Now. At the beginning, the GOP was pretty radical and perceived as more radical still. This is how the Republican agenda was viewed when they got started: Negro equality, vegetarianism, free love, women’s suffrage, redistribution of wealth, and . . . popery! :eek:
And as a result of younger voters having grown up in and been shaped by a different world.
Owing to some uncounted voting machines turning up, the Dems might take the VA AG’s office too.
I think that accusations of gerrymandering get thrown about a bit more often than they’re actually warranted. Urban areas tend to vote heavily Democrat, while suburban and rural areas go Republican, but less heavily. So you get a third of your seats (those in the city) going 90% D, and the rest going 60-40 R. That’s not to say that gerrymandering doesn’t happen (it does), or that this is desirable (I think it’s not), but there’s not necessarily malice involved.
The solution? Proportional representation, but good luck getting anyone to consider that.
I just watched Rachel Maddow talking about the latest big hairy ass scandal in VA voting. You didn’t, so you don’t know. But I do.
So, what is it?
It’s a very long story but the TL:DR is…
Republicans changed the rule for counting provisional ballots in the most Dem and populous county in Virginia to rig the election for their candidate for Attorney General. A story posted earlier today by HuffPost:
Now, RM included a detail not in that article, that the order came by way of the Cooch, who had not given up his Atty Gen position, so technically was authorized to do it.
That article doesn’t really tell me what the rule is or how it was changed or how it only affects the “most Dem and populous county in Virginia.” It talks about something to do with legal counsel for provisional ballots, and then talks about absentee ballots being undercounted in one area of Fairfax.
Although, on the plus side, they “found” a missing machine in Richmond full of Herring votes.
Works better without the scare quotes.
Apparently this sort of thing is common.
But I’m not sure how the mystery machine full of just enough votes to put Herring ahead in a close election isn’t suspicious.
And, before I get accused otherwise, it’s a bipartisan problem. The notion that the absentee ballot reader in Fairfax failing to read ballots only from a Dem area: also suspicious.
Yes, there is still a glaring need for reform and improved systems. But 12 years after this kind of thing screwed up a presidential election, practically nothing has happened.
About that rule change. My understanding is as follows: previously, what happened when it came time to vet provisional ballots, was that the representative of the voter, a Democrat and a Republican, (a total of three), would gather to vet the provisional ballot. The voter him/her self was also permitted to attend, but not required, and generally would not if there was little reason to question the legitimacy of the provisional ballot.
The new rule, brought to bear after the election was done, demanded that the voter had to be present in person to defend the legitimacy of their provisional ballot. Now, the delightful Ms. Maddow further contends that this order was issued from the Office of the Atty. Gen of Virginia, a bright young man named Coochi-something or other, a person of some local notoriety. The HuffPo article makes no such claim.
Since Fairfax County is the most populous and most Dem county in all of Virginia, it is to be noted that this cannot help but result in a considerable lowering of Dem vote count. It is also to be noted that this interpretation of the law is a recent development. Very recent. Lawyers can be seen gathering for a Festival of Billable Hours.
Ms Maddow explained it all much better and longer than I am willing to type, there is a web site available where you can view her explanation and I so encourage.
It must be fairly noted that sometimes Ms Maddow’s reporting is a bit shy of the strictly non-partisan factuality I ordinarily demand from commentators. In my personal estimation, a swan’s neck, girlish giggle and a mind like a steel trap outweigh such considerations. So sue me.
If you want a real solution to America’s real problems with election administration (those problems being 1) the system is hyperfederalized, every county doing things its own way, and 2) the system is partisan, election officials being elected officials rather than civil servants), Rick Hasen, in The Voting Wars, provides it:
How the heck do you find nonpartisan people, and how do you ensure that they’re nonpartisan?
And how would this work when one political party has a goal of deliberately sabotaging everything relating to government?
We have a whole federal bureaucracy that is effectively nonpartisan.
The Apathy Party, for instance. The vast majority of Americans are solidly apathetic.
I think it sounds worse than it is. Neither the voter nor the representative has to be present at all for the vote to be counted. But the intent of the memo from the AG’s office looks every bit as nefarious as you describe.
No, they will insist that they need candidates who are MORE conservative. They are that un-self-aware.
I think the Va. GOP just decided to have a caucus rather than a primary to choose their challenger to Sen. Mark Warner next year. That was their downfall in this election. They haven’t learned yet.
I am so glad I discovered the name for this, because I noticed it on the Internet many years ago.
They finally finished the recount in the election for Virginia Attorney General – Mark Obenshain (R) concedes to Mark Herring (D), giving the Dems a clean sweep of statewide offices.