US Mid term elections

StevieJ

Looks like some parts of the US are pulling out all the stops to ensure that Hispanics and the poor will be able to vote in the Mid Terms.

As Election Day approaches, concerns are being raised in Kansas over voting rights and access to the polls. The movement and elimination of some polling places is sparking fears that casting a ballot may be more difficult for some this year.
Nowhere are worries greater than in Dodge City, where residents must leave town if they want to vote on Election Day.


The city has drawn national scrutiny over voting rights since Ford County Clerk Debbie Cox — citing construction — moved its only polling location to a building south of the city limits. The site can’t be reached by sidewalks and is separated from much of the city by train tracks. Sixty percent of the town’s residents are Hispanic.

Read more here: https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article220557195.html#storylink=cpy

Nasqueron

Won't be able to surely?



This is part of a coordinated process by the Republicans to stop certain groups (poorer, black, Hispanic, who traditionally vote democrat) from being able to vote through various processes including requiring voter ID which they can't get/can't afford (e.g. meaning you have to spend a day travelling and waiting, losing a days pay) based on false claims of widespread fraud; closing polling stations to make it so people have to travel further (as per last); introducing various laws to de-register people who haven't voted for a while etc

StevieJ

Nasqueron wrote: »

Won't be able to surely?



This is part of a coordinated process by the Republicans to stop certain groups (poorer, black, Hispanic, who traditionally vote democrat) from being able to vote through various processes including requiring voter ID which they can't get/can't afford (e.g. meaning you have to spend a day travelling and waiting, losing a days pay) based on false claims of widespread fraud; closing polling stations to make it so people have to travel further (as per last); introducing various laws to de-register people who haven't voted for a while etc

What about locating polling booths in police buildings, knowing that immigrants are not too keen on those places

michaels

I thought the democrats handled the supreme court nominations thing incredibly badly - the sight of militant (possibly lesbian) feminists being strident I suspect works as an excellent rallying cry to the republican base whilst also possibly deterring wavering centralists and this I think has given the Republicans some momentum - all over an issue the democrats were never going to win.

Edit: happy to be proved wrong but just like here there seems to be a polarisation with Bernie Sunders being the US equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn and very likely to get the presidential nomination. Whatever happened to elections being won from the centre

StevieJ

michaels wrote: »

I thought the democrats handled the supreme court nominations thing incredibly badly - the sight of militant (possibly lesbian) feminists being strident I suspect works as an excellent rallying cry to the republican base whilst also possibly deterring wavering centralists and this I think has given the Republicans some momentum - all over an issue the democrats were never going to win.

Edit: happy to be proved wrong but just like here there seems to be a polarisation with Bernie Sunders being the US equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn and very likely to get the presidential nomination. Whatever happened to elections being won from the centre

Wasn't too impressed with that.

Thrugelmir

Makes one appreciate the UK election system.

Filo25

Projections don't seem to have changed too much over the last month or so anyway from what I have seen, so if the polls are close to being accurate, the Republicans will retain the Senate (unsurprisingly given the seats being contested this time around), and the Dems should gain control of the House.

That said if the Dems can keep the deficit in the Senate to around the 51:49 it is now they should have a good shot in '20 when the Republicans will be defending some tough seats.

I wouldn't write off Trump in '20 either although the economy will probably be a bit tougher then, I suspect people will equally start to accept some of his other bizarre utterances as "normal", so you get less of an impact of him scaring out the Dems to vote, probably depends on who the Dems run, a relative extremist and Trump probably has a fair chance.

You can't ignore the fact that historically America usually likes to give its Presidents/parties 2 terms in the White House

andrewf75

Filo25 wrote: »

You can't ignore the fact that historically America usually likes to give its Presidents/parties 2 terms in the White House

I think with someone like Trump in power, all historical norms go out of the window!

Its down to the Dems. Put up any half decent candidate and they should win the next election. They would have won the last one had they done so.

Thrugelmir

andrewf75 wrote: »

They would have won the last one had they done so.

Don't underestimate the disillusionment. The American Dream isn't working any longer for many.

andrewf75

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Don't underestimate the disillusionment. The American Dream isn't working any longer for many.

I know that, but Hillary's unpopularity was key to Trump winning. Obama would have won easily.

Nasqueron

StevieJ wrote: »

What about locating polling booths in police buildings, knowing that immigrants are not too keen on those places

Immigrants (unless naturalised citizens) cannot vote, they cannot register to vote, they will not be on the voting list so why would they try and go and vote? Sounds like one of these #fakenews stories Trump loves - like how the only publicly documented voter fraud in 2016 was someone voting for Trump twice.


In the US only a citizen can vote in federal elections, given you can be deported for doing so, an illegal risking trying to vote (which requires them to go to the authorities and present ID and register) would be a massive risk because they'd be found out as not there legally. Even state elections non-citizens have been banned since the last one (Arkansas) outlawed it in 1926.


In reality the amount of voter fraud is so low it's non-existent - a study runded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation found 56 non-citizens voting in the 11 years 2000-2011