Election time again

[CentralFloridaGMRS]

That's another thing. Here in the year 2024 they can't call an Election on the same day. Why? Years ago they did with paper ballots. 

[WRKW566]

19 hours ago, Hoppyjr said:

Politicians don’t tell me that, common sense does.

People that don’t vote are welcome to complain, but I won’t listen because they helped enable the problem.

redacted.

[WQAI363]

10 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

I think that the use of FRS radios, which don't need a license, when committing a felony would be a chargeable offense should the Federal government want to go that route.

I can't disagree with you. Any radio service used in connection with anything illegal can definitely send individuals to the Gray Bar Condo and Hotel if the offense is serious enough. 

[Paulie]

4 hours ago, CentralFloridaGMRS said:

That's another thing. Here in the year 2024 they can't call an Election on the same day. Why? Years ago they did with paper ballots. 

68,836,385 votes cast in the 1960 presidential election.

86,496,851 votes cast in the 1980 presidential election.

105,594,024 votes cast in the 2000 presidential election.

129,139,997 votes cast in the 2012 presidential election.

158,481,688 votes cast in the 2022 presidential election.  

Add in mail in ballots since Da Rona, in the last 50 years we doubled the number of votes to be counted.  Also the margin on the wins, it triggers a lot of required recounts, which delays it more.  Some offices are being decided by dozens of votes.  

 

Like most things, there is nuance. And a lot of false memories on how things were back in the day. I would never have trusted one of those mechanical calculator booth machines, too much like a slot machine to me; verifiable auditable paper ballots, without chads, "is the way."  

[WRXB215]

35 minutes ago, Paulie said:

verifiable auditable paper ballots, without chads

Ok, I like that idea.

[LeoG]

They use to have many many places to vote.  Maybe a couple thousand people assigned to each location.  At the end of the night it was easy to count all the votes and then add them to the larger totals.  Now they insist on having central voting locations that deal with 10s of thousands of people which makes it hard to tally all the votes in one night.

This is by design.  Central planning and having things done from one area.  One size fits all is the govt way.  Much better to have many small locations who can count all the votes before midnight.  If there is an error it's is a small error instead of a catastrophic error with huge consequences.

Small countries can have the results before midnight and yet state with multitudes less population need a week or two to tally the results.

We no longer have election day, we have election season.  This needs to be trimmed down a lot.  Maybe Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and then election day.  More than enough time to have everyone cast their vote.  Mail in voting should be limited to people overseas that can't be present or people in the states with valid excuses.

The machines were suppose to make it easy and with quick results.  Now the machines make it complicated and the counting takes substantially longer than in yesteryear when we did it by hand. 

[Hoppyjr]

I can't disagree with you. Any radio service used in connection with anything illegal can definitely send individuals to the Gray Bar Condo and Hotel if the offense is serious enough. 

I’m not sure where you guys live, but there are already firearms enhancements on the books in many (all?) states and federally, but those are often not used by “soft” prosecutors (see how I avoided politics?)

Good luck getting a “radio enhancement” to any crime.

[Hoppyjr]

Ok, I like that idea.

With voter ID required.

[WRUQ357]

When tar and feathering becomes a thing again, maybe I'll get interested. 

[WRXB215]

3 minutes ago, Hoppyjr said:

With voter ID required.

Yes, that too.

[Lscott]

14 hours ago, tcp2525 said:

Whether or not my vote makes a difference isn't for me to decide. I proudly did my part.

Good for you. I’m sadden when I see low numbers for voter turn outs for various elections. 

[Paulie]

41 minutes ago, Hoppyjr said:

With voter ID required.

You mean national ID?  Because one of the problems with "voter id" is there is no standard for it, so we have a minimum 50+1 standards, and a maximum of the number of counties in a state, times 50 states.  What one county/state in one state finds acceptable, others do not. 

[LeoG]

Since you can only vote in the state you reside in, then it should be fine to have a state standard.

[Paulie]

46 minutes ago, LeoG said:

They use to have many many places to vote.  Maybe a couple thousand people assigned to each location.  At the end of the night it was easy to count all the votes and then add them to the larger totals.  Now they insist on having central voting locations that deal with 10s of thousands of people which makes it hard to tally all the votes in one night.

This is by design.  Central planning and having things done from one area.  One size fits all is the govt way.  Much better to have many small locations who can count all the votes before midnight.  If there is an error it's is a small error instead of a catastrophic error with huge consequences.

Small countries can have the results before midnight and yet state with multitudes less population need a week or two to tally the results.

We no longer have election day, we have election season.  This needs to be trimmed down a lot.  Maybe Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon and then election day.  More than enough time to have everyone cast their vote.  Mail in voting should be limited to people overseas that can't be present or people in the states with valid excuses.

The machines were suppose to make it easy and with quick results.  Now the machines make it complicated and the counting takes substantially longer than in yesteryear when we did it by hand. 

Yes, the availability of places to vote has become much more of a struggle, without national standards. One example I can think of off the top of my head is Harris County TX (which includes Houston), which will have 108 fewer polling places in 2024 compared to 2022 (to around 700).  In comparison, Cook County IL (which includes Chicago) will have north of 2600 election day polling places in 2024. 

I specifically compared these two counties because they are similar in size.  If we compare these two state wide, the numbers are even more stark.  Comparing Illinois to it's neighbors IN and WI, both have reduced the number of polling places.  There is a commonality in these reductions, and it wasn't Da Rona.   

[Paulie]

4 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Since you can only vote in the state you reside in, then it should be fine to have a state standard.

Resident College Students.  Some states allow college ID to be a voter ID, some do not.  A national ID would fix that problem.

[LeoG]

I don't want any kind of national ID.  Whether it's for voting or any other purpose.  The govt has enough information on all of us without us being categorized even more so.  One thing I like about my radios/HTs is that I can leave my govt tracker (cellphone) at home.  Keeps the govt out of my business more.

[Paulie]

7 minutes ago, LeoG said:

I don't want any kind of national ID.  Whether it's for voting or any other purpose.  The govt has enough information on all of us without us being categorized even more so.  One thing I like about my radios/HTs is that I can leave my govt tracker (cellphone) at home.  Keeps the govt out of my business more.

You're not calling out your government assigned callsign at required intervals? 

[LeoG]

2 minutes ago, Paulie said:

You're not calling out your government assigned callsign at required intervals? 

Sure, but the govt likely isn't listening and it's not being stored in the Utah facility like every cellphone, text, email and digital transmission is.

[Paulie]

21 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Sure, but the govt likely isn't listening and it's not being stored in the Utah facility like every cellphone, text, email and digital transmission is.

They just have your name tied to a national ID, that isn't a SSN.  

[LeoG]

7 minutes ago, Paulie said:

They just have your name tied to a national ID, that isn't a SSN.  

The govt should know almost nothing about you.  And yet they know way to much.  And the problem is they won't be satisfied until they know every step you take and every penny you spend and exactly what you spend it on.

Pure violation of your 4th

[Hoppyjr]

You mean national ID?  Because one of the problems with "voter id" is there is no standard for it, so we have a minimum 50+1 standards, and a maximum of the number of counties in a state, times 50 states.  What one county/state in one state finds acceptable, others do not. 

Well, proof of citizenship. That’s more than a drivers license in states that issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

There is the right to vote, but it’s only a right for United States citizens.

[Paulie]

Just now, LeoG said:

The govt should know almost nothing about you.  And yet they know way to much.  And the problem is they won't be satisfied until they know every step you take and every penny you spend and exactly what you spend it on.

Pure violation of your 4th

An example of how elections have consequences.  We could have a national data privacy law, similar to GDPR, which protects our information held in private hands; which is then asked for by the government circumventing the controls we have on direct federal collection of data on citizens.  But there is too much money to be made on the data broker side, and those who have a corporate trough to eat from, are happy to throw sand in the gears then blame the machine for being bad, after they damaged it.  

[Paulie]

4 minutes ago, Hoppyjr said:

Well, proof of citizenship. That’s more than a drivers license in states that issue licenses to illegal immigrants.

There is the right to vote, but it’s only a right for United States citizens.

Sure, but driving is a privilege, and not everyone has a car or the privilege.  Some states make getting an ID so laborious for poor, elderly, or homeless, they can't get that either.  That one of our citizens is disenfranchised should be something we feel shame for, not too bad so sad for "those people", ya know?  

It's already against the law for non-citizens to vote.  And the total number of non-citizens voting is generally rounded to zero percent; because it's closer to zero than to 1%.  It's not really a concern.

[LeoG]

7 minutes ago, Paulie said:

Sure, but driving is a privilege, and not everyone has a car or the privilege.  Some states make getting an ID so laborious for poor, elderly, or homeless, they can't get that either.  That one of our citizens is disenfranchised should be something we feel shame for, not too bad so sad for "those people", ya know?  

It's already against the law for non-citizens to vote.  And the total number of non-citizens voting is generally rounded to zero percent; because it's closer to zero than to 1%.  It's not really a concern.

If you studied the constitution you'd know that driving is not a privilege other than for commercial traffic.  They've upsurped this right from you and now you have to beg and pay the govt to use the roads you pay for.

[Paulie]

Just now, LeoG said:

If you studied the constitution you'd know that driving is not a privilege other than for commercial traffic.  They've upsurped this right from you and now you have to beg and pay the govt to use the roads you pay for.

I am not a professional scholar, but I do have an understanding the whole interstate travel doctrine.  You are free to travel between the states, but not the right to the mode of travel, beyond your own ability of locomotion.  

We are moving beyond elections though, so let's return to the opening topic.