And So It Begins …

Posted on by under Election 2018, Election 2020, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

I said in a recent post that the U.S. government needs to be getting off their collective asses and making sure that mail-in voting is available to every voter in every state.  I questioned what, if anything, was being done toward that goal.  Well guess what?  You won’t be surprised to know that the Idiot-in-Chief has spoken out against this very thing!

“Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to statewide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it.  Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.”

BULLSHIT.

The reason it ‘doesn’t work out well for republicans’ is that the only reason they win at the polls is because minority and poor voters are kept away from the polls by such disenfranchising measures as early poll closings, closing of polls in poor and minority neighborhoods, restrictive voter ID laws and other tricks of the trade.  If every eligible voter is allowed to cast a vote on November 3rd, Trump will go down in flames, as he should.

Listen to what he said at his Tuesday circus act …

“Mail ballots, they cheat, people cheat. Mail ballots are very dangerous thing for this country because they’re cheaters. They go and collect them. They’re fraudulent in many cases. The mail ballots are corrupt, in my opinion. You get thousands and thousands of people sitting in somebody’s living room signing ballots all over the place.”

If this jackass is allowed to have his way, we are doomed.  Another four years of Donald Trump will relegate this nation to being called a “once democratic-republic turned autocracy”.  If you don’t vote in November, my guess is that you will never get the chance to vote again.

Let’s take a look at some facts, instead of listening to an un-educated moron, shall we?

Multiple studies over the years have confirmed that there is no widespread voter fraud in this country. Additionally, Democratic and Republican state officials routinely oversee elections where millions of people vote-by-mail without systematic problems.  An expansive study in 2017 from the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning think tank, found that the rate of voter fraud in the United States was somewhere between 0.00004% and 0.0009%.votingVoting-by-mail has become increasingly popular in US federal elections, and nearly a quarter of all voters cast mail ballots in 2016, according to the Election Assistance Commission. This year, the solid Republican state of Utah will conduct all-mail elections, which undercuts Trump’s claims.

In fact, the most recent example of absentee ballot fraud involved republican operatives in North Carolina who rigged an election for the House of Representatives in 2018.  And … Trump cast an absentee ballot last month in the Florida Republican primary, per local reports. Asked about this contradiction, Trump said it was okay “because I’m allowed to” vote by mail.  Say WHAT???  So, if he’s allowed to, why not the rest of us???

In Wisconsin yesterday, thousands of voters were not able to vote because of republican game-playing.  Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers had tried to postpone the states primaries and a large number of local elections, as most other states have done, but the state legislature, then the state Supreme Court, and finally the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the action.  Worse yet, mail-in ballots were not sent to voters in time, and the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an action that would have allowed voters who had not yet received their mail-in ballots extra time.  Only 5 polling places were open instead of the usual 180, and the people who did risk their lives to do their civic duty waited for hours in long lines. Milwaukee-votingJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned that their ruling …

“… will result in massive disenfranchisement. Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering their own and others’ safety, or they will lose their right to vote, through no fault of their own.”

How many people in Wisconsin were kept from voting by republicans afraid of losing an election?  Thousands at least. Is this what we want to see happen on a national scale in November?  It may well be what the republicans want, but it damn sure is not what the majority of people in this nation desire.  It is not what the Founding Fathers intended in 1787 when they wrote that document called the U.S. Constitution, which has largely been shredded, trampled and burned over the last three years.

Folks, there are just under 7 months, exactly 209 days left until we are to go to the polls to elect a new president.  We must elect a new president, for the current one belongs on the ash heap in the annals of history.  And yet … if our elected representatives don’t get off their collective patooties and ensure that every eligible voter in every state has the ability to cast a vote by mail … we are doomed.  Time for phone calls, emails, letters to the editor in your local paper.  I know, you’re tired of it all and so am I, but this is too important to ignore.  The futures of your children and grandchildren depend on this.

Voting is a privilege that not everybody in the world has.  Appreciate it, please, don’t throw it away.vote-2

38 thoughts on “And So It Begins …”

  2. Wait, I’m confused…. “In Wisconsin yesterday, thousands of voters were not able to vote because of republican game-playing.” But this is a Democratic Primary, voters could only choose between 2 democratic candidates – this is not the general. So what does Republican interference have to do with this… if anything voter suppression in the primary favors the establishment candidate, which would be Biden. Biden is certainly a greater challenger to Trump than Bernie can ever be. Please explain the rationale behind Republican voter tampering, and how they benefited by restricting mail-in balloting in a Democratic Primary? Thanks.

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  3. Jill, both parties have jury-rigged the voting process, but since the 2010 midterms which let the GOP retake the House and Senate and many state legislatures, the GOP has heightened gerry-mandering and voter suppression to “surgical precision.” The quoted term is from a Judge’s ruling. With the changing demographics, the GOP cannot win in more than a few places unless they suppress votes.

    The president’s admission of voter suppression reveals he knows they cannot win without managing the vote. We can put perfume on this, but it is cheating.

    As an independent, we need an independent group to come up with new voting guidelines. Some states have independent districting commissions which is better practice. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • Both have, but none so well as the GOP, I think. They have it down to an art … or a science? How can we possibly let this continue? Yes, we need every state to have a non-partisan re-redistricting commission, but given the constraints of time, plus a thoroughly corrupt GOP, it isn’t likely to happen in time to ensure the integrity of the upcoming election. Sigh.

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        • Well, first off, you know it was said tongue-in-cheek, and for Pete’s sake, Scott, lighten up … we don’t even use a guillotine here! But, let me ask you a question: Knowing what we know today, if somebody could have assassinated Adolf Hitler in 1933, would you consider it wrong? Mark my words, if Donald Trump stays in office another 4 years, he will prove to be every bit as much a dictator as Hitler was. And no, I’m not over-dramatizing … the handwriting is on the wall.

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  5. Reblogged this on On The Fence Voters and commented:
    When I saw the line in Wisconsin yesterday, I thought I was going to burst with anger. This is such an affront to democracy. We need to make vote by mail a universal choice for this November. The Republican Party knows they will lose, so they will block, block, and block again. My friend Jill over at Filosofa’s Word has written an awesome post, reflecting her own personal anger and disgust at what the Supreme Court did by allowing the election to be held yesterday. Shame on them!! Thank you Jill, for another wonderful post.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I’m so glad you wrote this Jill. I’d contemplated writing about the same thing. Again…great minds!! And, our project becomes even more important! The Dems are trying to right this ship. They tried inserting it into the massive bailout bill but of course, Moscow Mitch bitched and complained. Of course he did. His butt is in big trouble in Kentucky this year. No way does he want to give people in his state more chances to vote. I think they’d throw him out to pasture where he belongs. Hell, he still may lose, regardless. Dems will keep trying. I don’t know how they get it done, though. They know their grip on power is tenuous at best. Like you said…call, write…do whatever you can to make this possible.
    I shall reblog shortly. Thank you Jill!!

    Liked by 2 people

    • We may not make it into the annals of history, my friend, but we do think alike, are doing our best to save this nation, and if we fail, it sure as hell won’t be for lack of trying! I think this speaks volumes about the republicans’ fear that they could not win in a fair and honest election. What disgusts me, though, is that we cannot count on the U.S. Supreme Court to insist on doing the right thing. Doomed???

      Liked by 1 person

      • The Supreme Court issue alone, Jill, ought to be enough to convince people why it’s so important to vote in November. 4 more years of the idiot, and we will be smack dab in the middle of the United States of Plutocracy. Hell, we’re almost there already. Can you imagine a 6-3 or 7-2 majority for them? OMG!!

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  7. Back in the 1980s mail-in voter fraud did happen in a local government election where I lived. It was exposed, however, at least one of the organisers got a prison term and there was a by-election (rerun) in which a candidate from a different party won, showing that it can be easily policed. On the other hand, all that gerrymandering and changing of polling station opening and closing times must be outlawed. I’m surprised it’s even legal.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Yes, it can be easily policed, and voter fraud is minimal. Thing is, apparently the republicans are well aware that in a fair and honest election where there were no restrictive policies, they could not win the booby prize. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

      Liked by 1 person

  8. We’ve had a mail-in ballot option for as long as I can remember, in California, and we’ve elected about as many Republican governors in my lifetime, as we have Democratic. I love the convenience of voting at home, and have never seen the inside of a voting booth. It’s the way to go, and I hope more states get over their suspicions and adopt it.

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