Election integrity and the transfer of power

[Isgrimnur]

It it prevents another Brooks Brothers riot...

It's the counting, not the casting that is being protected.

[YellowKing]

Well, I did my part for NC today and voted. Line wasn't too bad, but the fact there was a line at all showed it was a much higher turnout than I'm used to.

The only "shenanigans" was a goofy looking guy in a MAGA hat skulking around the voting line. He tried to hand us something as we were driving up and we shooed him away. The election officials were doing a good job keeping him 150 feet away, so he spent most of the time forlornly looking at the line from behind a tree.

[Jaymann]

Well, I did my part for NC today and voted. Line wasn't too bad, but the fact there was a line at all showed it was a much higher turnout than I'm used to.

The only "shenanigans" was a goofy looking guy in a MAGA hat skulking around the voting line. He tried to hand us something as we were driving up and we shooed him away. The election officials were doing a good job keeping him 150 feet away, so he spent most of the time forlornly looking at the line from behind a tree.

He was trying to give you a coupon for $1 off on a $60 DonOld made in China bible.

[hepcat]

[YellowKing]

You joke, hepcat, but except for the fact that this was a white guy wearing a red MAGA cap, that picture is 100% accurate.

[Smoove_B]

Well, I did my part for NC today and voted. Line wasn't too bad, but the fact there was a line at all showed it was a much higher turnout than I'm used to.

It's up over a million, apparently. Though that counts all the "illegal votes" that came via the mail and from military and Americans abroad.

[Unagi]

As the article states: The increase in in-person voting numbers can (at the very least) be explained, in part, by the number of people in 2020 that used mail-in ballots, due to COVID, being more than normal.

I mean, if your looking for a fast way to curb your enthusiasm, that is.

[Jaymann]

As the article states: The increase in in-person voting numbers can (at the very least) be explained, in part, by the number of people in 2020 that used mail-in ballots, due to COVID, being more than normal.

True dat. But I also think individuals (and states) realized how easy it is to vote by mail. No lines. No checking to see if your polling place has changed. No intimidating MAGA goon squads. Pretty easy choice where it exists.

[Grifman]

Giuliani is in the “find out” stage:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/22/poli ... on-workers

These women had their lives turned upside down by Giuliani. They deserve every cent they can get.

[Grifman]

But of course they were:

“A Trump-aligned group that has filed lawsuits in several swing states challenging voter registration lists is already planning to sue over this year's election results, one of the group's founders told USA TODAY.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 828364007/

[Jaymann]

Looks like they are resigned to losing the election.

[LordMortis]

I assume lawsuits are easy enough to drop if you get what you want right out of the gate, unless the goal was just to get money to the law firms.

[Holman]

Giuliani is in the “find out” stage:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/22/poli ... on-workers

These women had their lives turned upside down by Giuliani. They deserve every cent they can get.

They're getting his NYC apartment, among other things.

No one will ever be able to get that hair dye out of the carpet, though.

[Blackhawk]

Is that the place that's full of Borats?

[Grifman]

Per Heather Cox Richardson’s blog, this is what she thinks Trump’s plan is to steal the election, according to comments at last night’s MSG rally:

“But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan.”

[Grifman]

Just say “I’ve won!”

[$iljanus]

Just say “I’ve won!”

I was on a team today on an early voting day to make sure the election wasn’t stolen. We called ourselves poll or election workers who took an oath to administer the election process in an impartial manner. So don’t worry, Bannon, we were on the case.

I’ll also be working on Nov 5th so no worries about a stolen election then.

[Holman]

Per Heather Cox Richardson’s blog, this is what she thinks Trump’s plan is to steal the election, according to comments at last night’s MSG rally:

“But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan.”

What is the mechanism of this plan?

In 2020 it all depended on Mike Pence refusing the certify the presidential electors submitted from the states. Fortunately he refused to do so, and this time that job belongs to someone named Kamala Harris.

Of course certain states could submit fucked up slates of electors, but that's not something Mike Johnson himself can do (if he is even still the Speaker after the new House convenes on January 5).

EDIT: I've found various scenarios online, including ones where the House simply runs out the clock until after inauguration day, at which point (because neither Biden nor Harris now hold office), the Speaker becomes the president. At this point, the House elects Trump as a new Speaker, and voila.

Of course the scenarios all depend on MAGA retaining control of the House, which isn't the current expectation.

[Grifman]

You can't make this stuff up:

[LordMortis]

You can't make this stuff up:

What's scary is you're not going to catch all of them and the GOP will point to their successful shenanigans as evidence corruption against them. Being the judgemental bastard that I've become, and seeing what the world directly around me has become over the last 10+ years, this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson struck me pretty hard.

"People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character."

[Punisher]

He was obviously hired as a penetration tester.

[Grifman]

Giuliani is finding out:

[hepcat]

Giuliani later today.

[Skinypupy]

If there was any question about how the SCOTUS would fall in regards to suppressing votes, they just allowed Virginia to resume purging voter rolls a week before the election.

[Kurth]

More election shenanigans, this time in my backyard:

Devices With ‘Free Gaza’ Messages Found at Ballot Box Fires

‘Free Gaza’ messages found on devices at burned ballot boxes, New York Times reports

Investigators found devices with pro-Palestinian messages near all three ballot boxes that were set on fire this month in Vancouver and Portland, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Ballot-box fires in Oregon, Washington are linked; police identify suspect’s car

The FBI is investigating three separate but linked instances of ballot boxes being set on fire in Oregon and Washington, with hundreds of ballots destroyed in one Clark County precinct that’s home to a nationally watched congressional race.

Police in Portland said they identified a “suspect vehicle” in the case after security cameras from the Multnomah County Elections Office captured footage of a Volvo stopping at the drop box at Southeast Morrison Street, near 10th Avenue, shortly before the fire there was detected.

The vehicle was a black or dark-colored Volvo S-60, police said. It lacks a front license plate and had an “unknown rear plate,” police said.

I don’t know why, but it strikes me as very odd that the ballot-burner was driving a Volvo S-60. Seems off-brand for a ballot-burner, but who knows . . .

Edit to add: Of course, that the perpetrator left these messages does not mean this was, in fact, orchestrated by those in favor of a “Free Gaza.” False flag possibilities and all that nonsense I suppose.

[Unagi]

I think people in Oregon are legally obligated to own at least one Volvo or Subaru, with certain exceptions made for certain VWs.

[Kurth]

I think people in Oregon are legally obligated to own at least one Volvo or Subaru, with certain exceptions made for certain VWs.

We own 2 Subarus, so we’ve got you covered! But I don’t feel like I see all that many Volvos out here.

[Alefroth]

Anyone know what kind of incendiary devices we are talking about? How sophisticated are they?

[Blackhawk]

Anyone know what kind of incendiary devices we are talking about? How sophisticated are they?

Some quick poking around shows that they were attached to the outside of the boxes and burned their way in. That suggests thermite. Thermite is something that can be made very quickly with readily available dry materials. The device itself wouldn't need to be any more complicated than a container of powder with a length of canon fuse, although they could have had some form of electronic or chemical initiator if they wanted to be clear before flame was visible.

So it wouldn't need to be particularly sophisticated. My friends and I were making stuff like that for fun in high school.

[LawBeefaroni]

I don’t know why, but it strikes me as very odd that the ballot-burner was driving a Volvo S-60. Seems off-brand for a ballot-burner, but who knows . . .

According to the BOLO, it's least 20-24 years old. At that point, it's just an old used car. Make/model doesn't say a lot about the driver.

Police are looking for a 2001-2004 Volvo S-60 they believe is connected to the three incidents.

[Smoove_B]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but we clearly don't deserve to have 24/7 drop off locations because people ruin everything. A single ballot being burned doesn't warrant the convenience here.

[LordMortis]

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but we clearly don't deserve to have 24/7 drop off locations because people ruin everything. A single ballot being burned doesn't warrant the convenience here.

Agreed. Ballot boxes at city halls and police precincts during business hours for weeks before the election makes the most sense to me given our nation's collect penchant for shenanigans.

[Pyperkub]

Xitter paying a premium for all the election misinformation:

Some users on X who spend their days sharing content that includes election misinformation, AI-generated images and unfounded conspiracy theories say they are being paid "thousands of dollars" by the social media site.

The BBC identified networks of dozens of accounts that re-share each other's content multiple times a day - including a mix of true, unfounded, false and faked material - to boost their reach, and therefore, revenue on the site.

Several say earnings from their own and other accounts range from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars.

They also say they coordinate sharing each other’s posts on forums and group chats. "It's a way of trying to help each other out," one user said.

[Jaymann]

Xitter paying a premium for all the election misinformation:

Some users on X who spend their days sharing content that includes election misinformation, AI-generated images and unfounded conspiracy theories say they are being paid "thousands of dollars" by the social media site.

The BBC identified networks of dozens of accounts that re-share each other's content multiple times a day - including a mix of true, unfounded, false and faked material - to boost their reach, and therefore, revenue on the site.

Several say earnings from their own and other accounts range from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars.

They also say they coordinate sharing each other’s posts on forums and group chats. "It's a way of trying to help each other out," one user said.

So when is OO going to start paying us for posting sanity?

[ImLawBoy]

Xitter paying a premium for all the election misinformation:

Some users on X who spend their days sharing content that includes election misinformation, AI-generated images and unfounded conspiracy theories say they are being paid "thousands of dollars" by the social media site.

The BBC identified networks of dozens of accounts that re-share each other's content multiple times a day - including a mix of true, unfounded, false and faked material - to boost their reach, and therefore, revenue on the site.

Several say earnings from their own and other accounts range from a couple of hundred to thousands of dollars.

They also say they coordinate sharing each other’s posts on forums and group chats. "It's a way of trying to help each other out," one user said.

So when is OO going to start paying us for posting sanity?

Most people have started receiving checks already. Let me know when you start posting sanity so we can pay you too!

[Zarathud]

Doesn’t hepcat get paid for shilling Pastepot Pete to the AI?

[waitingtoconnect]

Hepcat is AI.

[hepcat]

Asshole Ingrate?

[$iljanus]

I thought this sort of thing only happens during elections in so called shithole countries but Florida.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/30/us/flori ... index.html

Florida teenager has been arrested after he “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head” at two women Tuesday outside an early voting location near Jacksonville, police said.

[hepcat]

100 percent sure they learned that behavior from their garbage parents and fellow trump supporters. Although "garbage" should have made it clear they were Trumpers.