I wasn’t alive during the height of the Cold War, but is this the first time the topic has ever come up? Seems to me a Soviet nuclear attack could pretty well ruin an Election Day; did anyone make contingency plans at the time? Or was it that people just plain liked Eisenhower and Kennedy better, and trusted them and their administrations more?
And here I thought he was talking about that game we all played as kids, Liberty. You know, the one where one player conceals 10 moistened 1X1cm squares of paper (“liberties”) variously on their person, which the other players compete to find. Whoever takes the most liberties gets to be “it” in the next round.
Happy days.
I see no reason not to have a contingency plan for postponing the election in the event of a national disaster. But postponing the Inauguration is a different matter.
To discourage the abuse of having a contingency plan, the plan itself should include a clause that if the elections haven’t been held by Inauguration Day, all Democratic positions go to Republicans, all Republican positions go to Democrats, all others keep their seats.
Either that or bring the women in to get this show on the road.
I didn’t think the country would stand for what happened in Florida after the presidential election, but we did.
Yeah, that’s where I’m at too. It’s not necessarily a measure of distrust in Dubya, btw, or at least not limited to him. I don’t trust any party all that much. I just think it’s an extremely questionable loophole to establish for the long run. As much as I dislike much of what Dubya’s done, there’s nothing saying somebody even worse might crop up in the future. Just as a matter of historical musing, I wonder what Republicans would have made of something like this during FDR’s multiple terms during WWII.
And what’s with this Krispy Kreme stuff? I thought passionate liberals couldn’t defend a decent barricade without crisp white wine, aged brie and delivery of the NYT.
Veb
Nah…down here it’s mad dog, cheetos, and mad magazine.
Also note that people like Doors and** I** are on this barricade too. Hardly the liberal wing. Coors Light, Moon Pies, and Maxim. 
The apocolypse is truly nigh.
And it’s only partially due to snorking down Moon Pies with…beer?
Veb
Ick. No beer. When come back, bring cherry pepsi. And pizza.
Ideally, Moon Pies are served with RC Cola, but I have none. Field expedients are called for. The Revolution means sacrifice. Maureen, what kind of pizza?
Well, I did say that cancelling an election was out of the question.
But in all seriousness, what is so bad about a postponement? And what is the alternative? Say on Nov 1 (my birthday!!!), Los Angeles is hit by a huge earthquake. A 7 pointer! That is certainly within the realm of possibility. No terrorists, but plenty of terror.
So, on Nov 2, Los Angeles county is not equipped to participate in the election of the President. Many roads are useless, gridlock on the ones that are functional, no water, no power, and as I said earlier, most folks who are not injured are in a scramble to find their loved ones. Hell, this happened, to admittedly far lesser extent, in 1994 in the San Fernando Valley.
Would it be your position that we simply count Los Angeles (and probably parts of surrounding counties) out of the election? That would be quite a number of suddenly disenfranchised voters, wouldn’t it? Possibly enough to swing California’s large number of electoral votes?
What would be wrong with the rest of the country voting, as normal, but not tallying the votes until California could catch up? Say, a week? Would that make as much of a difference as not allowing the votes of hundreds of thousands of people?
Yes. Because there are millions of people in California. Little more than 10% of the U.S. population, in fact. And, we have a large chunk of electoral votes, too. As I said before, I’m sick of their not really mattering one way or the other. Everyone wonders why voter turnout out here is so low? Because there’s a sense of “why bother?” I have no idea how to correct that, however. Just snarking. Carry on.
Veggie, as befits a true left wing California tree-hugger. Style? Chicago. I got addicted to it when I lived there. Plus, it’s a nod to those great gods of communism (heh. I make a funny), Abbie Hoffman and the Chicago 7.
I may be reading this thread entirely wrong, but I don’t think there’s too much disagreement that postponing an election could be reasonable. The main issues are 1. what for and 2. how long. Natural disasters happen but FWIW none have been so terrible that they’re required fiddling with elections in the past 200-odd years. Could happen though, and preparedness is fine but…
I have serious reseravations about building in too much wiggle room without very clear definitions and time limits. Huge areas potentially disenfranchised because of freak earthquakes, unseasonal blizzards, an entire city crippled, etc? Okay. For maybe a week or two, until basic services can be restored.
But I just see this as opening a wide crack for political roaches, present and waaaay future, right handy for scurrying. The shit’s hit the fan=shit, we don’t want 'em voting now. There’s just too much scope for diddling elections until “conditions” are optimal for politicians, not voters.
I’m pretty skeptical about the actual need for this, but am trying to remain open minded. Unless very rigorous definitions and limits are built in, I’m chalking it up to one more weakening of constraints on government in the name of “fighting terrorism”. That cure would be worse than the disease.
Veb
But I ain’t eatin’ no Moon Pies on the barricades. Beer and cheetos are good though.
If there ain’t any Diet Coke on the barricades, I ain’t coming!
Could I interest you in some fried clams? Hot from the cooker in this coastal town? Maybe corn on the cob? Some lobster? Heck, how about a whole durn clambake?
Well, I suppose the greasy fingers from the melted butter slathered all over everything might make it hard to hold a gun. We’ve got locally brewed ale that’ll knock your socks off, though – in a GOOD way. Shall I bring some with the little cider doughnuts? Might need to round up some packhorses. But we’ll need them to haul the memorial cannons out of the parks to the barricades anyway, right?
Clams? Corn on the cob? What the hell is this? A revolution or a beach party?
You just can’t fire a gun after eating corn on the cob.
Trust me.
You don’t want to know.
Does that mean no pizza?
I think it’s grease issues, since people ::koffs:: are getting all pissy about fried clams. It might be why the Krispy Kremes got nixed too.
Veb
Who’s never actually mixed Hoppe’s gun oil with pizza grease, much less marine-rescue-orange Cheetos residue
Are you sure that was Liberty? It sounds more like the Pursuit of Happiness.
If we’re taking orders, I’ll have a Coca-Cola with my pizza, Italian sausage. Diet Pepsi will be an acceptable substitute.
Of course, if you’ve got a nice steak or a heapin’ plate of BBQ wings, that’s fine too. 
(Brie? I don’t even know what brie is, fer Primus’ sake…)