Another illuminating ad from Lincoln Project. January 6 was a planned insurrection and the insurrection continues onto the midterm ballot.
The next stage of the plan is to elect Secretaries of State who will refuse to certify the results of a free and fair election. And then democracy is doomed.
Don’t forget, Michael Flynn is now a poll watcher in Florida. That is seriously nuts even for Florida.
It will run digitally in Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona, per Lincoln Project.
“Secretary of State races play a critical role in running free, fair and secure elections,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project. “Ultra-MAGA candidates want these seats so they can rig the election in favor of their own candidate, or outright refuse to certify the election if their own candidate loses. Anyone who cares about our nation’s democratic institutions needs to get involved and stop the ultra-MAGA who are determined to destroy our democracy.”
Bear in mind the lessons of Georgia. The elections officials and the Secretary of State held the line. We might not get so lucky the next time. These SoS elections are as serious as a heart attack.
We are relying on voters to choose wisely for down-ballot races. That makes me extraordinarily nervous.
It seems to me that depending on “voters” to do anything other than elect total morons is pointless!
A good firewall would be to abolish the Electoral College,
If it had once favored the Democratic candidate, the GOP would have retired it before the next mid-term. It has outlived its usefulness (if there ever was any besides a concession to the slave states, post civil war). Several states have passed laws giving their delegates to whomever wins the popular vote, but if MAGA controls the SoS offices, that may not be enough.
Um, hate to break it to you Michael, but the Electoral College DID favor the Democratic candidate–TWICE in recent memory.
In 1992, Bill Clinton got just 43% of the popular vote but walked away with an Electoral College victory of 370 votes (George H W Bush got 37.5% of the vote but only 168 Electoral Votes). Then, in 1996, Clinton got 49.2% of the popular vote but 379 Electoral Votes (Bob Dole got 40.7% of the popular vote but only 159 Electoral Votes).
For what it’s worth, the majority of the remainder of the popular vote in both elections–18.9% in 1992 and 8.4% in 1996–went to Ross Perot. Also, it’s interesting that Bill Clinton received more Electoral Votes in each of his elections, despite failing to win a majority of the popular vote either time, than Barack Obama received in either of his elections, despite winning the majority of the popular vote in both elections (Obama got 365 EVs in 2008 and 332 in 2012).
But, again, abolishing the Electoral College CANNOT just be “retired” by anyone. The Constitution established the Electoral College and ONLY AN AMENDMENT can change that meaning 2/3 of the House and 2/3 of the Senate must approve an amendment and send it to the states of which 3/4 must approve it. EACH STATE may change how it determines its Electoral Votes (eg, the Maine-Nebraska way or the asinine “Compact” that would award all the votes to the winner of the popular vote, even if the majority of the voters of that state voted for the other candidate–if the Compact had been in force in 2004, California’s 55 votes would’ve gone to Bush since he was the winner of the popular vote even though 54% of the voters cast their ballots for John Kerry) but they are Constitutionally required to have a slate of electors who cast ballots for the President and Vice-President.
I know a lot of you were pissed that Trump won the Electoral College (I was too) but his election was only the sixth time since WW2 in which a candidate who didn’t win an outright majority of the popular vote ended up winning the Electoral College–in addition to Clinton’s two terms, 1948, 1960 and 1968 (in 1948 and 1968, you had strong third-party finishers who also received Electoral Votes; in 1960, voters in Alabama and Georgia actually voted directly for electors rather than a Presidential candidate so Kennedy’s actual popular vote can’t really be determined–the general assigning of votes has been to assign Kennedy the popular vote won by the number of votes cast for the most successful Kennedy elector). And, you’ll note that, of those six elections, FOUR were decided in favor the Democratic candidate who failed to achieve a popular majority vote win.
Depends what you mean by majority. A higher percentage when third party splits the vote is still more. Trump was way behind. He didn’t win more of the vote either time. The electoral college was an appeasement to the southern states as was giving them credit for black folks who had no vote. Democracy? Nope. We have a great system of institutionalized hypocrisy. Always have. As you noted, highly unlikely to change. The rich & powerful write the rules. Always have. And the beauty of it they don’t follow them & get no consequences. I lie under oath, I go to jail. Break a trust, go to jail. Rape a woman, well…only 2 percent gets indicted, so women don’t count…clearly. Thats how Dr. Ford tells the truth, Kavanaugh lies and he gets a LIFETIME appointment to repeal abortion. So many examples large & small. Rape, rob, & murder the Indians. Write 354 treaties giving them the crappiest land in the nation. Then break 354 treaties, especially if gold, uranium or anything valuable is there. That’s just a small story. There are countless others. We’ve done it here there and everywhere. We don’t get the house & senate come November, no reason to concern ourselves with the silly idea of any type of democracy. If the American people are no smarter than believing the evil rammed down our throats the past 6 years with Trump owning the airwaves, WE GET THE GOVERNMENT WE DESERVE.
Oh. And the planet is fine if we cause our own extinction.
In your example, the electoral college did not favor the Democrats. With both of your examples, Bill Clinton won the popular vote and also the electoral college. This article is referencing the fact that Republicans have won the electoral college without winning the popular vote. In both of your examples Bill Clinton did not exceed the 50% threshold in the popular vote because there was a viable third-party candidate who received a good percentage of the vote. If America had more than a two party system, like other countries do, the winning candidate would rarely, if ever, exceed the 50% threshold.
Agree 100% Michael. Trump did not “win” the election by any standard/sane meaning of the word. Nearly 3 million votes were nullified by the electoral college in order to award him the presidency. Now that’s what I call voter fraud.
You said, “Nearly 3 million votes were nullified by the electoral college in order to award him the presidency.”
Please explain.
Thank you kindly.
America is broken! Our law makers are a pathetic joke! America needs a top down overhaul starting with fire every lieing stinking politician! Our laws are NOT “Justice For All” all you have to do is see that trump the chump is still a free man when he indeed and in fact belongs in prison and most likely to be executed! The toilet has flushed on America and we are all going down the drain! DEMAND MASSIVE REFORM!
Is everyone signed up as a poll greeter for multiple shifts? I am on oxygen and somewhat confined to a wheelchair, but I am. So I can tell Democratic voters to TAKE that slate card I’m offering them (because the Judges’ parties, all of them, are NOT marked on in person ballots in this state), and remind them to vote all.the.way.down.the.ballot. I do this all through early voting until election day at a large rec center with a large turnout, then may come back to my home precinct for Election Day itself to either greet or go inside as an observer (I’ve also been trained to do that). We all have all these opinions but I would love to know that the folks here that I respect and enjoy conversing with are busting ass like I am. Thanks and love to all!