2020 Absentee/Early Voting thread

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ds will benefit from a large lead in absentee and other mail-in ballots, to counter the Trump Election Day edge that we'll see.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Alright bitches, turns out I will probably be too busy with work to vote tomorrow or Wednesday as promised, but Thursday or Friday, I’ll come back here to report my first vote in a Texas general election.

Biden +1

best of luck. you are doing the Lord's work.
I only wish I could do the same.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pardon my ignorance but are election procedures at the discretion of states according to the constitution, or more specifically, what prevents Congress from enacting legislation to standardize federal election procedures across the US to avoid all these peculiarities?

Federalism is a mighty element here, especially in how we Americans run our elections. It's not even just a state-level affair, there are variances in some things on local level.
The US government could in theory federalize elements of the federal elections, such as the voter rolls, but it has no leeway whatsoever to tell states and counties they can't operate differently on elections on states and county level, except if there is a civil rights concern.
More generally, there is just one voter roll in the US. And the feds have an interest in helping ensure that civil rights are upheld. This was seen in the South in the 60s and 70s and later decades and continues in some ways and places to this day.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pardon my ignorance but are election procedures at the discretion of states according to the constitution, or more specifically, what prevents Congress from enacting legislation to standardize federal election procedures across the US to avoid all these peculiarities?

Nothing legally prevents the federal government from doing so (the Constitution clearly gives Congress the ability to determine the manner of the federal elections). But Congress has historically not done so and has expressed no interest in doing so.

Any authority Congress would wield that massively could only apply to federal elections, not state, county, or municipality. It just wouldn't make sense to have parallel structures for different kinds of elections.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pardon my ignorance but are election procedures at the discretion of states according to the constitution, or more specifically, what prevents Congress from enacting legislation to standardize federal election procedures across the US to avoid all these peculiarities?

Federalism is a mighty element here, especially in how we Americans run our elections. It's not even just a state-level affair, there are variances in some things on local level.
The US government could in theory federalize elements of the federal elections, such as the voter rolls, but it has no leeway whatsoever to tell states and counties they can't operate differently on elections on states and county level, except if there is a civil rights concern.
More generally, there is just one voter roll in the US. And the feds have an interest in helping ensure that civil rights are upheld. This was seen in the South in the 60s and 70s and later decades and continues in some ways and places to this day.

Why can't they dictate mandatory 3 weeks early voting period, ballot drop boxes adjusted to population size, etc.? it's clearly instrumental to the right to vote and equal standing. at least for federal elections. Placing the responsibility on every state's secretary of state in ensuring these standards are met otherwise making them liable

An acute issue is over-concentration of focus on just one level of government. This would hurt separation of powers and risk laying precedent turning America into a unitary state, and it would also run afoul of the 10th amendment, a component of the Bill of Rights.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pardon my ignorance but are election procedures at the discretion of states according to the constitution, or more specifically, what prevents Congress from enacting legislation to standardize federal election procedures across the US to avoid all these peculiarities?

Nothing legally prevents the federal government from doing so (the Constitution clearly gives Congress the ability to determine the manner of the federal elections). But Congress has historically not done so and has expressed no interest in doing so.

Any authority Congress would wield that massively could only apply to federal elections, not state, county, or municipality. It just wouldn't make sense to have parallel structures for different kinds of elections.

Well it could be a good starting point, and there is an argument that states can decide their procedures according to the discretion of their voters (subject to constitutional norms). But considering federal elections are about federal bodies it is both important to have clear threshold standards to ensure the equal standing of all voters in federal elections.

American law is so bizarre to me. There's almost no meaningful administrative law and constitutional law is so rag tag

What does and doesn't make sense is something defined very frequently by one's personal definition, which in turn is heavily influenced by what one grew up with. In practice American federal elections occur with voter rolls influenced by federal (particularly civil rights) standards and legislation (such as the Motor Voter Bill of 1993), the efforts of state level officials who add and modify those, and local clerks on county level.
That's what we are used to and we don't give much thought to that because it's so engrained in our political system.
Such a system would probably be a disaster in Israel, where it'd be foreign, complex, and very confusing. Israel is a unitary state, for one, and just operates on a profoundly different model.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Pardon my ignorance but are election procedures at the discretion of states according to the constitution, or more specifically, what prevents Congress from enacting legislation to standardize federal election procedures across the US to avoid all these peculiarities?

Nothing legally prevents the federal government from doing so (the Constitution clearly gives Congress the ability to determine the manner of the federal elections). But Congress has historically not done so and has expressed no interest in doing so.

Any authority Congress would wield that massively could only apply to federal elections, not state, county, or municipality. It just wouldn't make sense to have parallel structures for different kinds of elections.

I agree, but if Congress did it for federal elections, the states would fall in line and just use the federal standards instead of operating their own separate systems.

Would depend on the political climate. Given how we are so polarized nowadays, I suspect that states safe for the out-party or controlled by it precariously would most likely buck the line and exercise their right to have different systems.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I'm pumped to see these numbers. We're getting some D votes banked in.
I just hope it's enough to overcome the R advantage in Election Day votes.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

the only turnout numbers that are crazy good are harris + denton everything else is on par with past years not sure why people are so "excited" lol let's wait & see

Denial

how? the %'s are on par with 2016 besides those two counties lol and it's not dems are voting 80-20 in these counties either, denton + collin are ruby red.

I know your username says 1993, but that doesn't mean the rest of us are in 1993 anymore.

To be fair Denton and Collin were Ruby red in like 2012 (64.9% Romney for both).

Edit: I realize this is more of a bagel meme than anything, but it's simply astounding how much the two counties have shifted in such a short time.

As a Collin County resident I look forward to the R presidential margin in my county being reduced to a Trump single digit win, with more Dem gains to follow down the line.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Voted this afternoon early in person, took about 40 minutes to get in.

This is Wayne County, NC. They had curbside voting, looked to be doing three at a time and there was a steady 15 or 20 people in line, the whole time I was there.

Never seen it this busy for early in person voting.

Is Wayne a reddish county?

it's quite Republican. It even went for Dole in 2008 in her losing re-election bid.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

If anyone is interested, I can post the 2016 EV vs ED numbers by County for over 50% of the Counties in TX, and even break those numbers down further by GE-PRES numbers.

Don't want to waste my time on that if there is no interest.

Can you do Collin County plz.