And back in the day, they demanded proof - if you were going to be traveling, they wanted a copy of your ticket/hotel reservation/affidavit of person you’d be staying with. For illness or disability, a doctor’s note. When I was a student, they wanted proof of university registration out of state. Nowadays, they can demand proof, but my daughter has voted absentee for several years and they’ve never asked her to provide documentation.
Of course, at the time I was trying to vote absentee, now 40-odd years a-gone, I was away at school and my parents lived in a district that actively tried to suppress the student vote. When Election Eve arrived and I still had no ballot (it arrived the day after Election Day, postmarked on Election Eve), I made the ten-hour drive back to my home town to vote in person - and found that I wasn’t enrolled because I voted absentee. There was actually rather a scandal (and a legislative investigation) that year because it was indeed deliberate voter suppression; registered Republicans had received their ballots on time. If memory serves, the official who’d ordered the move - and bragged about it - was acquitted by a bench trial.
This year, for the primaries, there was an order allowing everyone to vote absentee. I expect the same will happen for the general election, but the order has not yet been forthcoming.
Not that I’m expecting a problem. Now that we’ve returned to paper ballots for everyone, there’s never much of a queue. Moreover, we’ve had early voting for the last year or two, reducing the pressure even further. (And I’m privileged enough that identifying myself to the poll workers has sometimes consisted of, ‘Hi, Ann! Hi, Tom! Hi, Ken! Where’s Nancy? How’s the turnout been so far?’)
Someday, we’ll have an open primary - or at least allow you to change party affiliation without skipping a primary. (That’s not quite true, but you have to declare your party affiliation six weeks before the previous general election in order to cast a primary ballot.)
You mean before he actually ran? Trump had a 30% chance of winning and he won.
It just doesn’t makes sense to claim that there is some sort of 1933 Enabling Act that Trump (or his successor) will discover in the Constitution. It’s just not there.
Nothing “changed” in this respect: mathematics/probability don’t change. It’s not like Trump’s 30% was more likely than another candidate’s 30%. Is humanity is more “unlucky” than we used to be?
The “change” is the growth of authoritarian/quasi-fascist leadership and popular movements, around the globe, in the last 15 years.
With the right Congress and Supreme court, it becomes possible to corrupt a lot of institutions. At that point, it matters a lot less what the words written on paper say, and a lot more what people with power tell everyone they’re supposed to see.
“Ned Stark had a piece of paper, too.” - Cersei Lannister
“I see nobody on the road,’ said Alice
‘I only wish I had such eyes,’ The King remarked in a fretful tone. 'To be able to see Nobody! And at that distance too! Why it’s as much as I can do to see real people, by this light!”
’ ere, what’s your game, mister, you ain’t supposed to be able to see me!’
‘I’m a wizard! We can see things that are really there, you know,’ said Ridcully. ‘And in the case of the Bursar, things that aren’t there, too. What’s in this bag?’
I just checked online to see if the ballot I returned for tomorrow’s Minnesota primary made it through the mail—YES!
Now I can proudly wear my “I VOTED” sticker, which came in the envelope along with the ballot and instructions
For this election, due to COVID-19 Minnesota waived the requirement to have a witness for an absentee/mail ballot. It sounds like they may do that for the November election too.
[Changing direction of thoughts]
I happened to order something from Amazon the other day, and I see by the tracking info that it’s coming via the USPS. Now I’ve been wondering if Trump’s attacks on the USPS could in part be an attempt to hurt Jeff Bezos
I think our saving grace will be the “Blue Wave”. 45* may wrangle his way to staying in office, but I believe that the Senate will go Blue and that the House will remain Blue. That will bring an immediate trial for anything and everything the Orange Menace has perpetrated against the Constitution, America and just about every other country on Earth.
Mike Pence, supposed VP in charge of muttering encouraging words to 45*, has investigations assigned to him as well. Will he resign before they put him in jail? Popcorn Please!
Where does that leave us? President Pelosi!
Sorry, my timeline is off a bit. Trump’s first foray into presidential politics was back in 2000 when he ran as a Reform Party candidate, so yeah, we’ve heard this before he ran THIS time. And the fact that he had a 30% chance and won is further proof how quickly things can change.
Shame you don’t live in Michigan - thanks to a very popular ballot initiative back in 2018, we now have no-reason-needed absentee voting. Our current Secretary of State sent absentee ballot applications to all registered voters in June for anyone with an August primary. We were offered a choice of getting just our August primary ballot or all future ballots by mail. Another round of applications will be sent soon for voters who didn’t have anything on the August ballot. Very accommodating - the GOP is not happy (they can’t win if it’s easy for everyone to vote).
