wgdsr wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:20 am
MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:17 am
wgdsr wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 9:12 am
njbill wrote: ↑Tue Sep 22, 2020 12:03 am
Article today in the Inquirer that talks appeared to have stalled between Governor Wolf and the state legislature, controlled by Republicans, over a deal to allow early processing of mail in ballots.
Wolf’s proposal is that processing be allowed to begin three weeks before the election. The legislative proposal is three days before, but it is coupled with a provision to ban drop boxes. Wolf will not agree to that so currently the issue of early counting is at an impasse.
If an agreement cannot be reached, then the current rule will apply, which does not permit processing to begin until 7 AM on election day. If that is the case, the final Pennsylvania results probably won’t be known for at least several days after election day.
In addition, there are currently two cases in the courts. One was decided by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week. An appeal to the US Supreme Court as possible. The other is a federal district court case which was put on hold pending resolution of the state court case. That case can now resume. The key issues in those cases are the permissibility of drop boxes and the deadline for receipt of mail in ballots.
can a case like this get heard in a week @ scotus?
what would be the thinking behind banning drop boxes from the legislature?
Is the second question rhetorical?
Pretty obvious, right?
no. it's not to me. i don't know 5% of pa's procedures and they seem dynamic since 2019. what's obvious?
I like njbill's tongue in cheek answer above better than mine.
However, when I said "obvious" I was assuming you know that the Republican legislatures around the country are doing everything they can think of to make it harder for those they assume to be Dems to vote, whether by eliminating polling places in jurisdictions with high Dem concentrations, or having required registered lines for R's and D's with the same # of machines with not enough for Dems in those high concentration areas (see Texas) leading to 5 hour long lines for folks who have difficulty getting time to vote as it is, or disallowing ballots received after Election Day regardless of when postmarked, or eliminating drop boxes which allow people to 'mail' their ballot bypassing potential USPS delay variables (PA) or...
Lots and lots of strategies to try to make it more difficult. What these legislatures know about 2020 is that, unlike the norm when GOP voters disproportionately use mail voting, in this election demand voters are far disproportionately going to use mail as the public health experts advise avoiding crowds, especially indoors, and Dem voters are far more likely to respect that counsel in comparison to GOP voters who have been told by Der Leader that mail = fraud, can't be sure your vote has been counted if you mail it, and there's zero risk of infection in crowds and/or you aren't actually at risk and it's your patriotic duty to take off that mask...
Of course, if all that's not enough, maybe law enforcement 'poll watchers' can keep Dem voting down...