Election Day Blues

[Deleted]

Where are we on election challenges?:

• Wisconsin - Trump campaign to file recount request
• Michigan - Trump campaign files suit to stop counting ballots
• Pennsylania - Trump campaign files suit to stop counting ballots and challenging state voter I.D. laws

Am I missing anything?  What challenges are yet to come?  

[NastyWoman]

Nov 4, 2020 13:24:47 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Nov 4, 2020 13:20:29 GMT -5 stillmovingforward said:

I agree! Wondering if Canada needs a really good engineer with a pitbull and medical issues.

I was looking at requirements to move to Canada. I think you may have a better chance being an engineer than I do being an accountant.
(I could realistically move to Poland--to do what, I don't know--but they just elected a bat shit crazy rightie by a small margin. Plus, even closer to Russia.)

Do you have Polish citizenship or an easy way to get it? If so, Poland is a Schengen country - plenty of alternatives for you

[moon/Laura]

Nov 3, 2020 9:10:55 GMT -5 swamp said:

Nov 3, 2020 8:05:54 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

I am kind of nervous, anxious, worried, or something about today and what it will bring. How are y’all feeling on this Election Day?

I'm a fucking mess. 

For multiple reasons, not just the national election.    There's a local race that is very important to me. 

Did you get the results you were looking for?

[thyme4change]

Nov 4, 2020 17:37:00 GMT -5 Opti said:

Nov 4, 2020 17:13:15 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

We all thought Biden was a shoe in and thought it would be a landslide, so clearly I have no idea. I have surrounded myself in a tidy blue bubble and stuck my fingers in my ears. Lalalalalalalala.

I did not think Biden was a foregone conclusion even though I hoped that was true. Given all the moves Trump has done to steal the election in his favor, I would have been surprised to see a big Biden win. I hope Biden triumphs and later we can find out about all the illegal stuff that was done by the campaign and those who chose to do it on their own. I expect we will see more Trump voters prosecuted for voter fraud than we may have seen in any recent Presidential election.

I actually didn't think it was a foregone conclusion either, but there has been very, very little talk of a Biden loss among my peeps. If they had reservations, they were holding them in. Seems like many are angry that it is so close, and the Senate did not flip and the country still is who it was 4 years ago. Disappointing.

[swamp]

Nov 4, 2020 18:01:54 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Nov 3, 2020 9:10:55 GMT -5 swamp said:

I'm a fucking mess. 

For multiple reasons, not just the national election.    There's a local race that is very important to me. 

Did you get the results you were looking for?

Yes.  By a large margin.  Like 4 to 1

[Lizard Queen]

Nov 4, 2020 17:39:11 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Nov 4, 2020 13:24:47 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I was looking at requirements to move to Canada. I think you may have a better chance being an engineer than I do being an accountant.
(I could realistically move to Poland--to do what, I don't know--but they just elected a bat shit crazy rightie by a small margin. Plus, even closer to Russia.)

Do you have Polish citizenship or an easy way to get it? If so, Poland is a Schengen country - plenty of alternatives for you

Apparently, I've been a Polish citizen my entire life and didn't know it. I don't know what Schengen is, but if you mean EU, I know. I have family in Poland, though, and sort of speak the language. My kids and husband only know a few words. My husband's mother is from the Netherlands, but she barely speaks any herself. We just have no connections with her family there, so it might be weird to land on their doorstep--"hi! We're your long lost cousins! Where can we crash?" I'm not particularly drawn to any other country without any family residing in it.

I only live a few hours drive from Ontario, and I think it would be the easiest adjustment for us to move there.

[Lizard Queen]

Nov 4, 2020 18:26:40 GMT -5 swamp said:

Nov 4, 2020 18:01:54 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Did you get the results you were looking for?

Yes.  By a large margin.  Like 4 to 1

Woohoo! Congratulations! 🎉🍾

[Deleted]

My nerves are shot.

[Deleted]

Nov 4, 2020 18:26:40 GMT -5 swamp said:

Nov 4, 2020 18:01:54 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Did you get the results you were looking for?

Yes.  By a large margin.  Like 4 to 1

YES!

[Deleted]

Congratulations, swamp!

[Opti]

Congrats Swamp! Enjoy. 

[Opti]

Nov 4, 2020 18:08:25 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Nov 4, 2020 17:37:00 GMT -5 Opti said:

I did not think Biden was a foregone conclusion even though I hoped that was true. Given all the moves Trump has done to steal the election in his favor, I would have been surprised to see a big Biden win. I hope Biden triumphs and later we can find out about all the illegal stuff that was done by the campaign and those who chose to do it on their own. I expect we will see more Trump voters prosecuted for voter fraud than we may have seen in any recent Presidential election.

I actually didn't think it was a foregone conclusion either, but there has been very, very little talk of a Biden loss among my peeps. If they had reservations, they were holding them in. Seems like many are angry that it is so close, and the Senate did not flip and the country still is who it was 4 years ago. Disappointing.

After surviving 2017, and 2018, 2019 ... plus enduring 2020 I know I had no desire to think of anything else going wrong. No desire to put that out there. 

[NastyWoman]

Nov 4, 2020 18:26:50 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Nov 4, 2020 17:39:11 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Do you have Polish citizenship or an easy way to get it? If so, Poland is a Schengen country - plenty of alternatives for you

Apparently, I've been a Polish citizen my entire life and didn't know it. I don't know what Schengen is, but if you mean EU, I know. I have family in Poland, though, and sort of speak the language. My kids and husband only know a few words. My husband's mother is from the Netherlands, but she barely speaks any herself. We just have no connections with her family there, so it might be weird to land on their doorstep--"hi! We're your long lost cousins! Where can we crash?" I'm not particularly drawn to any other country without any family residing in it.

I only live a few hours drive from Ontario, and I think it would be the easiest adjustment for us to move there.

The Schengen countries are mostly made up of EU countries, though some of the EU countries are not part of that and a few non EU countries are included. Poland is though and as a Polish citizen you can move to any of those countries and work there without needing a visa. My guess is your kids are eligible for Polish citizenship as well and hubby can be dragged along as tag-along spouse. If you are ever serious about this you do have a lot of options

[Tired Tess]

Swamp, Congratulations,i’m not sure what you won but I’m happy for you. I’m sure you’ll do a great job!

[TheOtherMe]

swamp  Congrats on your happy outcome.  Someday maybe we will know what made you so happy.  

[Deleted]

Nov 4, 2020 18:26:40 GMT -5 swamp said:

Nov 4, 2020 18:01:54 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Did you get the results you were looking for?

Yes.  By a large margin.  Like 4 to 1

I am so happy for you!  Enjoy your service.

[Deleted]

Legal weed for lawyers? 

[oped]

Now i feel like Biden may not win again... its a fun ride... gah

[Tennesseer]

Nov 4, 2020 21:34:46 GMT -5 oped said:

Now i feel like Biden may not win again... its a fun ride... gah

Keep hope alive.

[gs11rmb]

Nov 4, 2020 21:34:46 GMT -5 oped said:

Now i feel like Biden may not win again... its a fun ride... gah

Chuck Todd just said Biden is down by about 39,000 in Georgia and there are 98,000 votes outstanding.  They think they are coming from the Atlanta counties and they're voting for Biden between 54% and 84%.

I have a tiny glimmer of hope that Georgia might just go blue and put Biden at 269.  I was not anticipating it being remotely close.

[finnime]

Yeah, swamp!

[gs11rmb]

To try and soothe my anxiety yesterday afternoon I spent an hour listing all of the Georgia counties, the current vote split and the outstanding votes.  I then made the assumption that the outstanding votes would split along the same proportions as those already counted.  Those calculations had Trump winning Georgia by 14,792.  As of this morning he's winning by 18,588.  

CNN's HQ is right down the street...I think they should be offering me a number crunching job  .

[thyme4change]

If this was based in popular vote as it should be, this would be over. But instead, we are going to have to argue six times over a small number of ballots.

Abolish the electoral college.

[gs11rmb]

Nov 5, 2020 9:07:47 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

If this was based in popular vote as it should be, this would be over. But instead, we are going to have to argue six times over a small number of ballots.

Abolish the electoral college.

I can't imagine the 'little states' will ever agree to amend the constitution.  I think a compromise might be for all states to award electors based on the proportion of the votes.  At the same time staunchly Republican and staunchly Democratic states will refuse.

[Deleted]

DS called yesterday. When I'm not expecting him to call, I always worry. Does someone have COVID? Is his job in jeopardy? He was ostensibly calling to see how I was handling the uncertainty but it was really about him- he hadn't been able to get to sleep till 2:30 AM and woke up at 5:30. I told him it was in God's hands now and there's not much we can do about it except pray. We both deplored the ugliness, polarization, lies, etc., spread by both sides.

Interestingly, DBF, far to the left of DS, is also in a state. He worked the polls all day; he takes great pride in doing that for every election. He came home and said he got physically ill- more from the anxiety than from any definite knowledge of the result.

It's hitting us all.

[sesfw]

I sleep well at night, and have zero worries about the outcome of this election.  I have voted and can do nothing more.

If I allow this to affect my health and well-being, then I am doing myself harm.  Not worth it to me.

What is going to happen, will happen.

Not getting my panties in a knot about it.

[swamp]

Nov 4, 2020 21:34:04 GMT -5 @shastasnewlife said:

Legal weed for lawyers? 

Winner winner chicken dinner, lol. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Nov 5, 2020 9:11:39 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

Nov 5, 2020 9:07:47 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

If this was based in popular vote as it should be, this would be over. But instead, we are going to have to argue six times over a small number of ballots.

Abolish the electoral college.

I can't imagine the 'little states' will ever agree to amend the constitution.  I think a compromise might be for all states to award electors based on the proportion of the votes.  At the same time staunchly Republican and staunchly Democratic states will refuse.

I was reading about the pitfalls of that.  It would encourage even more heavy gerrymandering to ensure, like in Nebraska for example, that red votes outnumber the blue so they maintain the majority. 

I was freaking floored when District 2 went blue this round.  Omaha is the majority of that district which has apparently become more liberal than I realized over time.  I could see the state trying to redraw things to give the rural areas of Sarpy and Douglas County more power to ensure it goes back to being red.

We'd have to do something like computers generate the boarders for districts based on a model that ensures as close to purple as possible.  We can't let legislators draw districts anymore nor could they be the ones to design the software.

[azucena]

Nov 5, 2020 10:19:43 GMT -5 sesfw said:

I sleep well at night, and have zero worries about the outcome of this election.  I have voted and can do nothing more.

If I allow this to affect my health and well-being, then I am doing myself harm.  Not worth it to me.

What is going to happen, will happen.

Not getting my panties in a knot about it.

I'm just gonna leave this right here....


“I’m seeing a lot of “whoever wins, be kind and keep living” kind of posts today and while I understand the intention is well meant, I’m not sure that people realize how privileged of a space it is to be in to say those types of things. There are so many people who are terrified of what is about to happen, their lives literally hanging in the balance; their health, safety, and freedoms on the chopping block. Yes, there will be a result and we will all have to go along with it but realize when you say 'I’ll wake up and just do what I have been doing', that means you are protected by this system, you are privileged to not have to worry about the way you live your life. And I fully recognize that I am quite privileged as well, which is exactly why I’m writing this. So please, just be mindful of what you’re posting. Take a moment to step outside yourself and your bubble. And if you’re in a privileged space, use it to speak up for those who are terrified and exhausted.”

--Karoline Samson Buck

[Cookies Galore]

I live in the third largest county in PA (navy blue area) and they have just about finished counting the 243,000+ mail in ballots recieved so far (they can keep counting until Friday at 5 if stragglers ballots are postmarked 11/3). Overseas and military ballots have until next week to be counted.
So the unofficial numbers:
Joe Biden - 313,543
Donald Trump - 182,907

Voter turnout in my county is at 82.91%, which is freaking amazing (77.65% voter turnout in 2016). In my town, 63% of voters chose Biden (vs 59% going for Clinton in 2016). So all these numbers to say, there are still roughly 800,000 mail ballots to count in heavily Democratic areas of the state that voted heavily by mail. Trump's statewide lead is down to ~124,000, and dwindling. I feel good about PA, but my fingers are staying crossed.