage of them won’t bother. But what’s happening now is that all the marginal things have sort of compounded making the result undeniable to all but the most partisan or cognitively impaired.
Absolutely not, and Mitch himself has said not. (Say what you like, the guy is honest.)
I know the Supreme Court says this but it is so much bullshit on their part.
It is a rule they imposed on themselves. As such, it is a rule they can ignore any time they feel like it (see Bush v. Gore).
As OttoDaFe says, this is probably state by state; but, in New York, a voter is registered in a particular district and has to vote there. You get a postcard in the mail as a reminder with your assigned district and polling place, and no you can’t just go vote somewhere else. Each place has a book with the signatures of voters, and the pollworkers have to compare signatures with the book.
I never have to wait more than a few minutes; and the fact that the polling place is some six miles away isn’t an issue for me or for most other people here, because we need to be able to get into town for other reasons anyway and are therefore used to having or arranging for transportation. But I’m in a rural area. Cities may have long waiting times; and getting six miles across a big city can take a whole lot longer than the ten minutes in a car that it takes me, especially for people with no cars or in areas with little or no parking.