More on mail ballots

Here’s a second story from the Trib on the attempted destruction of the Postal Service in the name of vote suppression by Donald Trump.

“I think the goal of Donald Trump’s comments are to destabilize faith in voting systems and we’ll be telling them the truth that voting by mail is safe and secure,” said state Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood. “We’ll counteract fear with facts.”

Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said eligible voters in the state’s most populous county who are worried about delays in the mail will be able to drop off their mail-in ballots at any of the county’s 11 offices “beginning whenever they receive their ballots and continuing through Election Day, November 3, at 7:00 PM.”

“Preserving every eligible citizen’s right to vote is a pillar of our democracy,” he said in a statement. “My office is doing everything in our power to withstand the challenges of the ongoing global pandemic and uphold this essential right for eligible voters. But it is shameful that partisan politics has led to the destruction of the United States Postal Office – an institution we need dearly right now.”

Hollins stressed that “despite this latest form of voter suppression, voting by mail remains the safest method for Texans to vote this November.”

Abhi Rahman, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party, said it is working to send out 1.7 million vote-by-mail applications to eligible Texans — the largest number in the party’s history. The party has already sent out 900,000 and is sending out the other 815,000 this week, he said.

“We believe strongly that Texans should be able to vote safely and securely during the time of the pandemic,” Rahman said. “Vote by mail is good for democracy, good for our state and good for our country.”

Regarding the president’s recent comments, Rahman said the party will continue to utilize its voter protection team, in addition to a website designed to help register all voters in the state.

“I think that Texans will crawl over broken glass to vote Donald Trump out of office and be vigilant to make sure their vote is counted,” he said.

[…]

The changes at the Postal Service have raised concerns that the process will be slowed down. In the name of cutting costs, the agency has reportedly reduced overtime for workers, banned extra trips used to make sure mail is delivered on-time and is decommissioning 10% of its mail sorting machines. According to The Washington Post, sorting capacity in Houston alone has dropped by 470,000 pieces of mail per hour. Those changes will have an effect on businesses that depend on the mail and people who use it to receive their paychecks or prescriptions, among many other things. But they also have the potential to make it harder for people to get their ballots in before the deadline.

Voter mobilization groups say they will encourage voters to send their ballots in as early as possible to avoid any risk of the delays affecting their vote.

“Our goal as a state should be to have the greatest possible number of Texans vote and for them all to be equally heard at the ballot box,” Drew Galloway, the executive director of MOVE Texas, which works to engage young voters, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “This means expanding on popular and secure reforms like mail-in ballots.”

Galloway also said the group’s organizers “received countless calls” before the primary runoff elections in July with questions about late absentee ballots — many of which, he said, were not received or arrived too late.

“This is unacceptable,” he said.

Republicans in Texas have largely remained quiet on the issue.

See here for the background. Of course Republican leaders have been silent on this, they are all far too cowardly to ever say a word in opposition to their Dear Leader. Democrats have been much more vocal, and while this story has totally blown up and caused some of the worst excesses to halt, there really needs to be a bigger, broader, and louder response from Democrats, especially Congressional Democrats. I mean, they do have some power here, and they need to exercise it.

Now is a good time to call your member of Congress, especially your Democratic member of Congress, and ask them to demand hearings ASAP, with subpoenas and the threat of being hauled in front of Congress by Capitol police if those subpoenas are not obeyed. No more playing nice here, this is as serious as it gets.

At the CEC meeting yesterday, County Clerk Chris Hollins spoke after the other business was done, and he talked about what his office is doing to ensure people can vote despite all of this garbage. I’ve already noted that people can drop off completed mail ballots at any of the 11 County Clerk offices. Hollins reported there will be 120 (!) early voting locations, which should make the in-person experience as safe as possible. (Yes, they need election workers. The gig pays $17 an hour. Go apply if you can.) There were other questions asked of Hollins, including one I posted about early voting locations as mail ballot dropoffs. He didn’t get to the questions, but promised there would be an easily visible FAQ section on the Harris Votes webpage shortly, which would include responses to the questions we asked, so check there in a few days. Trump’s destruction is obscene and anti-American, but it’s also an obstacle that can be overcome. We’re going to be able to handle it here in Harris County, and other urban counties appear to be in decent shape as well. If you’re not sure about your county, pester your officials as needed to get them on the ball. Like I said, this is as serious as it gets.

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59 Responses to More on mail ballots

  1. Paul Kubosh says:

    The only way to cheat in a meaningful way in an election is through mail in voting. Republicans and Democrats do it. It is a routine thing. I am not concerned about voter ID. Double voting etc. However, vote by mail is the stupidest thing.

  2. Jen says:

    Paul—prove it. Good luck, no one else has despite vigorous efforts. “in a meaningful way” means hundreds, thousands of ballots.

  3. Bill Daniels says:

    Jen,

    First, can we at least agree that the voter rolls are not exactly perfect? People move, people die, people become felons, etc. So if we say we’re going to just mass mail a ballot out to every voter on the rolls, can you see how some ballots will be going out to incorrect addresses, to people not eligible to vote for various reasons, etc.?

    Say I live in an apartment. I get a vote by mail ballot not just for me, but also for the last three residents of that apartment. Other than me being scrupulously honest, what prevents me from just mailing them all in?

    You will recall that when the various voter registrars were interested in tightening up and making their voter rolls more accurate and that non citizens were not inadvertently on those rolls, they were sued to stop that.

  4. Ross says:

    @Bill, the goal of those folks that were trying to “clean” up their voter rolls was to disenfranchise voters under the guise of eliminating ineligible voters. I know your guy is losing, and becoming an even worse turd than he already was, along with the nasty woman he’s married to and his utterly moronic children, but that’s no reason for you to get even more stupid.

  5. Flypusher says:

    All that is easily bypassed by allowing people who want a mail in ballot (for any reason) to request one, which happens to be what the legal fight in TX is about. One voter, one ballot sent to the proper address.

    It doesn’t escape my notice that this is all hypothetical, rather than a proven real life example of significant voting fraud via mail.

  6. voter_worker says:

    To those few of you who pretend that you know the Texas Election Code chapter and verse, applications for mail ballots and the ballots themselves are sent to and accepted from only those voters who are in active status. Every name on the rolls most assuredly does not have an opportunity to vote either in person or by mail. The Texas Election Code has numerous tripwires to catch the few who think they are smart enough to game the system to cast a few additional votes for a candidate. Nobody has yet been able to persuade me that any appreciable number of people are willing to risk defense attorney fees and jail time for a POLITICIAN.

  7. Bill Daniels says:

    Completely overlooked here is that the USPS/Postal Workers’ Union has a long standing history of impropriety with regard to elections.

    https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politics/osc-usps-hillary-clinton-hatch-act/index.html

    We’re trusting the same folks who will take time off from helping to deliver the mail to help deliver votes for Democrats, to be perfectly professional when actually delivering ballots. Can we see how this at least has the APPEARANCE of impropriety?

  8. Manny says:

    Paul if so much voter fraud occurs by mail, why is it that the Republicans here in Texas didn’t get rid of it? I will tell you why because more Republicans were voting by mail, so any fraud they committed was okay?

    By the way the opportunity for fraud is greater by mail. So maybe we should just not let people serving our country, old people, disabled people, or people like the idiot and his wife that are presently occupying the White House vote by mail.

    As to the Trump loving racist, Bill Daniels. Union people were allowed to take time off to work for the benefit for their candidate, big deal.

    The biggest problem with absentee voting/voting by mail is that there is a slightly greater chance that your vote would not be counted.

    All those things that could be done as people like Bill say are probable because the minds of hard core racists/republicans works that way and that is things they have done in the past or at least considered doing (Evil minds have evil thoughts). Some people even vote from their office when their homes are in other counties.

  9. Bill Daniels says:

    CBS News conducted a mock mail in ballot scenario, just to test the efficacy of mail in ballots. 3% of those mock ballots just disappeared into the ether.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vote-by-mail-ballot-counted-election/

    On the bright side, they did get a birthday card and some other mail incorrectly delivered to them, so there’s that.

  10. Bill Daniels says:

    “Some people even vote from their office when their homes are in other counties.”

    Still salty about Dave Wilson, eh, Manny? I appreciate the laugh. You reminded me of his campaign flyers, prominently featuring pictures of black people, and the endorsement from his brother, Ron Wilson.

    I’ve got to admit that was pretty low, but then, what does that say about the electorate? They’re willing to elect anybody, as long as they THINK the candidate is black. Maybe people like that DESERVE to be represented by Dave Wilson.

  11. Jen says:

    Still waiting on the proof. There isn’t any. Any election that is close gets a recount, with all ballots getting extra scrutiny, and *still* no proof of significant voter fraud, mail-in or otherwise. Seems people just don’t think forgery is worth it for one extra vote that probably won’t matter anyway.

  12. SocraticGadfly says:

    Bill Daniels conveniently forgot, I will uncharitably assume, the West Virginia mail carrier recently convicted of pro-Republican mail voting fraud. (Bill, I’ve seen you enough here that “uncharitably” is what you’ve earned.) https://www.politicususa.com/2020/07/10/republican-election-fraud.html

  13. SocraticGadfly says:

    The problem actually started 50 years ago when Democrats AND Republicans voted to get rid of the socialist (government control of the means of mail production), and generally well-working U.S. Post Office and replace it with the neoliberal-driven, quasi-capitalist based USPS. The prefunding and other problems all ultimately stem from that. And, today, other than just “more cash,” Dems (Berners a partial exception) aren’t really any more serious about fixing the problem than are Rethuglicans. https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2020/08/no-fedex-and-ups-arent-going-to-save.html

  14. Flypusher says:

    Let’s also not forget the recent history of NC-9, where the ballot tampering was so bad they redid the election:

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article227148109.html

    Who committed that fraud? All together now: Republicans.

  15. Manny says:

    For Bill Daniels aka as Racist: Actually Dave did live in that warehouse, he had a room upstairs, before that warehouse he had another warehouse that he used to live in. But that is not the person that is voting from their office was addressed to. But I have not had much communications with Dave, I don’t speak to people that voted for Trump. After Trump is gone, maybe.

    By the way, Bruce Austin did plenty of mailers letting the voters know that Dave Wilson was not black. But racist like you will believe what you want to believe. Dave didn’t do too badly this last election, my understanding is that he plans to run again next November for HCCS.

    Trump and his trophy wife live in separate rooms. Living arrangements between husband and wife sometime best left for them to live with.

    Soc steer me in the direction where I could verify what you stated above.

  16. Bill Daniels says:

    Socratic and Fly,

    Thanks, guys, for answering Jen’s question. She wanted evidence of mail in voter fraud, and you guys dug some up. Well done, you’ve proved why mass mail in voting is a problem. I’m going to assume that y’all join President Trump and me in opposing mass mail in ballots for the very reason Trump has voiced….too much possibility of fraud. And let’s not forget, closer to home, all the Sheriff Troy mailers that got dumped into a commercial dumpster. Never heard how that postal investigation came out. Remember? They had video of a postal truck pulling up, and a mail carrier dumping the flyers.

    Manny,

    I’m happy to help you out with the story on Dave Wilson. Hell, I read about it here, because Kuff has the best scuttlebutt about Houston politics. Voila:

    http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=57022

  17. Flypusher says:

    Given that Trump isn’t giving up his right to vote by mail, the answer is a resounding NO. Also how totally dishonest of you to try to beat up Dems with GOP mendacity- that’s not how it works. Take your hypocrisy and stuff it someplace very inconvenient. Thwarting the very small minority of cheaters by disenfranchising millions is like dealing with a few roaches in the kitchen by fire bombing the neighborhood. I’m going with funding USPS so that they can handle the load. Anything else is unacceptable and anti-democratic. As Voter Worker has demonstrated, some big time gaming of the system isn’t easy at all.

  18. Flypusher says:

    Bill tries to crow about how our examples about GOP cheaters somehow proved his point, but what they really prove is that the safeguards worked. The cheaters got caught cheating.

  19. Paul Kubosh says:

    To all you people who think I am wrong you lack the knowledge and experience to be able to comment on it. I would have thought like all of you until my the red light cameras and my brothers election.

  20. Paul Kubosh says:

    Fly…for ever cheater that gets caught 10 don’t. Don’t be niave.

  21. You guys worry about Russia so much then just think about it. Russia sends millions of mail in ballots to everyone so does China. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.

  22. Flypusher says:

    The burden of proof is on those who make the accusation- that’s supposed to be an honored American principle. Trump seeks to sow distrust and chaos; if you doubt that, who is truly the naïve one? How much cheating did his minion Kobach (someone who went into an investigation with a presumption of cheating) find? There were allegedly 3 million legal votes in 2016- where’s the beef?

  23. Flypusher says:

    Russian is going with the disinformation approach. If you’re not telling a bad joke/ trolling, give us some details on how they’re going to beat the various safeguards.

  24. Manny says:

    Red light cameras were taking money from your pocket,not sure what that has to do with mail voting.

    Paul how did you become the judge of what people know?

    Who brought up Russia?

    Can you prove that for every election cheater 10 don’t get caught or did come from same place the Lysol was to be injected?

    Again since you seem to think you know everything, if mail/absentee is ripe with fraud why didn’t Republicans do away with it?

    I realize that you Trump lovers are grasping for straws, so is Trump that is why he wants to meet with Putin.

  25. David Fagan says:

    Did anyone watch that new show on Netflix?

  26. Fly,

    There are no safeguards. That is the point. The election in every mail in state will not be over on election night. Republicans and Democrats do it. The level of corruption is bipartisan.

  27. Manny says:

    Typical for Trump lovers, most are also racist like Trump. Respond both parties do it. But it became a concern when Democrats started using mail ballots, so typical for Trump lovers.

  28. Flypusher says:

    5 states already do extensive vote by mail, and there is NO evidence of rampant voter fraud. You’re just like those people in Bush Jr.’s regime making claims about WMD but supplying no hard evidence. As Voter Worker has pointed out, there are indeed safeguards to make things tough on cheaters. But now it looks like your issue is that we might not know the result on election night. If I must choose between fast and fair (with fair meaning all eligible voters get they say), I’m going with the later. We have gotten too spoiled with all these early election calls.

  29. voter_worker says:

    One of the all-mail states is Utah, the reddest state in the USA. They somehow make it happen in their typical slapdash and haphazard way with no intelligent design or safeguards or even minimal rules since their Legislature is a bunch of dummies exceeded in ignorance only by their slovenly population. (nothing is the second sentence is true but I hope you get my drift)

  30. Lobo says:

    Regarding the thesis sentence “Republicans and Democrats do it. The level of corruption is bipartisan.”

    If this is true, how would the effects of the cheating not cancel out? And if it does, why is it even a concern with respect to legitimacy of election outcome, since it won’t be any different?

    Even if there is a disproportion in illegit ballots case, the number would have to be large enough to exceed the margin of victory of the ostensibly successful candidate. And isn’t there an election contest procedure in situations where it comes down to a few votes making the difference? The larger point here is that nothing is perfect in the administration of a plan or program that involves large numbers of people, especially a cross-section of the populace in which not everyone is equally smart or educated or rule-compliant. There will always be some amount of irregularity and error, and there are mechanisms provided for in the Election Code to minimize this, such as cross-checking eligibility against the voter registration records, address match etc, and comparison of signatures.

    In any event, the main issue with mail-in voting, given all the existing controls and verification procedures, is undue influence at the point where the voting-in-residence takes place. But even there, it would only make a difference if the registered vote choice on the ballot goes the other way due to the undue influence. And the greatest risk for undue influence on vote choice would be in the senior population in congregate housing with greater incidence of mental decline in voters and need for third-party assistance. For this most susceptible population, however, age-based eligibility for mail-in voting has long been established, with no objections by Republicans apparently.

  31. Bill Daniels says:

    Fly,

    The states that already do this have experience doing it, they have a track record. It’s not their first rodeo. You’re asking all those other states to slap something together at literally the last minute, and are expecting that to just work fine with no fraud and no logistical issues arising.

    Remember how the CoH’s own “vote anywhere” scheme went? Remember the felon on probation being the unfortunate last guy in line to vote after waiting 7 hours to commit his voter fraud? That was just trying to change things in one county, with that change being planned and developed in much more than the two and a half months we are talking about for the upcoming election. And this is before we even throw the USPS into the mix.

    As it stands now, if you’re over 65 (ex. Manny), or in jail but not yet convicted of a felony (hopefully no one here), or stationed out of the area with the military, or you’ll be out of state during the voting, you can already do a mail in vote, and no one is quibbling about that.

    So what’s left is the left’s version of right wingers who refuse to wear masks…..they want to vote by mail to make a political point, and do it as a sign of protest.

    There are probably going to be a few folks who have a legitimate fear, who are immune compromised, who have somehow avoided grocery shopping or anything else that would make them come in contact with other people. I suspect the number of people who have actually made themselves reclusive shut ins is very, very small. If you tell me you’ve been hiding in your house since March, and have never ventured out to HEB, or to Walgreens, or to the hardware store, etc., I’ll take you at your word, but will never believe that you represent any significant percentage of Texans, especially if you are younger than 65. The over 65 set already has that mail in carve out, so they’re good no matter what.

  32. Lobo says:

    Again, where is the evidence of rampant VBM election fraud?

    The AG’s Petition in No. 20-0394 (the infamous Let-them-Catch-Covid Election Clerk Mandamus) has two footnotes to two newspaper articles, and one of these is a story about senior citizens, i.e. those eligible to vote by mail based on age alone. Docket is here:
    http://www.search.txcourts.gov/Case.aspx?cn=20-0394&coa=cossup
    (Paxton’s mandamus petition, e-signed by Solicitor General Kyle D. Hawkins, is the first filing at the bottom of the list in the APPELLATE BRIEFS section.)

    QUOTING FROM THE BRIEF:

    Texas is not immune. As the Austin American Statesman recently reported: Of the 91 Texas election fraud cases prosecuted from state investigations in the last decade, . . . [o]nly four of the 91 involved in-person voter Impersonation. Most cases involve abuse of mail-in ballots and of campaigns acting as voter assistants to help people mark their ballots.1 Indeed, reports of voter fraud tied to mail-in balloting are all too common.2

    FOOTNOTES TO NEWSPAPER ARTICLES PROFFERED AS “EVIDENCE”

    Footnote 1 Elizabeth Findell, In election season in the Rio Grande Valley, watchful eyes at the polls (Austin American-Statesman June 11, 2018), https://www.statesman.com/ news/20180611/in-election-season-in-rio-grande-valley-watchful-eyes-at-polls.

    Footnote 2 See, e.g., Anna M. Tinsley and Deanna Boyd, Four women in ‘voter fraud ring’ arrested. They targeted seniors on city’s north side (Fort Worth Star-Telegram Oct. 12, 2018), https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/ article219920740.html.

    BOTTOM LINE: A few isolated instances don’t make the phenomenon rampant. And two footnotes to newspaper articles are slim pickings in an original proceeding filed in the court of last resort seeking emergency relief. Assuming the reporting is accurate (and not hearsay), 91 instances of fraudulent/illegal ballots (or allegedly so) is a pittance relative to millions of votes cast in multiple elections over the relevant period of time.

  33. Manny says:

    Those of us that are already qualified to vote by mail, if we choose to do so, are also effected by Trump and the Republicans attempt to destroy the post office. I may just decide to take my ballot in person to one of the county drop off offices.

    Trump and the Republicans want the post office to be more efficient and to make money, well let us do the same thing with police officers and fire fighters. Trump and the Republicans have already started the process of de-funding police and fire departments by refusing to help states and local governments in their hour of need.

    Trump and the Republicans are also out to cut health care for Veterans.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/16/esper-eyes-22-billion-cut-military-health-care-395578

    Republicans hate democracy and they are out to destroy it.

  34. Bill Daniels says:

    Manny,

    Can you explain how you are impacted by Trump’s appointee trying to balance the budget of the USPS, which has run in the red for well over a decade? Is removing the freestanding letter boxes problematic for you? May I assume you live in a house? If you have a dwelling of any kind, your own mailbox can be used to send mail from. That’s what that cute little red flag is for. You raise it, the mailman knows you have something you want mailed, and it goes straight from your box into the maw of the USPS.

    Personally, I would think that the same left that sees the need to pull down statues, rename things, and change the song played by the ice cream man, would welcome tearing down the letter boxes. It’s all part of erasing our past, our shared identity as Americans in order to fundamentally change America into something….else.

    And just to address the issue of the homeless voting:

    First, I would assume the homeless vote the same way unscrupulous dentists troll for children in the hood to get patients…..the homeless are paid and bused to polling places by the same kinds of people who pay to bus protestors around. But let’s just say I am being too cynical. Let’s say the only people who can’t vote by mail are the homeless. How do they get their mail in ballot then?

    A: They use the address of a homeless shelter, or of a relative or a friend. And all of those have…..mailboxes where outgoing mail can be sent.

  35. Bill Daniels says:

    Manny,

    Want to know the best way to lower health care costs for veterans, a way that practically all of us can support?

    A: Stop starting and participating in useless, no win wars where we get our people hurt and killed.

    And if we’re going with that metric, Trump is (no pun intended), killing it, being the first president in memory NOT to start a war or two during his first term. He’s also working AGAINST Congress to end the Afghanistan war, and even against that headwind, has gotten us down to fewer than 5,000 troops in country. He also got many US troops out of war torn Syria. No wonder all our warhawk generals now oppose Trump. Bad for business.

    Fewer casualties……less future medical care expenses going forward. Not only is peace the prize, it’s cheaper for the taxpayers of the future. Remember Code Pink? I’m on their texting list. This used to be an ideal that the left supported. Peace.

    Now look at them, shamelessly OPPOSING peace:

    https://www.codepink.org/dont_be_hoodwinked_by_trumps_uae_israel_peace_deal

  36. David Fagan says:

    I think Manny is in love with Bill Daniels.

  37. Jules says:

    If you can’t understand that slowing the mail down slows the mail down, please quit commenting and go away.

  38. Bill Daniels says:

    This just in:

    https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/ag-paxton-texas-secretary-states-office-discovers-nearly-95000-people-identified-dps-non-us-citizens

    “Attorney General Ken Paxton today issued the following statement after the Secretary of State’s office discovered that about 95,000 individuals identified by the Department of Public Safety as non-U.S. citizens have a matching voter registration record in Texas, and roughly 58,000 of them have voted in one or more Texas elections….”

  39. Jules says:

    If you think that “this just in” means a discredited story from January 2019 (the SOS lost his job because of this), please go away. Just go away.

  40. Bill Daniels says:

    Jules,

    I’m going to admit I posted the TX AG link without checking the date beforehand. Mea culpa. I was wrong and accept responsibility for posting an out of date link. Consider me duly chastised.

  41. Manny says:

    Slow mail already effecting veterans and other people. 82 year old in Humble heart medicine over a week late.

    Trump and the Republicans hate Democracy, mail voting was never an issue until the Russian loving American hatere, Trump/Republicans said it was an issue.

    Why do you people hate this country. David Fagan you included, move no one is stopping you. Don’t try Europe they won’t take you.

  42. voter_worker says:

    Bill, County Clerk, not City of Houston, runs elections. Soon they will be run be an EA. The voting centers were enabled by the Republican Texas Legislature. The President tweeted today against drop off points for mail ballots and clearly isn’t distinguishing between states that have run mail elections for years and the others. He just wants to sabotage the election in any way he can. He knows less about who runs elections and how than you do.

  43. When Trump wins and ya’ll Blame Russia again just remember I told you so just like I told you about Bail Reform

  44. Manny says:

    Paul he and the Russians stole the election once, it ain’t going to happen, there are not enough stupid people in the United States.

    Why would anyone vote for the most corrupt president in the history of the United States?

    I want to understand why people hate government, especially the federal government and then claim to love this country. The government is the country. Maybe just a bunch of American haters is what the Republican Party has become.

    We ain’t back to the 40s and 50s, no matter how much you people would love to.

  45. Flypusher says:

    >>The states that already do this have experience doing it, they have a track record. It’s not their first rodeo. You’re asking all those other states to slap something together at literally the last minute, and are expecting that to just work fine with no fraud and no logistical issues arising.

    Except that I’m not. You’re just up to your usual dishonest trick of putting words in other people’s mouths. No one here is demanding that TX change the mail in voting system RIGHT NOW! to the same system as Washington or Colorado. Those states with the long track record were brought up as rebuttal to the bullshit claim than the mail in ballot systems have major fraud problems. The lawsuits and the arguing are about allowing one more category of person to request an absentee ballot, with these people having to follow the process already in place in TX.

    >>Remember how the CoH’s own “vote anywhere” scheme went? Remember the felon on probation being the unfortunate last guy in line to vote after waiting 7 hours to commit his voter fraud? That was just trying to change things in one county, with that change being planned and developed in much more than the two and a half months we are talking about for the upcoming election. And this is before we even throw the USPS into the mix.

    I remember more than you do. I remember that they wanted to do a joint primary in Harris Co, but the GOP said no. That meant voting machines had to be dedicated to one party or the other, and if you have the same number of R and D machines in precincts where most people want to vote D, guess what happens? Fortunately all the ballots are the same in the general election, so that should help with the waiting issue. If you’re really concerned about this issue, then you’re be in favor of more polling places in the parts of the county where the lines were long this spring? Or another extra week of early voting?

    As for USPS, if the dishonest GOP wasn’t deliberately trying to starve it and break it, there wouldn’t be such an issue. The House passed a bill months ago to address USPS funding (and keeping people from getting evicted and starving). The Senate has done nothing. The President who tediously and baselessly brags about his deal-making prowess is AWOL on this too.

    >>So what’s left is the left’s version of right wingers who refuse to wear masks…..they want to vote by mail to make a political point, and do it as a sign of protest.

    Right. Wanting to make voting during a pandemic safer for everyone (note that I said everyone, not just people in urban counties, not just Democrats, not just liberals, but everyone) is exactly like people throwing public temper tantrums over masks because they can’t be inconvenienced even the slightest amount for the sake of safety of others. Did anyone even tell you that you truly suck at making analogies? Because you really are bad at it.

    >>There are probably going to be a few folks who have a legitimate fear, who are immune compromised, who have somehow avoided grocery shopping or anything else that would make them come in contact with other people

    Or they live with someone at risk. Also one can get the essentials by on-line order/ curbside pickup. That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ll be voting in person, but I have no issue with someone who is under 65 requesting a mail-in ballot if they are worried about the Covid risk. TX errs way too far on the side of making it difficult to vote.

  46. Manny says:

    Fly awesome job, but as David Fagan said about me, talking smack to people like Bill and others like him, is what they seem to respond to. That is the Republican part of their id. That is why most Republican ads are made that way to pull at emotions and fear, them people are geared not to think logically. I am not even sure they are capable of doing so without resorting to lies.

    They need a boogeyman to frighten people.

  47. C.L. says:

    The US Postal Service has been a slow moving train wreck for years, even before the Congressional mandate that they pre-fund health benefits in, for F’s sake, 2006…under G.W. Bush. When was the last time anyone one of us utilized their services to send anything of substance through the mail ? I remember the USPS bldg at 11th and Heights – it was a hot tub time machine without the hot tub. The people working inside didn’t give a shit about anything, the folks in line were The Walking Dead, and that same USPS mentality migrated to the facility on Calvacade…living to fight another day

    Problem now is ‘economy of scale’. No private enterprise in their right mind is going to take over the USPS or offer a competing service. It’s dying a slow death right in front of our eyes. With 95% of my bills being paid online, ain’t no big thing.

  48. David Fagan says:

    Oh, Manny, that comment was really for everybody! You’re not alone, all people do is talk smack, Republicans, Democrats, Independents who don’t even have much of a platform. So, you’re more like everyone else than you are different, so don’t feel like you’re alone, buddy! You’re in the same boat as, well even ol Trump himself! Like MC Hammer said, IT’S ALL GOOD!

  49. Bill Daniels says:

    C.L.:

    Nice description of the USPS. Isn’t it interesting that their union always endorses Democrats? Isn’t it interesting that a place staffed by diversity hires doesn’t give a shit?

    Well, no, it Isn’t really interesting, it is predictable. Anyway, thanks for pointing out why depending on this group to do a good job with mass mail voting, and more specifically, with Republican mail in ballots, is not a good idea, which is why Trump opposes it.

    Remember the boxes of Sheriff Troy mailers that ended up in the dumpster? You don’t think that will happen to ballots, too?

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