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Post by curiousliberal on Apr 6, 2020 22:12:50 GMT
N.B. the US Supreme Court still hasn't yet ruled on absentee ballots being delivered through April 13 and the result not being declared until then.
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Richard Allen
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Post by Richard Allen on Apr 6, 2020 22:31:40 GMT
Politics in Wisconsin now make the US overall look like a haven of cross party co-operation. Ever since Scott Walker was elected Governor, and the subsequent recall election, the bitterness and partisanship seems endless. From an outside perspective it makes for a compelling spectacle.
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Post by curiousliberal on Apr 6, 2020 23:35:40 GMT
A victory for the Republicans at the federal level, too - absentee ballots must now be postmarked by 8pm tomorrow to be counted. Declaration of results will presumably begin immediately after close of polls, and so Wisconsin will hold the next primary after all.
The state's Election Commission has called an emergency session for tonight, but it's not clear what they can attempt to do at this point.
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Richard Allen
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Post by Richard Allen on Apr 6, 2020 23:45:03 GMT
A victory for the Republicans at the federal level, too - absentee ballots must now be postmarked by 8pm tomorrow to be counted. Declaration of results will begin immediately after close of polls, and so Wisconsin will be the next primary after all. The state's Election Commission has called an emergency session for tonight, but it's not clear what they can attempt to do at this point. Utter disaster for the Democrats. Based on absentee ballots returned so far the GOP think they are doing very well and with most of the polling stations in Milwaukee closed it is hard to see how the Democrats can make up for that. This has been an absolutely catastrophic screw up by Evers who has probably managed to engineer a scenario that surpasses the wildest dreams of the GOP.
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Post by curiousliberal on Apr 6, 2020 23:51:25 GMT
A victory for the Republicans at the federal level, too - absentee ballots must now be postmarked by 8pm tomorrow to be counted. Declaration of results will begin immediately after close of polls, and so Wisconsin will be the next primary after all. The state's Election Commission has called an emergency session for tonight, but it's not clear what they can attempt to do at this point. Utter disaster for the Democrats. Based on absentee ballots returned so far the GOP think they are doing very well and with most of the polling stations in Milwaukee closed it is hard to see how the Democrats can make up for that. This has been an absolutely catastrophic screw up by Evers who has probably managed to engineer a scenario that surpasses the wildest dreams of the GOP. In fairness, his efforts didn't actually change anything except confirming that he didn't have certain powers and allowing absentee ballot applications to go on for one more day than they otherwise would have. If the in-person element of this election is deemed to be responsible for deaths down the line, he's less likely to take a hit as a result of opposing it. His main error was in pivoting towards this stance so late.
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Richard Allen
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Post by Richard Allen on Apr 7, 2020 0:01:47 GMT
Utter disaster for the Democrats. Based on absentee ballots returned so far the GOP think they are doing very well and with most of the polling stations in Milwaukee closed it is hard to see how the Democrats can make up for that. This has been an absolutely catastrophic screw up by Evers who has probably managed to engineer a scenario that surpasses the wildest dreams of the GOP. In fairness, his efforts didn't actually change anything except confirming that he didn't have certain powers and allowing absentee ballot applications to go on for one more day than they otherwise would have. If the in-person element of this election is deemed to be responsible for deaths down the line, he's less likely to take a hit as a result of opposing it. His main error was in pivoting towards this stance so late.Exactly. He could have probably got away with postponing the election if he had acted a few weeks ago. By not doing so he gave the GOP the nice easy line of "you can't change the rules this late in the game". It is possible that the conservative majorities on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court would have still sided against him but he sure as hell made it easy for them to do so. Alternatively he could have encouraged everyone to sign up for an absentee ballot much earlier which would have mitigated the need for an extension.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 6:23:35 GMT
Politics in Wisconsin now make the US overall look like a haven of cross party co-operation. Ever since Scott Walker was elected Governor, and the subsequent recall election, the bitterness and partisanship seems endless. From an outside perspective it makes for a compelling spectacle. The GOP has gerrymandered the State Assembly to an extent where the Democrats can't win it unless there is a landslide, while also curtailing the governor's powers and Wisconsin doesn't have a statewide initiative and referendum process ( despite the state's progressive legacy), so the GOP doesn't have any incentive to compromise. The Democrats got 53% of the vote and 36 of 99 seats in the State Assembly in 2018, while the GOP got 63 seats for less than 45% of the vote.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 6:44:53 GMT
If the pandemic is still ongoing by November we could looking at some severe voter suppression. Republican controlled swing states like GA and AZ will use the pandemic to shut down urban polling places, while purging voter registration lists and keeping or introducing strict absentee ballot rules despite the extraordinary situation. It's the last election before redistricting so it's a "must win" for the GOP (given how much they rely on gerrymandering in key states) and given the state of the economy the Republicans will be in a bad position and ready to use any means necessary.
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Post by pragmaticidealist on Apr 7, 2020 6:56:08 GMT
Politics in Wisconsin now make the US overall look like a haven of cross party co-operation. Ever since Scott Walker was elected Governor, and the subsequent recall election, the bitterness and partisanship seems endless. From an outside perspective it makes for a compelling spectacle. The state of Joseph McCarthy, of course.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 6:56:38 GMT
If the pandemic is still ongoing by November we could looking at some severe voter suppression. Republican controlled swing states like GA and AZ will use the pandemic to shut down urban polling places, while purging voter registration lists and keeping strict absentee ballot rules despite the extraordinary situation. It's the last election before redistricting so it's a "must win" for the GOP (given how much they rely on gerrymandering in key states) and given the state of the economy the Republicans will be in a bad position and ready to use any means necessary. The Democrats could try tying demanding a universal vote by mail provision for the November elections in return for accepting a stimulus package to businesses, but I doubt the GOP would accept it. time.com/5808041/coronavirus-vote-by-mail/www.politico.com/news/2020/03/17/vote-by-mail-elections-coronavirus-134618
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 7:00:47 GMT
Politics in Wisconsin now make the US overall look like a haven of cross party co-operation. Ever since Scott Walker was elected Governor, and the subsequent recall election, the bitterness and partisanship seems endless. From an outside perspective it makes for a compelling spectacle. The state of Joseph McCarthy, of course. McCarthy was actually a moderate Republican and not the fervent right winger he has been made out to be. Anti-Communism was a bipartisan position.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 7:08:10 GMT
SCOTUS was divided 5-4 in its ruling on Wisconsin (ballots must be postmarked by 7 April in order to count, but can still be received until 13 April), in the familiar partisan way (liberals Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor in the minority), the dissent was written by Ginsburg.
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Post by finsobruce on Apr 7, 2020 7:18:29 GMT
The state of Joseph McCarthy, of course. McCarthy was actually a moderate Republican and not the fervent right winger he has been made out to be. Anti-Communism was a bipartisan position. Well, of course that's true but his actions, especially in the Lester Hunt affair, certainly make him worthy of notoriety.
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timmullen1
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Post by timmullen1 on Apr 7, 2020 7:50:37 GMT
SCOTUS was divided 5-4 in its ruling on Wisconsin (ballots must be postmarked by 7 April in order to count, but can still be received until 13 April), in the familiar partisan way (liberals Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor in the minority), the dissent was written by Ginsburg. It was also a fairly narrow ruling based - totally incorrectly IMO - on changing the rules so late in the game, so maybe a hint to people like Evers if they’d applied earlier the answer would have been different. There’s another potentially significant lines in the majority ruling also; they point out that the health of poll workers and voters was a late addition to Evers’ submission and so couldn’t be given much weight; again a hint maybe that an application saying “we can’t do in person voting because we can’t get enough volunteers to operate polling places, thereby contravening previous equal access rulings, or without going against the stay home declaration issued by the President (Federal government) that advises us holding a gathering such as queuing for an hour plus to vote places our citizens lives in jeopardy” would have caused us to examine the application from a different perspective and precedent.
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Post by curiousliberal on Apr 7, 2020 8:39:16 GMT
Count me a bit surprised if there's no official procedure to deal with those who need absentee ballots and have infectious diseases.
The commission has said they still won't announce any results until April 13 while they wait for absentee ballots which are postmarked by April 7 but arrive after that point.
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Richard Allen
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Post by Richard Allen on Apr 7, 2020 8:58:17 GMT
Politics in Wisconsin now make the US overall look like a haven of cross party co-operation. Ever since Scott Walker was elected Governor, and the subsequent recall election, the bitterness and partisanship seems endless. From an outside perspective it makes for a compelling spectacle. The GOP has gerrymandered the State Assembly to an extent where the Democrats can't win it unless there is a landslide, while also curtailing the governor's powers and Wisconsin doesn't have a statewide initiative and referendum process ( despite the state's progressive legacy), so the GOP doesn't have any incentive to compromise. The Democrats got 53% of the vote and 36 of 99 seats in the State Assembly in 2018, while the GOP got 63 seats for less than 45% of the vote. Well yes, that is the whole bloody point. The only way for the Democrats to break the GOP stranglehold on power is to get a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Hence the GOP are willing to do whatever is necessary to win this election and maintain the 5-2 conservative majority.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 9:35:30 GMT
The GOP has gerrymandered the State Assembly to an extent where the Democrats can't win it unless there is a landslide, while also curtailing the governor's powers and Wisconsin doesn't have a statewide initiative and referendum process ( despite the state's progressive legacy), so the GOP doesn't have any incentive to compromise. The Democrats got 53% of the vote and 36 of 99 seats in the State Assembly in 2018, while the GOP got 63 seats for less than 45% of the vote. Well yes, that is the whole bloody point. The only way for the Democrats to break the GOP stranglehold on power is to get a liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Hence the GOP are willing to whatever is necessary to win this election and maintain the 5-2 conservative majority. No need to get grumpy. I am aware you know (nearly) everything about US politics, so comments like that are not aimed at you, just the forum in general.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 9:38:54 GMT
SCOTUS was divided 5-4 in its ruling on Wisconsin (ballots must be postmarked by 7 April in order to count, but can still be received until 13 April), in the familiar partisan way (liberals Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor in the minority), the dissent was written by Ginsburg. It was also a fairly narrow ruling based - totally incorrectly IMO - on changing the rules so late in the game, so maybe a hint to people like Evers if they’d applied earlier the answer would have been different. There’s another potentially significant lines in the majority ruling also; they point out that the health of poll workers and voters was a late addition to Evers’ submission and so couldn’t be given much weight; again a hint maybe that an application saying “we can’t do in person voting because we can’t get enough volunteers to operate polling places, thereby contravening previous equal access rulings, or without going against the stay home declaration issued by the President (Federal government) that advises us holding a gathering such as queuing for an hour plus to vote places our citizens lives in jeopardy” would have caused us to examine the application from a different perspective and precedent. This is giving SCOTUS way too much credit. There is no reason to believe it would have been anything other than a 5-4 ruling along partisan lines regardless of the circumstances.
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Post by pragmaticidealist on Apr 7, 2020 9:45:59 GMT
McCarthy was actually a moderate Republican and not the fervent right winger he has been made out to be. Anti-Communism was a bipartisan position. Well, of course that's true but his actions, especially in the Lester Hunt affair, certainly make him worthy of notoriety. Richard Nixon is of course another moderate Republican who is known for 'activities' besides his moderation.
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nelson
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Post by nelson on Apr 7, 2020 9:55:44 GMT
Well, of course that's true but his actions, especially in the Lester Hunt affair, certainly make him worthy of notoriety. Richard Nixon is of course another moderate Republican who is known for 'activities' besides his moderation. Yes, I get that you didn't mean it that way, but there is a tendency to portray McCarthy as Hard Right, which irritates me.
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