• Re: Early voting

    From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 07:54:34
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 11:40:58 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    Some day, Republicans will come to understand they are pissing off their
    own voters with their false claims and fears about making voting more >convenient.

    I know what our polling system has been through during and since COVID
    and they seem to have come through rather well (and Canada has
    separate federal, provincial and municipal voting systems - though
    school board is generally part of the municipal system with our school
    board shared with the neighboring municipality)

    As long as ONLY citizens of legal voting age vote I'm a happy camper
    and of course smile when my candidate wins and frown when they don't.
    At the moment I'm frowning particularly as in the last federal
    election our part of town was "redistributed" to an adjacent district
    only adjacent by water and having to cross a third municipality to get
    to it. (Our area is about 30% of the new district as opposed to the
    old district which was 100% - and we're stuck with it until the next
    census which is 5 years away though for district redistribution add
    another 2-3 years to that)

    That water barrier is a bigger deal to me than for Rhino as I'm in a
    port city while he's somewhat 'inland'

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:02:52
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 07:06:12 -0500, shawn
    <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

    Probably want to do their best to get rid of early voting because a
    certain powerful politician does not like it.

    Only time I ever voted early was when I was in the shopping mall and
    saw a long line of people carefully spaced apart (if you guessed 2021
    + or - a couple of years you'd be right) and said 'what the hell -
    let's get it done' and since I knew the official voting card was not
    required but personal ID was I went for it.

    I don't care WHEN you vote but do care that you DO vote.

    Just as long as you don't "vote early and vote often" which is said to
    be going on in certain ethnic communities who are said to be doing so
    by misuse of the official polling card. (About the only exception has
    been the election after my wife's passing where I checked to ensure
    she was NOT still on the voters list as I didn't want anybody
    fraudulently voting in her name. The poll clerks didn't want to tell
    me so I gave my name and my daughters and asked if anybody else was
    registered at my address - in Canada the there's a box on the tax form
    you check to allow them to share info with the voting authorities
    which makes things very easy - we DO have to declare citizenship on
    our tax returns for that reason)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:04:21
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:50:46 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
    wrote:

    If we're making early voting extend outward 40 days before and now (in >California) 20 days after Election Day, we've now turned Election Day into >Election Quarter. Fully 25% of the year is now "Election Day". It's getting >fucking ridiculous.

    Agreed - though why the hell would they allow voting AFTER election
    day? Doesn't that kind of negate the point?

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:12:17
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:43:15 -0500, moviePig <nobody@nowhere.com>
    wrote:

    Election Quarter. Fully 25% of the year is now "Election Day". It's getting >> fucking ridiculous.

    Rhetorical question: What's the inherent virtue of synchronized voting?

    Easy - people have the right to know who their elected representives
    are in a reasonably timely way.

    Occasionally you DO need to write to them....for me most of my
    involvement is at the municipal level where I know our mayor and
    councillors on a first name basis and have done through all local
    elections going back 20-25 years. Both myself and my late wife have
    served on 5 municipal (appointed by our Council) advisory committees
    during the same period in my case from finance to local grants. (Which
    is not that shocking given my academic background and having co-owned
    a business with annual sales in the $1-5 million/yr range) My
    municipality has a population of about 150000-160000 so it's not huge
    but not all that tiny either.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:14:11
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 01:25:03 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
    wrote:

    So why don't we just have continuous elections? As soon as a new president is >sworn in, the next election starts and runs until November 7 four years >later?

    So you would like to vote on Nov 6, 2029 and again on Nov 9, 2029?

    I bet if they had that system a lot of people WOULD.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:15:31
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 18:37:11 -0500, Rhino
    <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    Not necessarily true. I read an article that said at least one state
    allows early voters to change their vote - and not just once!
    Apparently, they can change their minds up to FIVE TIMES! I don't
    remember which state though. Hmm. I just asked Gemini (the Google AI)
    and it says:

    Surely they don't do THAT in Ontario.

    Frankly to me that defeats the point of voting.

    I'm not a fan of "vote early and vote often..."

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:21:12
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 16:29:02 -0500, shawn
    <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

    I don't have an issue with allowing 40 days before the Election Day
    for early voting, but why the 20 days after? Having an extended
    pre-Election Day period hopefully just lessens the crowds on the
    actual Election Day. The only point of a post Election Day that I'm
    aware of was for delayed mail from military outposts across the globe.

    True - my daughter lives in Brighton, UK and mails her vote to the
    Canadian embassy (they call it a 'high commission' for countries in
    the British Commonwealth). There's a dial up system where you can
    verify it has been received. It's on the NW side of Trafalgar square
    and there are signs up discouraging Canadians without official
    business to transact to visit. Several Canadian provinces have offices
    in London - the BC office is adjacent to Picadilly Circus and from the
    carving on the outside wall has been there for several decades. (It's
    mostly for trade promotion - I'm not aware that Canadian citizens
    abroad get to vote anything but federally)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 08:24:36
    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:09:53 -0000 (UTC), "Adam H. Kerman"
    <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

    If the two pro gerrymandering decisions are ever to be reveresed, does
    the Equal Protection clause provide any hope of protecting minorities,
    in this case, voters who don't want to be represented by assholes?

    Why is it required a representative you don't like be an asshole? My
    provincial representative is a very nice lady on a personal basis but
    hell would freeze over before I voted for her or her party. Which is
    exactly what I thought of her (I met her at an all-candidates meeting)
    the first time I met her during her first run for office.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From shawn@3:633/10 to All on Friday, March 06, 2026 12:03:20
    On Fri, 06 Mar 2026 08:02:52 -0800, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
    wrote:

    On Mon, 23 Feb 2026 07:06:12 -0500, shawn
    <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

    Probably want to do their best to get rid of early voting because a
    certain powerful politician does not like it.

    Only time I ever voted early was when I was in the shopping mall and
    saw a long line of people carefully spaced apart (if you guessed 2021
    + or - a couple of years you'd be right) and said 'what the hell -
    let's get it done' and since I knew the official voting card was not
    required but personal ID was I went for it.

    I voted early when COVID was just starting. Or more correctly I voted
    by mail. Only time I did so but if given the option to vote by mail in
    the future that's what I will do. Too many stories showing up of
    voters getting stuck in line for hours locally for me to want to
    chance it and it's so much easier than even voting early.

    I don't care WHEN you vote but do care that you DO vote.

    Just as long as you don't "vote early and vote often" which is said to
    be going on in certain ethnic communities who are said to be doing so
    by misuse of the official polling card. (About the only exception has
    been the election after my wife's passing where I checked to ensure
    she was NOT still on the voters list as I didn't want anybody
    fraudulently voting in her name. The poll clerks didn't want to tell
    me so I gave my name and my daughters and asked if anybody else was >registered at my address - in Canada the there's a box on the tax form
    you check to allow them to share info with the voting authorities
    which makes things very easy - we DO have to declare citizenship on
    our tax returns for that reason)

    Except that's more of a joke than something that actually happens
    because there are real legal consequences to trying to do that. Unless
    the original meaning was to actual make sure you vote early AND you
    vote every opportunity you can. Which is something more people should
    do since many (including myself) tend to vote in the Presidential
    elections but miss many of the more local elections.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From The Horny Goat@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, March 14, 2026 00:48:05
    On Fri, 06 Mar 2026 12:03:20 -0500, shawn
    <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com> wrote:

    Except that's more of a joke than something that actually happens
    because there are real legal consequences to trying to do that. Unless
    the original meaning was to actual make sure you vote early AND you
    vote every opportunity you can. Which is something more people should
    do since many (including myself) tend to vote in the Presidential
    elections but miss many of the more local elections.

    My son has been on 'election duty' crew in numerous elections and
    ALWAYS advance votes when he is but on election day if he's not
    'working the election'

    I'm mostly proud of him for doing so. (He's in his 30s now so has a
    few elections under his belt)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.13
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)