US midterms: First results hours away as Biden's presidency faces change regardless of results

[Ralin]

So what exactly is stopping the parties from declaring that henceforth all of their state branches will hold their primary vote on the same day?

[Broomstick]

That is... actually how it used to be done. But it changed in the late 60's/early 70's.

[Rogue 9]

Why sign ballots at all? When I vote I sign in at the registration desk, am given a ballot, mark it with a simple x in a circle, and drop it in the ballot box. Done.

That's largely the process here for voting IN PERSON - the signature matching is a thing for mail-in ballots, to establish the person is who they say they are. As already noted.

Also keep in mind that American ballots are hella long - I think this time around I had more than 20 races/judges/referendums to vote on. This was a "mid-term", an election during a year with the PotUS race can be even longer.

12 years ago I posted a mid-term ballot in this link so feel free to take a look if you're not certain what I'm talking about. A number of other Americans also offered up their ballots as well.

That is a pointless amount of voting as a vast majority of voters won't know anything about the positions the nominees will hold, much less what would make a person a good fit for it. This overload of choice will contribute to people voting a straight ticket down party lines and is likely bad for functioning democracy. American elections seem designed to masquerade as a democracy while doing everything they can to make sure most people can't make informed choices.

It's a holdover from the early republic, especially in states that used to be part of the Northwest Territory (which Indiana and Ohio were). Odds were there simply weren't a wide range of professionals in all of those fields for the local government to hire, or funds to do so if there were. Most elections were hyper-local, and public meetings were common, so it made sense.

On the other hand, Indiana used to elect the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The state's electorate had the gall to elect a Democrat to the position out of displeasure with the otherwise Republican administration's privatization plans, so the governor and legislature simply removed all power from the position and then abolished it, making it a gubernatorial appointment instead in an astounding act of brazen public corruption. Public voting for statewide bureaucratic offices can have its uses.

[LadyTevar]

That is... actually how it used to be done. But it changed in the late 60's/early 70's.

Yes, it changed. I'm not sure WHY it changed, but it changed and became a media circus. IMHO it needs to change back, but then you'd have Iowa and New Hampshire pushing against change because being FIRST TO VOTE has made them a lot of money out of all the politicos and news media who descent upon those states to be The First with the Big Story.

[Ralin]

Yes, it changed. I'm not sure WHY it changed, but it changed and became a media circus. IMHO it needs to change back, but then you'd have Iowa and New Hampshire pushing against change because being FIRST TO VOTE has made them a lot of money out of all the politicos and news media who descent upon those states to be The First with the Big Story.

Tell them they can either get with the program or get fucked and not have a say in the nomination?

[Broomstick]

I think it had something to do with Watergate and various scandals around that, possibly also with a non-elected person becoming PotUS (Gerald Ford). As I was fairly young at the time it's not something I paid a great deal of attention to and it was too recent to be covered in history class when I got further along in school. I have only a vague notion of "it changed".

Rather like how "pork barrel" projects are no longer permitted, but it turns out that were actually quite unusual in making compromises between various interests and actually getting the work of government done. If I recall that was an "innovation" of the 1980's.

[bilateralrope]

Democrats will hold a 51-49 majority in US Senate after Raphael Warnock's victory in Georgia runoff

17:12, Dec 07 2022

Democrats will hold a 51-49 majority in the US Senate following Raphael Warnock's victory in the Georgia runoff.

Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of US President Joe Biden's term, and helping cap an underwhelming midterm cycle for the Republican Party in the last major vote of the year.

With Warnock's second runoff victory in as many years, Democrats will have a 51-49 Senate majority, gaining a seat from the current 50-50 split with John Fetterman's victory in Pennsylvania.

There will be divided government, however, with Republicans having narrowly flipped House control.

In last month's election, Warnock led Walker by 37,000 votes out of almost 4 million cast, but fell short of the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Walker, a football legend who first gained fame at the University of Georgia and later in the NFL in the 1980s, was unable to overcome a bevy of damaging allegations, including claims that he paid for two former girlfriends' abortions.

Democrats' Georgia victory solidifies the state's place as a Deep South battleground two years after Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won 2021 runoffs that gave the party Senate control just months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 30 years to win Georgia. Voters returned Warnock to the Senate in the same cycle they re-elected Republican Governor Brian Kemp by a comfortable margin and chose an all-Republican slate of statewide constitutional officers.

“I'll work with anyone to get things done for the people of Georgia,'' Warnock, the state's first Black senator, said throughout his campaign, a nod to the state's historically conservative lean and his need to win over Republican Party-leaning independents and at least some moderate Republicans in a midterm election year.

Warnock, 53, paired that argument with an emphasis on his personal values, buoyed by his status as senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr once preached.Walker's defeat bookends the GOP's struggles this year to win with flawed candidates cast from Trump's playbook, a blow to the former US president as he builds his third White House bid.

Democrats' new outright majority in the Senate means the party will no longer have to negotiate a power-sharing deal with Republicans and won't have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris to break as many tie votes.

About 1.9 million runoff votes were cast by mail and during early voting, while the state was on track for a robust Election Day, with state officials estimating an additional 1.4 million votes cast – slightly more than in the November midterm and the 2020 election.

Early and mail voting did not reach the same levels as years past, and it was likely the total number of votes cast would be less than the 2021 Senate runoff election. Voting rights groups point to changes made by state lawmakers after the 2020 election that shortened the period for runoffs, from nine weeks to four, as a major reason for the decline in early and mail voting.

Elections officials reported few problems processing early votes and tabulating ballots cast Tuesday (local time), but there were some delays.

In south Georgia's Lowndes County, two poll workers were in a car accident on the way to the county elections office with the memory cards from one precinct's polling machines. A Lowndes official said a member of the local elections board went to the accident site to retrieve the memory cards so tabulations could continue.

Walker benefited during the campaign from nearly unmatched name recognition from his football career, yet was dogged by questions about his fitness for office and allegations of hypocrisy.

A multimillionaire businessman, Walker inflated his philanthropic activities and business achievements, including claiming that his company employed hundreds of people and grossed tens of millions of dollars in sales annually, even though records indicate he had eight employees and averaged about US$1.5 million a year. He has suggested that he's worked as a law enforcement officer and graduated from college, though he has done neither.

He was accused by two former girlfriends of encouraging and paying for their abortions, despite supporting an outright national ban on the procedure during the campaign. He denied both women's claims.

He was also forced to acknowledge during the campaign that he had fathered three children out of wedlock whom he had never before spoken about publicly. The mother of one of those children told The Daily Beast that Walker had not seen his young son since January 2016 and had to be taken to court for child support - in direct conflict with Walker's years spent criticising absentee fathers and his calls for Black men, in particular, to play an active role in their kids' lives.

His ex-wife said Walker once held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her. He has never denied those specifics and wrote of his violent tendencies in a 2008 memoir that attributed the behaviour to mental illness.

As a candidate, he sometimes mangled policy discussions, attributing the climate crisis to China's “bad air'' overtaking “good air'' from the United States and arguing that diabetics could manage their health by “eating right,'' a practice that isn't enough for insulin-dependent diabetic patients.

I'm not familiar enough to say how significant it is that the democrats don't need a power sharing agreement in the Senate. Though it sounds important.

[Broomstick]

It's pretty damn important. It's can be the difference between passing legislation and not doing so - much of Biden's first two years had to deal with one or two senators on the more conservative end of Democrat screwing around with getting things done. Might also throw a wrench in fringe Republican plans to try to impeach/remove Biden.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Following the presidential election, the senate was 50:50 split, with the Vice President having the casting vote to swing it for the Democrats. It mirrors the situation with Trump's midterms where it was the Democrats retaking the house but Republicans retaining the senate.

[Highlord Laan]

Don't get your hopes up. The fucking GQP still has it's trusty infiltrators in Sinema and Manchin.

[LadyTevar]

Don't get your hopes up. The fucking GQP still has it's trusty infiltrators in Sinema and Manchin.

Yes. I know. I'm already hearing whispers that Manchin will be working with the GOP to get KING COAL some bonuses.
I've also already written him and told him to stop screwing around with people who are obviously wanting to destroy the Constitution. No word back yet.

[Gandalf]

Manchin somehow remains a Democrat in one of the most pro-Trump states in the country. I wager Manchin knows exactly what he's doing in this round of vote chasing.

[Crazedwraith]

Does American politics have the equivalent of 'removing the whip' in British (and other) system?

Like they say; 'No thanks, we don't want you in the party'.

I know they don't want to do that for many reasons, but could they?

[Rogue 9]

Manchin somehow remains a Democrat in one of the most pro-Trump states in the country. I wager Manchin knows exactly what he's doing in this round of vote chasing.

His approval rating in West Virginia crashed after he negotiated the Inflation Reduction Act. We shall see.

[Elfdart]

Does American politics have the equivalent of 'removing the whip' in British (and other) system?

Like they say; 'No thanks, we don't want you in the party'.

I know they don't want to do that for many reasons, but could they?

On paper, they could give him the boot, but if they did, he'd just caucus with the Republicans (whether he formally joined them or not) and the Senate would be right back where it's been for the last two years: a 50-50 split. That would mean Harris has to break a bunch of ties and committees are split evenly, which means appointees will be gummed up along with any important bills.

[Crazedwraith]

Well scratch all that there's only 50 Democrat Senators now. Sinema's leaving the democrats to be independent

[bobalot]

The Republican red wave turned into a trickle of piss down their leg.

This is the first election since 1934 where the sitting party hasn't lost a Senator.

[LadyTevar]

Well scratch all that there's only 50 Democrat Senators now. Sinema's leaving the democrats to be independent

Yeah, I saw that. Guess someone told her "get in line or else" and she said "ELSE!".

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well scratch all that there's only 50 Democrat Senators now. Sinema's leaving the democrats to be independent

Yeah, I saw that. Guess someone told her "get in line or else" and she said "ELSE!".

I'd have asked, "Or else what?" I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for that one!

[bobalot]

Well scratch all that there's only 50 Democrat Senators now. Sinema's leaving the democrats to be independent

Yeah, I saw that. Guess someone told her "get in line or else" and she said "ELSE!".

From the analysis I'm reading, she is still asking to keep her various committee positions, which means she will effectively be caucusing with the Democrats.

Still, pretty pathetic.

She ran and got elected on being a progressive Democrat.

[LadyTevar]

Well scratch all that there's only 50 Democrat Senators now. Sinema's leaving the democrats to be independent

Yeah, I saw that. Guess someone told her "get in line or else" and she said "ELSE!".

From the analysis I'm reading, she is still asking to keep her various committee positions, which means she will effectively be caucusing with the Democrats.

Still, pretty pathetic.

She ran and got elected on being a progressive Democrat.

At least Manchin never lied like that, he's always been Pro-Coal and Conservative.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Yeah, I saw that. Guess someone told her "get in line or else" and she said "ELSE!".

From the analysis I'm reading, she is still asking to keep her various committee positions, which means she will effectively be caucusing with the Democrats.

Still, pretty pathetic.

She ran and got elected on being a progressive Democrat.

At least Manchin never lied like that, he's always been Pro-Coal and Conservative.

I'm guessing she's not thinking about getting re-elected then.

[Rogue 9]

To the contrary, that's exactly what she's thinking about. She knows she'd get primaried. If she's not in the party she doesn't have to deal with that, and can dare the Democrats to run a three way race and hand her seat to the Republicans.

[Mastr Blastr]

Amusingly, Sinema was originally A rather left-wing Democrat - if I recall correctly she was formerly associated with the Green Party in Arizona.

[Highlord Laan]

To the contrary, that's exactly what she's thinking about. She knows she'd get primaried. If she's not in the party she doesn't have to deal with that, and can dare the Democrats to run a three way race and hand her seat to the Republicans.

Which makes her almost as dumb as Trump. The dumb cunt has alienated and generally pissed off pretty every Democrat and Indy (actual independents, not fascist-lite shitbag repub) in Arizona.