2020 Presidential Election Results & Exit Polls commentary thread

[Jens]

People, please: you're all grown boys/girls and I'm not going to tell you what to do.  But if you're feeling sleep-deprived or physically ill, I implore you to take a break and get some rest.  

I know it's stressful beyond belief, but please please consider your health first.  

You are right. I am in Denmark and haven't slept all night, only rested for a couple of hours where I couldn't fall asleep. It's midday on wednesday here now and thursday and friday are going to be BRUTAL days on work (partially because I took today off). Yet I cannot sleep right now. It's in the middle of the day and I REALLY need to get some work done from home or it'll bite me hard in the a$$.

I'll hit the bed really f***ing early tonight though. I'm thinking 8 pm. Need to get up at 5:30 am both thursday and friday.

Få noget søvn 😉 Get some sleep. The Americans are slow at counting 😜

[Jens]

Quick question since I'm just now getting back online - anyone know the story with the NYT needle saying Biden is favored in Georgia? Is that legit or is there some weird data oddity somewhere?

Most of the mail vote is from Atlanta and heavy democratic - personally I’ll wait and see the actual count...

[Jens]

Just out of curiosity:

Is there any sense of talks in United States about changing this outdated eclection system? To be honest it is extremely hard to find  valid reasons in todays world that one of the two candidates may lead by millions of votes but potentially losing the US election.

Or is this no discussion at all? What would be required to change this - 2/3 in Congress? (of course will never happen).

Welcome, friend!

So there has been discussion about change.  But one of the biggest roadblocks is a sense of "well this is the way things have always been" and "we shouldn't let the population centers decide the Presidency". 

And some people prefer the current system because of its flaws. They benefit some parts of the country, the more rural parts and lowers the influence of the big cities.

[Jens]

So Dave Wasserman is saying he doesn’t believe there are only 120k uncounted ballots in Philadelphia. That would be a decrease in turnout there

Isn’t Philly a city that is shrinking in population ?

If the population of a city is shrinking (especially because of American citizens moving out), raw turnout could decrease, while other parts of the country see an increase.

Also, ballots are being received in PA today and tomorrow.

There could be slightly more than 120.000 left then.

Only slidely and in no way an explanation for a lower level of voting compared to 2016

[Jens]

Just out of curiosity:

Is there any sense of talks in United States about changing this outdated eclection system? To be honest it is extremely hard to find  valid reasons in todays world that one of the two candidates may lead by millions of votes but potentially losing the US election.

Or is this no discussion at all? What would be required to change this - 2/3 in Congress? (of course will never happen).

Welcome, friend!

So there has been discussion about change.  But one of the biggest roadblocks is a sense of "well this is the way things have always been" and "we shouldn't let the population centers decide the Presidency". 

And some people prefer the current system because of its flaws. They benefit some parts of the country, the more rural parts and lowers the influence of the big cities.

This is a myth. The electoral college only benefits whatever states happen to be swing states.

Objectively the current system gives a huge advantage to smaller states. A vote in Rhode Island holds more value that a vote in New York. The lack of volatility in many states is another story and if the electorate in the US was more movable, the benefits would been much higher i smaller states.