2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumI have little hope that anything will change the "results"
Of the Presidential election, but seriously, what message does it send if our elections can be so publicly fucked with with no consequences whatsoever? Many of us have been saying this since at least 2000, but seriously, the system is completely broken. You can't have a functioning democracy when people have no confidence that their votes count or are counted. Fix the voting system and get the obscene amounts of money out of our political process.
libtodeath
(2,892 posts)texasmomof3
(108 posts)rzemanfl
(30,288 posts)Last edited Fri Dec 16, 2016, 08:23 PM - Edit history (1)
money for himself and his kids.
mythology
(9,527 posts)Yes there are odds and ends where some votes are missed, but it isn't a systemic issue and is a reflection of the fact that getting 130 million votes right 99% of the time still leaves some votes that get stuck together, or slips under the table or any other number of accidents just by virtue of there being 130 million votes.
These unsubstantiated claims that somehow votes aren't being counted in a widespread fashion is just as silly as Republican claims of widespread in person voter fraud. It just isn't real.
csziggy
(34,189 posts)What there is evidence for is that the voting machines are not secured as well as an ATM or a slot machine - that has been known since 2000 and nothing has been done to improve the security or the ability to audit the elections.
There is indisputable evidence that in GOP controlled states a Democratic vote counts for less than a Republican vote because of gerrymandering. That illegal voter purges is systematically being used to remove eligible voters from the rolls (North Carolina, Ohio were caught but a number of other states used the same software) without providing chances for the voters to prove they are eligible. That in many places provisional ballots for voters who are challenged are less often counted and that vote by mail ballots are often disqualified without giving the voters a chance to dispute it. That polling locations in mostly Democratic areas are being reduced and that voting machines are less well maintained in some of those areas.
While I was encouraged that the Clinton campaign here worked hard at voter registration, for the future I think Democrats need to concentrate on making sure all voters exercise their right to vote and that every vote is counted. The Republicans have spent decades trying to make voting more difficult with little push back from Democrats. We need to turn that around!
TDale313
(7,822 posts)If there are irregularities there should be ways to go back and verify. None of us would use an ATM that didn't give a receipt. All many of us are asking for is a voter-verified paper trail.