2020 Election Results And Election Day Discussion

[Smash!]

Good morning everyone! It‘s 10am here and I‘m super happy things look better than when I went to bed [emoji2] Heather Cox Richardson expects a result by Thursday evening and a win for Biden. Hopefully she‘s right.

[Smee]

Whoever wins, it will be narrow. Biden will take the popular vote, so it's the stupid outdated undemocratic system that's at fault again.

Also, prospects for the senate do not look good.

[Nothing if not critical]

It's official, guys, I don't understand how US politics work.
Even if by some miracle, Biden manages to scrape by (and thank you all for your optimism - I had pretty much given up already) - how can almost half of the population look back at the past four years and think "Yeah, that guy did a great job, let's vote for him again"? 
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but to me, the results are mind-boggling, and really, really scary. 

[WiseGirl]

[Cartmann99]

 No big surprise, but Hawaii was just declared for Biden. According to CNN, that brings his electoral vote total to 224, Trump has 213.  ABC has Biden at 225. Maine is still undecided, so ABC must be giving him one of Nebraska's electoral votes*.

Biden is now leading in Wisconsin, but it's very close.

*For the non-Americans, Maine and Nebraska do not use the winner take all system for their electoral votes.

Edited November 4, 2020 by Cartmann99
added stuff

[ophelia]

I can barely sit through my zoom-meeting for work right now, because I'm so nervous. I can't imagine how hard it must be for all American FJ-members. I'm constantly praying and sending my best wishes across the great pond.

[CarrotCake]

29 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

*For the non-Americans, Maine and Nebraska do not use the winner take all system for their electoral votes

This seems like a way better system.

 

[tabitha2]

Why the difference?

[Audrey2]

2 hours ago, Nothing if not critical said:

It's official, guys, I don't understand how US politics work.
Even if by some miracle, Biden manages to scrape by (and thank you all for your optimism - I had pretty much given up already) - how can almost half of the population look back at the past four years and think "Yeah, that guy did a great job, let's vote for him again"? 
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but to me, the results are mind-boggling, and really, really scary. 

I think for some who's so strongly loathed President Obama, the fact that Biden was his vice president caused some not to vote for him. Others listened to all of the propaganda put out by the Republicans for years about sleepy Joe and that he isn't mentally sharp anymore. Sadly I think there's still a faction that didn't like the idea that a woman was his vice presidential candidate. As advanced as we think we are, I think there are more people than what we would like to know or admit that prefer the president and vice president to be white men. 

[tabitha2]

The idea that it’s better to be Strong and wrong rather that weak and right is something to think about. That’s one of the MSNBC correspondents who is most definitely pro Biden talking not me.

[Becky]

Dammit America!!?!  This election should have been a rout, a landslide, a complete and utter repudiation of everything this “president” and the Republican Party has come to represent. Oh my soul. 
Had to get that out, now Gonna live life today, I cannot bear watching this day play out. Peace, all. 

[tabitha2]

This country is a failed experiment. 

[GreyhoundFan]

4 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Imagine him, Ted Cruz, and one or more Trump offspring fighting over which one of them should be president in 2024.

I would love to see this, especially if they snuff each other out.

[louisa05]

It’s not a landslide because our politics has been turned into a team sport and voters are all Puddy from Seinfeld: “gotta support the team”. 
 

This started with the “red” and “blue” state becoming part of the common discourse.  We need to get rid of that. We need to stop using “team” metaphors. We need to have some respect for the fact that (as Obama tried to tell us) most of the country, in reality, is some shade of purple. I know way too many people who vote “red” no matter what because we’re a so-called “red state” and that’s who we are plus the “blue” team Hayes us and doesn’t understand us, don’t you know.... My in-laws voted for Trump yesterday in spite of hating him because we’re Republican voters here. A student voting for the first time admitted he voted Biden and a classmate told him he “forgot where he comes from”. We’ve literally made it an identity for people. Like being a Yankee fan. We have to dial that back. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Reince Priebus is on CBS This Morning spewing sycophantic crap. I guess he wants to be in Twitler's good graces again. I wanted to slap his face through my TV.

 

[Audrey2]

And just for the record, I don't think things would have been any different if Bernie were the presidential candidate.

[GreyhoundFan]

[Audrey2]

I also think Joe Biden was hurt by the questions swirling around if he would expand the supreme court.

[CarrotCake]

If Biden wins Nevada, Wisconsin and Michigan he should be okay, right?

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, Nothing if not critical said:

It's official, guys, I don't understand how US politics work.
Even if by some miracle, Biden manages to scrape by (and thank you all for your optimism - I had pretty much given up already) - how can almost half of the population look back at the past four years and think "Yeah, that guy did a great job, let's vote for him again"? 
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but to me, the results are mind-boggling, and really, really scary. 

There is a big discrepancy between the popular vote and who wins the electoral college. It is quite possible the majority of people vote for Biden (absolute numbers) and still lose the election because of the EC. The number of Electoral votes varies per state (based on some archaic and obsolete rules) and it’s therefore possible that by winning certain states that have more electoral votes a candidate wins even though they lost the popular vote. This is how Trump won in 2016. 
In a real democracy the popular vote determines the outcome.

Before jumping to conclusions about the large numbers voting for Trump, a number of variables need to be considered:

- the absolute numbers

- the possibility of tampering with voting machines

- the amount of propaganda consumed (how aware are they of the facts)

- are they voting for Trump or out of habit (as someone posted above)

Plus, and this is important, how many votes have actually been tallied? It is known that R voters prefer in person voting, votes which can be tallied relatively fast. D voters on the other hand, tend to prefer mail in ballots, votes which can take much longer to count.

It is too early to say much of the disparity between the two.

[Howl]

24 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Reince Priebus is on CBS This Morning spewing sycophantic crap. I guess he wants to be in Twitler's good graces again. I wanted to slap his face through my TV.

I hope you had a herring to fish slap him and yes, Reince is so very Backpfeifengesicht. 

And that this race is close, still, this morning.  I'm gobsmacked.  It should have been a Biden landslide.  

 

[Flossie]

Of the states that have been called for one candidate or the other, can it change?

[louisa05]

Electoral votes are determined by congressional representation. Each state gets 2 + 1 more per district. Nebraska for example has 3 congressional districts so it gets 2+ 3 = 5 electoral votes.  The electoral college is stupid and needs abolished but the vote distribution for it is quite simple and not based on random rules. 

Edited November 4, 2020 by louisa05

[Howl]

Yes, I'm in favor of doing away with the Electoral College in this country.   Early on a few months ago, someone gamed out a scenario where Trump could win the Electoral College even through Biden had 6 million more popular votes. 

Judge Sullivan yesterday required that Postmaster Inspectors General be dispatched to critical post offices to determine that no mail-in ballots were sitting unprocessed/undelivered.  I'd love to hear a report on that. 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 minute ago, Flossie said:

Of the states that have been called for one candidate or the other, can it change?

Yes, because the results are not official, and won't be for weeks. The media does the calling, and they've been wrong before.

1 minute ago, Howl said:

Judge Sullivan yesterday required that Postmaster Inspectors General be dispatched to critical post offices to determine that no mail-in ballots were sitting unprocessed/undelivered.  I'd love to hear a report on that. 

They didn't do it.  I'll see if I can find the info.