US Politics Thread

[west didsblue]

What is the focus on Israel and Jewish identity in U.S. politics? There are people suffering and dying in wars in Ukraine and Palestine, oppression is widespread, living costs have skyrocketed, and children are facing hunger. Yet, politicians seem more interested in throwing away millions of dollars, promoting rallies with corrupt celebrities rather than addressing these pressing issues.

Fuck off US.

Presumably Harris’s husband was speaking at a Jewish event and a Russian controlled account has decided to take that clip out of context to appeal to antisemites and people angry with Israel to try and encourage them not to vote for her. Saying that speech means US politics is focusing on Israel and Jewish identity is a bit weird considering he isn’t even a politician.

 

[Vic]

A new Supreme Court case could change the result of the presidential election

Republicans ask the Supreme Court to disenfranchise thousands of Pennsylvania voters.

On October 23, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that many voters who cast a mailed-in ballot improperly, thus rendering their vote “void,” should be allowed to cast a ballot on Election Day that will actually be counted. Though it’s hard to pin down exactly how many voters will be impacted by this decision, it’s likely that thousands of Pennsylvanians will regain their ability to vote in the November election if the state supreme court’s decision remains in effect.

The case, which was known as Genser v. Butler County Board of Elections when it was decided by the state supreme court, involves a genuinely difficult legal question that required the state’s justices to resolve a conflict between two competing legal principles. It split them 4-3, with four Democrats forming the majority and two Republicans and one Democrat in dissent.

On Monday, the Republican Party asked the US Supreme Court to intervene and effectively disenfranchise the thousands of voters who will be allowed to vote if the state court’s Genser decision stands. That alone is a very big deal. If the 2024 presidential election is very close, as is expected, and if victory comes down to which candidate wins Pennsylvania, a US Supreme Court decision in favor of the GOP could flip the winner of this election from Kamala Harris to Donald Trump. (Although more Republicans are expected to vote by mail than in 2020, Democrats likely still have an advantage with this cohort.)

But this case could also have massive implications for US democracy that extend far beyond the 2024 election, even if Harris wins in a landslide.

A new Supreme Court case could change the result of the presidential election

Republicans ask the Supreme Court to disenfranchise thousands of Pennsylvania voters.

www.vox.com

What is an "improperly cast" ballot? How would they know who cast it?

In the UK, the only intervention is that if someone gets their identification wrong (mistake on date of birth or a signature that looks way off the one on the application for a postal vote) they can now be told, but no-one checks that the voting paper is OK until the day of the count and it's already just one of many in the ballot box.

 

[KS55]

Sorry, but it's proper weird getting so triggered by all this if you are not American.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls…

 

[Blue Maverick]

Tbh having lived through one trump presidency that didn't really change anything here I'm not excited at the prospect of another. If he wins he'll have his term and disappear.

No he won’t if he’s still alive he will do a Putin and change it to stay in power.

 

[KS55]

No he won’t if he’s still alive he will do a Putin and change it to stay in power.

And corrupt SCOTUS would find some textual reason why the constitution permitted this.

 

[SebastianBlue]

What is an "improperly cast" ballot? How would they know who cast it?

In the UK, the only intervention is that if someone gets their identification wrong (mistake on date of birth or a signature that looks way off the one on the application for a postal vote) they can now be told, but no-one checks that the voting paper is OK until the day of the count and it's already just one of many in the ballot box.

“Improperly” has many meanings when it comes to MAGA.

And you can do it “improperly” even before you cast a ballot, so many people just need to be prevented from voting entirely, just in case.


Virginia voter purge ensnares eligible American citizens

Nadra Wilson of Lynchburg, Va., was concerned and confused when she received a letter in the mail from local election officials notifying her that her U.S. citizenship was in question.

The notice said she needed to affirm she was a U.S. citizen within 14 days or her voter registration would be canceled. It was first sent to an old address and then was forwarded. By the time Wilson received it in October, the deadline had passed.

But Wilson was puzzled by the letter. "I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. — I'm a citizen," Wilson said in an interview with NPR before showing her American passport as proof.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/29/nx-s1-5169204/virginia-noncitizen-voter-purge

 

[KS55]

“Improperly” has many meanings when it comes to MAGA.

And you can do it “improperly” even before you cast a ballot, so many people just need to be prevented from voting entirely, just in case.


Virginia voter purge ensnares eligible American citizens

Nadra Wilson of Lynchburg, Va., was concerned and confused when she received a letter in the mail from local election officials notifying her that her U.S. citizenship was in question.

The notice said she needed to affirm she was a U.S. citizen within 14 days or her voter registration would be canceled. It was first sent to an old address and then was forwarded. By the time Wilson received it in October, the deadline had passed.

But Wilson was puzzled by the letter. "I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. — I'm a citizen," Wilson said in an interview with NPR before showing her American passport as proof.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/29/nx-s1-5169204/virginia-noncitizen-voter-purge

These purges often just cover every name from an area likely to contain a majority of Democratic voters such as black people, students etc.

 

[SebastianBlue]

These purges often just cover every name from an area likely to contain a majority of Democratic voters such as black people, students etc.

Indeed, they are most often targeted. And have been undertaken en mass in Republican-led states over the last year.

I have posted articles regarding a few other voter purge efforts, as well attempts to change election rules at the eleventh hour, that have also been challenged all the way to the SCOTUS, with most still awaiting a decision.

And that outcome is by design: most of these efforts were intended to be challenged, with the expressed intent of bubbling up all the way to the highest court that MAGA state leaders see as friendly and appeasing to far-right ideology. That is particularly the case with the absolutely batshite crazy Independent State Legislature Doctrine (ISLD), for which many of these election actions were written to establish through eventual SCOTUS rubber stamp.

And ISLD is one of the most dangerous ideas being paraded around the far-right political spheres right now, as it would, in it’s purest form, give full control to state legislatures to decide when it is “in the best interest of the electorate” to completely ignore the popular vote and declare a winner by “vote” of the legislature (which really means just selection by MAGA majority). That, if signed off on by SCOTUS, could even extend to electoral college delegations.

In essence, it would allow them to “legally” subvert federal elections taking place in their state.

And MAGA are desperate to have SCOTUS establish this as constitutional because they know they are going to increasingly struggle to win popular votes, for state, congressional, and presidential elections.

This is yet another effort in the slow march to a fascist state that many just simply want to ignore.

 

[MillionMilesAway]

“Improperly” has many meanings when it comes to MAGA.

And you can do it “improperly” even before you cast a ballot, so many people just need to be prevented from voting entirely, just in case.


Virginia voter purge ensnares eligible American citizens

Nadra Wilson of Lynchburg, Va., was concerned and confused when she received a letter in the mail from local election officials notifying her that her U.S. citizenship was in question.

The notice said she needed to affirm she was a U.S. citizen within 14 days or her voter registration would be canceled. It was first sent to an old address and then was forwarded. By the time Wilson received it in October, the deadline had passed.

But Wilson was puzzled by the letter. "I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. — I'm a citizen," Wilson said in an interview with NPR before showing her American passport as proof.

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/29/nx-s1-5169204/virginia-noncitizen-voter-purge

I think in the matter Vox was talking about that the 'improperly' had merit - reading the article, the courts had to decide between two (valid, as far as I can tell) legal principles about what to do afterwards. There wasn't much doubt about what made the ballots 'improperly' cast - in this case, without an inner secrecy envelope.
As I understand it:
A judge said that the voters lost their vote in the 2020 election.
The state supreme court overturned this and said they could cast provisional ballots in-person (last month, I think).
MAGA-GOP have gone to SCOTUS to overturn the overturn.

I agree that the term is likely thrown around with abandon in other MAGA court actions.

 

[SebastianBlue]

I think in the matter Vox was talking about that the 'improperly' had merit - reading the article, the courts had to decide between two (valid, as far as I can tell) legal principles about what to do afterwards. There wasn't much doubt about what made the ballots 'improperly' cast - in this case, without an inner secrecy envelope.
As I understand it:
A judge said that the voters lost their vote in the 2020 election.
The state supreme court overturned this and said they could cast provisional ballots in-person (last month, I think).
MAGA-GOP have gone to SCOTUS to overturn the overturn.

I agree that the term is likely thrown around with abandon in other MAGA court actions.

Yes, I am aware of the facts of that particular case (that is why I originally posted it, as it is an example of the many attempts by MAGA leaders to challenge voting processes and systems all the way up to a friendly and appeasing SCOTUS).

My comment was about the overall strategy of challenges to early and mail-in voting, and voter registration more broadly, which is why I also shared the article about the Virginia voter purge case, as it is among the intentional gauntlet of MAGA-led challenges to all aspects of federal elections (in an orchestrated attempt to grasp undue power over the outcome of elections, state and federal).

Most of them are shrouded under what, on the surface, seem legitimate concerns or grievances, but when one looks beneath the shroud, it becomes very obvious that they are instances of nefarious—and often times outright unconstitutional—attempts at subverting elections for their own benefit.