Early vote total exceeds 2016; GOP chips at Dems’ advantage

Associated Press ^ | October 26, 2020 | Nicholas Riccardi and Angeliki Kastanis

[Olog-hai]

With nine days before Election Day, more people already have cast ballots in this year’s presidential election than voted early or absentee in the 2016 race as the start of in-person early voting in big states led to a surge in turnout in recent days.

The opening of early voting locations in Florida, Texas and elsewhere has piled millions of new votes on top of the mail ballots arriving at election offices as voters try to avoid crowded places on Nov. 3 during the coronavirus pandemic.

The result is a total of 58.6 million ballots cast so far, more than the 58 million that The Associated Press logged as being cast through the mail or at in-person early voting sites in 2016.

Democrats have continued to dominate the initial balloting, but Republicans are narrowing the gap. GOP voters have begun to show up as early in-person voting, a sign that many heeded President Donald Trump’s unfounded warnings about mail-voting fraud. …

[Elsie]

What happens if it rains buckets on election day?
What happens if the virus continues to spike and a lockdown is declared?
What happens if the margin of victory or defeat is 20,000 votes or fewer?
What happens if someone such as myself with a bad knee and a bad hip decides he cannot stand in line for nine hours?
What happens if no lockdown is declared but people are intimidated from voting not by law but by common sense, at least common sense as they understand it?

 

What happens if a few thousand Richard Dreyfuss types decide to remove their masks?

 

"There's  nothing wrong with the air!"

 

[georgiarat]

VOTE EARLY in person if possible. Do NOT wait until Election .day.

My wife and I early voted Friday and the wait was 30 minutes for eight people to vote. Each person you see or where and item has to be checked or sign must wipe down the area in front of them, replace pen, etc before next person may be served. Same with voting machine.

At the long lines and possible riots and protests this weekend to suppress votes in Republican areas and it could mean the difference in the election.

[carton253]

If all that happens...I’m still going to the polls. You seem to have forgotten that true Americans are made of sterner stuff.

[nathanbedford]

You seem to have forgotten that true Americans are made of sterner stuff

I am sure you will go to the polls, you are a faithful, patriotic American but I am concerned about summer soldiers and sunshine patriots whose votes count just as much as yours.

[carton253]

There are none. Not voting for Trump.

[catnipman]

“And we vote in higher volumes on election day y far than the Dems”

especially this year because Dems are TERRIFIED of the RONA because they’ve bought the lies of the leftist fake stream enemedia hook, line, and sinker ... YUGE numbers are literally petrified to leave their homes, and the few who venture out wear goggles and masks like they’re gonna perform open heart surgery and are scared of getting some goo on them ...

[catnipman]

“COVID 2.0 will be used to shutdown in-person voting.”

uh, where exactly has this happened?

[catnipman]

“What happens if it rains buckets on election day”

raincoats

“What happens if the virus continues to spike and a lockdown is declared?”

in-person voting will NOT be locked down ... Nuevo SCOTUS will not allow it, even if some fools try it ...

What happens if no lockdown is declared but people are intimidated from voting not by law but by common sense, at least common sense as they understand it?”

so suddenly all of trump’s broken-glass supporters are “intimidated”? by what?

“What happens if someone such as myself with a bad knee and a bad hip decides he cannot stand in line for nine hours?”

i believe all states provide for those circumstances with absentee ballots; i assume you got one, right?

since when did you turn into such a nattering nabob of negativism?

[catnipman]

” But isn’t that also true of the GOP to some degree? “

nope. It’s well established that GOP voters have a much greater tendency to vote on election day than Dems, and that will be quadruplely true this year because large numbers of Dem voters are terrified of leaving their homes because they bought the RONA propaganda hook, line, and sinker from the fake stream enemedia outlets that they exclusively listen to.

[nathanbedford]

Funny, heretofore raincoats have never succeeded in preventing vote participation to diminish when it rains.

In person voting might well be locked down, you have no idea how the Supreme Court might rule, you don't even know if the Supreme Court could even be made to rule in time nor do you have any idea how many people would observe such a lockdown even if you get a favorable rule out of the Supreme Court sometime in late afternoon.

No one disputes that most of Trump's broken glass supporters will vote even under adverse conditions, but if the election is close independent and marginally motivated voters will certainly be intimidated by adverse circumstances.

80,000 votes gave us three states in 2016, if the margins are that close this time (I don't believe they will be) do you really want to leave us so vulnerable? The upside is marginal the downside would be catastrophic. Don't forget, the question is whether it is wise to encourage all the voting to occur at the end in person. To see the downside of that strategy certainly does not deserve the personal rebuke it seems to generate.

Many people have physical impediments which might lead them not to stand in line for long periods and those prolonged periods might exist because of the high turnout on election day because the Republicans have encouraged people to turn out on election day. By putting all their chips on election day, or many of them at least, the Republicans might've left themselves vulnerable to these adverse conditions when they would have no power to cope.

Questioning strategy is hardly a symptom of negativism it might be an indispensable part of constructive criticism. Perhaps you should be more selective in whom you quote rather than a disgraced and corrupt politician.

[nathanbedford]

We shall see how raincoats avail against hurricanes when worn by summer soldiers and sunshine patriots.

3 Fla. counties to limit early voting hours due to storm

Remember the question was whether it was prudent planning to concentrate your voters on the last day(S). The early returns show that we have gotten away with it this time despite ourselves.

[carton253]

The hurricane will be a memory by election day.

Sometimes your convoluted moralizing hurts my head.

By the way... they are closing early one afternoon and opening late the next morning. That’s all.

[nathanbedford]

Remember the question was whether it was prudent planning to concentrate your voters on the last day(S). The early returns show that we have gotten away with it this time despite ourselves.

[nathanbedford]

Sometimes your convoluted moralizing hurts my head.

Sometimes when the facts turn against you, you turn on the insults.

[carton253]

Ooohhhh... You told me.

The fact of the matter is that you are one of my favorite Freepers, but recently, I haven’t recognized you.

Everything is so negative.

You said that the hurricane will hurt turnout. I said the hurricane will be out of the way before election day.

The hurricane will effect early voting. The board of elections are barely closing in the face of Zeta.

If you want to remain negative and call it facts, I’ll just avoid your posts.

[nathanbedford]

You and I simply have a different view of how to make a quality contribution to Free Republic and to conservatism.

You apparently believe that one should be relentlessly positive, I believe one should call 'em as he sees 'em.

Incidentally, if you trace the beginning of the discussion it was not originally negative, it was in response to a personal attack on another freeper who expressed this same idea. No, when I sees 'em positive, I calls 'em that way.

[carton253]

Okay...