[RD] When is an order not an order?

[Timsup2nothin]

Let’s hear an idea out before we poo-poo it. Voting by mail is already possible in many places.

I have my doubts about electronic elections but I’m not going to dismiss it entirely until we get the full picture.

I think every state already has voting by mail, and at least one uses it exclusively. That neatly solves Ohio's problem, but as @hobbsyoyo rightly points out it impacts GOP efforts to obstruct voting, so it is unlikely to happen.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The may all have voting by mail but many states put really tough restrictions on it. To vote by mail in MO, I had to get an affidavit sworn to in front of a county clerk and then pay postage. But yes, the mechanisms do exist if the states are willing to expand it. But in MO, I believe the legislature overturned an early voting initiative passed by the populace. In Florida, the GOP is still fighting to re-disenfranchise ex-felons after voter initiatives and the courts told them to stop.

So yeah, I just don't see this being passed by all states without massive public mobilization, which is hard to do when we're all under quarantine.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The may all have voting by mail but many states put really tough restrictions on it. To vote by mail in MO, I had to get an affidavit sworn to in front of a county clerk and then pay postage. But yes, the mechanisms do exist if the states are willing to expand it. But in MO, I believe the legislature overturned an early voting initiative passed by the populace. In Florida, the GOP is still fighting to re-disenfranchise ex-felons after voter initiatives and the courts told them to stop.

So yeah, I just don't see this being passed by all states without massive public mobilization, which is hard to do when we're all under quarantine.

Well, the only state that has put any pressure on themselves (so far) is Ohio. By November they will have to either take the authority to close polling places away from the State Health Officer or produce a process for holding elections without him. I expect they will do the former, but they do have the mechanisms in place to go 100% vote by mail if they did choose the second option.

 

[Farm Boy]

Let’s hear an idea out before we poo-poo it. Voting by mail is already possible in many places.

I have my doubts about electronic elections but I’m not going to dismiss it entirely until we get the full picture.

An electronic election isn't an election. A mail one probably is.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

An electronic election isn't an election. A mail one probably is.

I agree, but only because the mechanisms for voting by mail have been around for a long time and have proven secure. It isn't necessarily impossible to get comparable security for electronic voting. I mean, there are millions of dollars changing hands electronically every day so it isn't like we lack technical expertise in the field.

 

[Farm Boy]

Cash theft is geographically limited and of minor scale, by comparison.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Cash theft is geographically limited and of minor scale, by comparison.

Agreed, but still of enough significance that the systems of electronic transactions have evolved very intense security. Not impenetrable, but overpoweringly effective. The real hardship of electronic voting isn't the actual security of the vote, it is the maintenance of the anonymity of the ballot.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The real hardship of electronic voting

...is Mitch McConnell, full stop.

 

[Farm Boy]

They're both issues.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

In McConnell's case there is no question he is an issue, it's just figuring out what orifice he issued from.

 

[Farm Boy]

Well Tim, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much...

Maybe. Spawning pools?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Well Tim, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much...

Maybe. Spawning pools?

Egg clutch buried in the sand somewhere?

 

[Farm Boy]

Spoiler the best things in life are free :