'We're going to have a catastrophe': US faces November election fiasco

[marmar]

‘We’re going to have a catastrophe’: US faces November election fiasco
The chaotic scenes in Georgia’s primary this week could be a foretaste as states fail to take urgent action to secure the vote


(Guardian UK) The alarm bells have been going off for months, but the election fiasco in Georgia on Tuesday made it clear: America is ill-prepared to hold a fair presidential vote in November, and is dangerously close to having an election disaster.

The Georgia contest offered the most alarming preview to date of what could happen in November without major overhauls, training and planning. Voters stood in line to vote for upwards for four hours, saying they never received mail-in ballots requested weeks ago. Local officials, forced to consolidate polling locations because of Covid-19, were unable to manage the influx of voters and struggled to operate new voting equipment.

Experts worry that poll worker shortages, long lines and other delays in processing requests for absentee ballots will only get worse in November, when there will be more voters. Since March, voting advocates have been calling on states to prepare for an election like no other, and quickly implement plans that accommodate a surge in voters casting their ballots by mail for the first time as well as robust turnout at the polls.

One estimate places the cost of upgrading vote-by-mail systems across the country at $4bn.

“We’re just going to have a catastrophe in November,” said Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who studies elections. “We’ve already passed the point of catastrophic failure. It doesn’t get any better if we have two to three times the number of people who are trying to vote in these polling locations.” ............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/12/us-presidential-election-fiasco-voter-suppression

[Doodley]

1. We can't even hold an election without fucking it up. No wonder Covid is out of control.

[Hoyt]

2. In 34 states, right now, everyone can vote by mail. The other states need to get on board.

While mail voting is not without increased cost -- counting, storing, etc. -- we've at least got the ballots.

42 states allow some form of early voting, 3 other states are all mail voting anyway. So people don't have to flood the lines on the last day.

Don't wait until last minute, if you have a choice.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. We have seen this type of

challenge before. And,we over came the Rethug voter suppression by flooding the zone. Knowing we where facing a questionable Secretary of State as well as a less than Qualified Governor,we Dems flooded the Polling Stations and these qualified people were replaced.