Trump cheats at golf - the ONE and ONLY politics thread

It is worse than that in at least one predominantly black district...they cut early polling places from 16 to 1!!! On the surface that seems brutal.



Analysis: N.C. Counties That Cut Early Voting Sites See Lower Turnout

 

Didn't we manage to get along fine for 200 years when everyone voted on the same day?

 

At the risk of sounding like one of those "Check Your Privilege" morons, there are a lot of people who are elderly and/or poor and who don't have easy access to a car whenever they wish. There are people who work at low end jobs who can't get off work easily at will. Not everyone can just be a little late or leave work early to make the polls. I don't have any problem with early voting, extended voting hours into the evening, or a half day on Saturday early vote. Mail in votes seem to work reasonably well where they have them.

The right to vote is fundamental in this country. Doing a little extra to be certain that it is available to all should not be controversial.

I can't help but feel that a lot of the problem is because a high percentage of those who take advantage of these exceptions are black people voting Democrat. Republicans blocking these programs help their candidates and party, so they just don't see anything wrong with it.

 

Football worked fine without slow motion and instant replays and reviews on the field. Not many want to go back.

 

Well, there are a few more people in the country than 200 years ago... and a couple of large groups of people have since gained the RIGHT to vote. So there's that.

 

True, but they still make teams play all four quarters to determine a winner.

 

Of course!
http://deadspin.com/report-curt-schilling-to-pick-himself-up-by-his-bootst-1788121332

 

I might have mixed up stories. There was also a story about in person voting on the Navajo reservation getting cut in favor of mail voting where. The issue some tribe members have with it is there are some who don't speak english and the Navajo language isn't really one you write down. So they need translators but polling places went from four down to one.

I think I mixed up the numbers with North Carolina cutting early voting locals.

 

Well, several states didn't hold a popular vote presidential election 200 years ago.

 

Add in that a number of places that seem natural for polls, such as churches, community centers and firehouses, may not be available in all neighborhoods. Why not make voting as easy as possible?

 

My bigger problem with it is that in many places it's too early. I think I'd be fine opening it up a week before election day. But a month? Six weeks in some states? People were voting before the debates, for God's sake. There's so much of the process that plays out in October that not only can opinions change on a dime, the early voting returns come in early enough that it could easily influence the outcome in some states.
People had a problem with calling Florida early in 2000, before the polls closed in the panhandle, but there's no issue with having a month of hard data that allows pollsters and pundits to say a candidate is going to win a state easily because they've run up a big lead in early voting?
I'd never even heard of early voting until about 10 years ago. Now all of a sudden it's the key to making sure everyone in America votes. WTF?

 

How about 100 years ago? Or 50 years ago?