How can the US improve the election process for 2022 and 2024? Can it be done bi-partisanly?

[Bodes]

For those who say "take money out of politics" and "stop political donations":
In Australia, we almost have that (in a direct way), but what happens, is family members of politicians get high-paying cushy jobs with these companies, or the politicians are promised (and get) high-paying cushy jobs after they retire/get voted out with these companies.
We had our defence minister retire to a highly paid cushy job with a company who bids on creating defence-type supplies. His job was to advise the company how to talk to politicians and how to write bids to get government money for defence jobs....
Our pollies are just as corrupt as yours are in the USA, but it is generally less obvious here.
I am not sure which is scarier: Knowing about the corruption while they are in office, or finding out afterwards?
Plus our moronic Prime Minister dissolved most of our political corruption body. Who were investigating the defence minister mentioned above.

 

[Boofchuck]

I think we should just abolish the office of the President. I don't think any single person should be so important or have so much power.

 

[Yul Brynner]

I think we should just abolish the office of the President. I don't think any single person should be so important or have so much power.

They aren't and definitely weren't supposed to be to begin with. There has just been a few presidents getting away with shit they shouldn't and then came trump that just did and said whatever the fuck he wanted. The whole thing is based on the assumption that people in charge will be the best people. Responsible adults that even if lacking above average intelligence, would have the common sense to be advised by the ones that do.

The problem is ignorant fucktards want someone to worship for some reason.

I think voting should not be a right. Just like firearms should be and cars already are. You should have to be educated in the matter and tested to be certified that you are qualified to operate a vehicle/own a gun/vote. To be honest, after the shitshow the US has become, I would even go so far as to say breeding should be illegal without a license.

 

[Viginez]

I would even go so far as to say breeding should be illegal without a license.

that sounds so 1933. and your suggestions are the real issues. you call half of your nation turds and what not and then ask for things to improve?
also, you can improve all you want about election process', but there still reamains outside interferance like viruses that then get politicized and it's basically an invitation to all kinds of problems in the process, just like we saw it now.

 

[StevenC]

that sounds so 1933.

Based on your previous posts in P&CE, you have been excluded from making these comparisons.

 

[Drew]

Looky here, you claim the people in the CC were racist (majority were actually Jewish btw), but the guy running for President in this contested election, Joe Biden, is on public record being a racist and you call me a fucking moron?
Here is Harris actually chewing Biden on his racist voting record:

Funny thing about this exchange - one of the reasons Harris's own campaign fell apart was, in the aftermath, she struggled to come up with ways in which her platform would differ from Biden's today. This was political theater - excellent political theater, but it didn't take away from the fact that Biden had clearly learned from his mistakes, if there was no policy difference between the two today.

I mean, not for nothing, she accepted a spot on his ticket, at the end of the day. You don't do that as a minority if you think the guy at the top of the ticket is a racist shitbag.

 

[fantom]

@fantom since you were wondering, here's current AOC quote, as of today. She is actually in the process of making a hit list of all Trump campaign workers so they never get hired again (McCarthyism anyone?), and those are not Nazi tactics?
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1324807776510595078

How does someone wanting to archive information to hold others accountable imply a hit list? She literally said nothing but to keep information that may be deleted. If Trump said something about keeping Hillary from deleting her emails, you would be jerking off to it.

I wholeheartedly agree that many people in the GOP right now need to understand consequences of their actions and complacency. Asking to archive evidence seems appropriate given the situation.

I never though I would say this, but look at people like Mitt Romney right now. If the GOP would just stand up to Trump , the situation would have defused itself. Instead, you have people like Barr trying to unilaterally overthrow oversight of the elections office leadership with no evidence and most Republican senators just hoping the tactic works. They are so afraid of Democrats running things that they refuse to compromise, cooperate, or play by the rules. More importantly, they refuse to stand up to a tyrant. You really want that information to just be deleted from public record?

As much as I get frustrated by democrats, the GOP needs to atone for their bullshit attitude enabling a person like Trump (and McConnell tbh) destroying this country. If you can't see it because you are envious of a daddy's boy that got to @*$# Karen McDougal and brag about taking advantage of people, well I can't help you much. But I don't think that tweet shows an unintelligent person at all.

 

[Phlegethon]

I also think it's bullshit that states couldn't process mail-ins before election day.

There should be no reason why states should wait to process them. At least with everything in Canada, once election day is over? It's done. Everything's counted and sussed out before then. Granted, the pandemic is magnifying flaws in the USA's system but still. Things like mail in votes should be done well ahead of time so that things run smoothly. Because the last USA election sounds like it needed to run a lot better than it did.

 

[spudmunkey]

OK, maybe a shorter way to ask the initial question:

There's no denying there have been two major clusterfuck elections this century, 2000 and 2020. Have Republicans suggested any ways to improve elections, or are there any changes they've proposed ?

 

[fantom]

There should be no reason why states should wait to process them. At least with everything in Canada, once election day is over? It's done. Everything's counted and sussed out before then. Granted, the pandemic is magnifying flaws in the USA's system but still. Things like mail in votes should be done well ahead of time so that things run smoothly. Because the last USA election sounds like it needed to run a lot better than it did.

FWIW, I used to live in a red state..voting there required 2-3 hour lines. Only one poll place per zip code. You had to go to your designated place on the day of the election.

I moved to California about 10 years ago, they mailed me a ballot 1 month ahead to drop off at any polling location in the same county (most were open 30 days before the election). There were 3 of them within a mile of where I lived. There was never a line. The one time I lost a ballot, I could go get a new one or just vote in person within 5 minutes. Voting went from feeling like an arduous task that required planning to just a quick errand on my way home at my own convenience.

My point here: the entire US system is not screwed up. I didn't understand the systematic oppression of voters in red states until I moved. The GOP is intentionally trying to make it hard for people to vote. I don't understand why people want that or defend it.

 

[Xaios]

The GOP is intentionally trying to make it hard for people to vote. I don't understand why people want that or defend it.

The overarching narrative behind "own the libs" and "not hurting the right people" is that your modern American republican is willing to endure all manner of suffering at the hands of their elected officials who are supposed to be serving them if it forces people that they don't like to endure similar suffering.

 

[diagrammatiks]

OK, maybe a shorter way to ask the initial question:

There's no denying there have been two major clusterfuck elections this century, 2000 and 2020. Have Republicans suggested any ways to improve elections, or are there any changes they've proposed ?

yeah less people voting = shorter lines.

 

[nightflameauto]

They aren't and definitely weren't supposed to be to begin with. There has just been a few presidents getting away with shit they shouldn't and then came trump that just did and said whatever the fuck he wanted. The whole thing is based on the assumption that people in charge will be the best people. Responsible adults that even if lacking above average intelligence, would have the common sense to be advised by the ones that do.

The problem is ignorant fucktards want someone to worship for some reason.

I think voting should not be a right. Just like firearms should be and cars already are. You should have to be educated in the matter and tested to be certified that you are qualified to operate a vehicle/own a gun/vote. To be honest, after the shitshow the US has become, I would even go so far as to say breeding should be illegal without a license.

Honestly, without that last point we're fast heading into the real Idiocracy.

OK, maybe a shorter way to ask the initial question:

There's no denying there have been two major clusterfuck elections this century, 2000 and 2020. Have Republicans suggested any ways to improve elections, or are there any changes they've proposed ?

The Republican's have suggested changes that make it worse, because the more people vote, the worse their chances are at maintaining power. I really wish we could get that message to stick among their electorate, but unfortunately preventing abortion and keeping guns rank far more important than voter suppression, human rights, healthcare, and education.

 

[bostjan]

Now that the craze is finally starting to cool, I guess we can say that the system in place ended up working in the end, even if just barely.

Nobody should have been surprised that making it easier for disadvantaged people to vote would cause a significant blue wave. Nobody should have been surprised that Trump would half-ass attempt a coup.

It's sad to me, as a staunch moderate, to see the calls for conservative blood from liberals over the shenanigans Trump's people tried to pull. Keep in mind that there are significant numbers of the religious, the economically conservative, and single-issue voters, who didn't want any part of that crap, and that those people's voices still matter. If things ever boil down to "right versus wrong," then it all hinges on whomever gets to decide where to draw the line. In the case of Nov 2020- Jan 2021, we saw that, when an insane megalomaniac gets to determine what's right and what's wrong, in order to determine important issues, everything could quickly and easily collapse.

What needs to change long-term, is better watchdogging, with some actual repercussions when things are tampered. The Russian interference of 2016 needs to be prevented in the future. And next time a sitting president extorts political favours from another foreign power and gets caught, that president needs to face consequences severe enough to discourage that behaviour.

Sadly, this won't happen in time for 2022, I don't think. Maybe by 2024, we can hope, but, with major changes to how our political system works requiring a 2/3 majority for everything, and the political system being as opportunistic and stubborn as it is, I doubt things will get done until that changes first.

 

[Jonathan20022]

So the argument against a unified national effort towards Voter ID that it makes voting harder, but also disproportionally affects minorities/low income groups.

The rolling narrative in 2016 was Russian Collusion, and this time in 2020 it's rampant Voter Fraud.

It's already troubling that you can instill doubt in process so easily, leading to absolute degenerates pulling off what they did this week.

Millions of dollars were spent by both Democrats and Republicans crying foul and investigating the elections. So AFAIC fuck both of them and renovate the process by which we vote, if it's a registered database of individuals who have to pre-qualify to vote, then so be it.
The country can't handle election after election being called a mishandled mess much longer before it implodes on itself and all confidence is lost in the process.

Instead of wasting resources repeatedly trying to find faults with a flawed system in order to turn the result on it's head. The nation's leaders should be focusing on a permanent solution that allows for very little room to doubt the integrity of a national election.

I don't care if you need to scan my pupils and fingerprints to count my vote, I want to vote in 2024, sit back and by the end of Election Night know the result of the fucking Election.

 

[Yul Brynner]

Keep in mind that there are significant numbers of the religious, the economically conservative, and single-issue voters, who didn't want any part of that crap, and that those people's voices still matter.

Do they? It seems like they had no problem supporting trampling the rights of people they didn't like.

Religious people are fucking morons. They believe the same hocus pocus fairy tale horse shit that trump spews. Only theirs was written down thousands of years ago. The world will be a much better place when religion finally dies.

By "economically conservative", I assume you mean rich assholes that fuck everyone around them over to make an extra buck and then sit on their surplus wealth while everyone around them starves. Fuck those assholes.

Single issue voters are fucking morons. We don't live in a single issue world. I voted for Bush in 2004 because I was ammosexual and only cared about him letting the Clinton-era firearms bans expire. I was a fucking moron.

Everyone that voted republican and supported trump knew he was a shitbag and either supported it or turned a blind eye. Either way, fuck them.

 

[diagrammatiks]

Do they? It seems like they had no problem supporting trampling the rights of people they didn't like.

Religious people are fucking morons. They believe the same hocus pocus fairy tale horse shit that trump spews. Only theirs was written down thousands of years ago. The world will be a much better place when religion finally dies.

By "economically conservative", I assume you mean rich assholes that fuck everyone around them over to make an extra buck and then sit on their surplus wealth while everyone around them starves. Fuck those assholes.

Single issue voters are fucking morons. We don't live in a single issue world. I voted for Bush in 2004 because I was ammosexual and only cared about him letting the Clinton-era firearms bans expire. I was a fucking moron.

Everyone that voted republican and supported trump knew he was a shitbag and either supported it or turned a blind eye. Either way, fuck them.

i only care about ending farming subsidies and vaping. so you know. back off man.

 

[Yul Brynner]

i only care about ending farming subsidies and vaping. so you know. back off man.

That is two issues.

 

[diagrammatiks]

That is two issues.

ya but there's no chance our not lol socialist government will ever end farm subsidies. they paid out 37 billion in 2020 and 22billion in 2019. not even jeff bezos could fund that for more than a few years.

so ya. just the vaping.

 

[bostjan]

Do they? It seems like they had no problem supporting trampling the rights of people they didn't like.

Religious people are fucking morons. They believe the same hocus pocus fairy tale horse shit that trump spews. Only theirs was written down thousands of years ago. The world will be a much better place when religion finally dies.

By "economically conservative", I assume you mean rich assholes that fuck everyone around them over to make an extra buck and then sit on their surplus wealth while everyone around them starves. Fuck those assholes.

Single issue voters are fucking morons. We don't live in a single issue world. I voted for Bush in 2004 because I was ammosexual and only cared about him letting the Clinton-era firearms bans expire. I was a fucking moron.

Everyone that voted republican and supported trump knew he was a shitbag and either supported it or turned a blind eye. Either way, fuck them.

Agreed about people being morons. Religion is superstition, but people do dedicate their lives to it nonetheless, and there is no level of logic that can change that. It's uber-level brainwashing and probably why such an alarming number of those people join cults.

But anyway, unless you want to round up all of the religious people and reprogram (i.e. imprison and torture) them, whether or not you want to give them the right to exist, they'll still have a voice equal to an atheist, as long as we have democracy.

Economic conservatives just don't want the big bloated government getting bigger and bloateder. They don't always have their sights set on public welfare programs. In fact, the ones who do are morons, because those programs cost pennies for ever dollar that goes to administration and that even pales to military spending. And you know how the military spending goes out, I assume. $400 for a broom because Colonel Klink's nephew owns the one broom distributor that is approved.

Single issue voters feel super strongly about one issue. It's moronic to be that way, but it's also moronic in this day and age to have issue platters to choose from. If you want to see in concrete terms how idiotic it is to choose one of two option platters, if we had abortion and 2A voted a la carte instead of GOP vs DNC, we wouldn't have ended up with Trump, but we don't do that, so we did end up with him. The irony is that those issues didn't even go their way, since they were rewarded for their lunacy by getting to watch Trump inject human embryonic stem cells for covid and prosecute more procedural gun violations (nonviolent gun laws) than any president ever.

We could sit here and point fingers saying "moron" at each other the rest of our lives and accomplish nothing, or we could propose changes that take other people's wants and needs into account to actually form some semblance of progress through compromise. But this is the USA, so fuck all if either side will ever compromise anyway. We're in freefall, so we'll just all go down in together as the right wing and left wing clobber each other instead of lifting us up.