U.S. voting

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Message 1963672 - Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 22:12:28 UTC

I voted today, and I was kind of surprised at how many positions on the ballot were unopposed, and one spot didn't even have a candidate at all.

Turnout seemed pretty heavy at my precinct. I'll be curious to find out the actual numbers, later.

Here is what my actual ballot looked like, today -

http://jeffersoncountyclerk.org/myballot/Images/Ballots/G154.pdf
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Message 1963676 - Posted: 6 Nov 2018, 23:00:13 UTC - in response to Message 1963672.  

I think turnout is going to be very heavy everywhere... this is a contentious election.

Whoever you all may vote for, get out there and exercise that right that so many millions (billions?) of people only dream of, that so many gave their lives for: the right to choose your leaders, your laws, and your futures. Vote like they depended on it.

Vote. No excuses.
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Message 1963689 - Posted: 7 Nov 2018, 2:00:00 UTC

Just your ordinary 3rd world election ...
https://apnews.com/3b8fac656c7f446ca95542d599e2f2c0
In Texas, a white poll worker was accused of bumping a black voter during an argument at a polling site and suggesting that the voter could better understand her if she’d worn “my blackface makeup.”
The Houston Chronicle reported the dispute began over a discrepancy with the voter’s address. The confrontation escalated, and witnesses confirmed to the newspaper that the worker said, “Maybe if I’d worn my blackface makeup today you could comprehend what I’m saying to you.”
The election judge at the site separated the two. The poll worker was cited for misdemeanor assault.

In Pennsylvania, a man was accused of threatening to shoot poll workers who told him he wasn’t registered to vote.
Melanie Ostrander, Washington County assistant elections director, said 48-year-old Christopher Thomas Queen, of Claysville, went to a polling place in South Franklin Township on Tuesday morning and became irate when he was told he wasn’t registered.
Ostrander said the man “told the poll workers he was going to go get a gun and come back and shoot them.” He was charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct. Court documents don’t list an attorney for him.
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Message 1963710 - Posted: 7 Nov 2018, 6:14:27 UTC - in response to Message 1963706.  

http://jeffersoncountyclerk.org/myballot/Images/Ballots/G154.pdf

Are you in favor of providing constitutional rights to victims of crime, including the right to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and the right to be informed and to have a voice in the judicial process?

They don't have this?

You really have to vote about such a thing?

What kind of individual would vote No?

devil in the details?
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/what-is-the-constitutional-amendment-marsys-law-on-the-2018-kentucky-ballot/417-610741982
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Message 1963734 - Posted: 7 Nov 2018, 15:14:02 UTC - in response to Message 1963710.  
Last modified: 7 Nov 2018, 15:14:13 UTC

http://jeffersoncountyclerk.org/myballot/Images/Ballots/G154.pdf

Are you in favor of providing constitutional rights to victims of crime, including the right to be treated fairly, with dignity and respect, and the right to be informed and to have a voice in the judicial process?

They don't have this?

You really have to vote about such a thing?

What kind of individual would vote No?

devil in the details?
https://www.whas11.com/article/news/what-is-the-constitutional-amendment-marsys-law-on-the-2018-kentucky-ballot/417-610741982

Looks like it has it's roots in California -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsy%27s_Law
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Message 1964326 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 7:24:31 UTC

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Message 1964344 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 10:00:21 UTC

Out of 598,269 registered voters in the county of Jefferson, Kentucky, of which my hometown Louisville is seated, 291,595 cast ballots this past Tuesday. I haven't looked at the historical statistics for us, but I'm pretty sure this was a high turnout.

https://www.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/VRCounts/

http://www.elections.jeffersoncountyclerk.org/Summary.htm
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Message 1964346 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 10:27:10 UTC

To lighten the mood a little...

Millennial congresswoman 'can't afford rent'

The youngest woman ever elected to Congress has a problem - she can't afford her rent. That is until she starts her new job in January.

After telling the New York Times she's waiting for her first pay cheque before renting an apartment in Washington DC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is again being called the "millennial Congresswoman".

On Friday Fox News presenter Ed Henry suggested the 29-year-old wasn't telling the full truth because she wore "multi-thousand dollar outfits" in a magazine.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez responded on Twitter, pointing out the clothes were lent to her for the photo shoot.

Her comments - "I've really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me to January" - got many on Twitter empathising with her.

"Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez not being able to afford DC rent is the most millennial thing ever and I honestly vibe with it," tweeted one user.
That really shows how one half doesn't know how the other half lives. I hope Ed Henry buys all his own clothes - no studio allowance.
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Message 1964382 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 15:48:37 UTC - in response to Message 1964369.  

What? Do not members of the government and congressmen receive double-residence allowance in the US?
Our former finance minister, Anders Borg, has repeatedly said that he lived in a student room when he worked at the government office in the weeks. It's too far to go to the home outside Katrineholm.
Borg rented an one-room apartment of 32 square meters (344 square-feet), which costed 7,900 SEK ($ 800) a month.
But Borg did not have to pay for himself.
Taxpayers do. The finance minister has an allowance for double settlement of $ 7,000 ($ 700) a month and a payroll boost of $ 4,400 ($ 400) a month...
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Message 1964388 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 16:12:48 UTC - in response to Message 1964382.  

I hope that is better regulated than it used to be in the UK. As an archipelago of islands, some MPs have long journeys to Westminster in the far south-east (requiring ferry crossings or air travel), and it's a sensible efficiency to allow them to maintain a local base close to Parliament. But...

More than 50 MPs flipped second home

Some MPs bought second homes, repaired or renovated them at the taxpayers' expense, and then decided to 'flip' and claim for a different house instead. Others simply decided they weren't prepared to travel for an hour a day from the outer suburbs into central London - something perfectly routine for their working constituents. So they claimed for a second home instead of using their free travel perk.

It looks like Ms Ocasio-Cortez will be OK in the long term: the problem arises because the US federal government still seems to assume that she will travel from New York to Washington by wagon-train in the depths of winter, and allows travel time accordingly for her and her 434 fellow congresspeople to assemble before being paid for doing any work.
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Message 1964396 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 16:17:52 UTC - in response to Message 1964388.  

Hope she didn't quit her day job yet
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Message 1964451 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 19:55:00 UTC - in response to Message 1964403.  
Last modified: 10 Nov 2018, 20:03:23 UTC

Her salary is $174,000 per year, 156,600 after tax.
Average Rent in Washington, DC
https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/dc/washington/
Studio $1,642 a month. 487 sq.ft.
That's about 13% of her disposable salary.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez is from Bronx.
Let's say she rent a 3 beds.
That's $2,915 a month. 915 sq. ft.
And about 22% of her disposable salary .

That's a total of 35% a her disposable salary.

OMG! Poor sod.
Well she's a rookie in politics but will very soon learn how to deal with the situation.
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Message 1964464 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 21:29:31 UTC - in response to Message 1964451.  

Her salary is $174,000 per year, 156,600 after tax.
Average Rent in Washington, DC
https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/dc/washington/
Studio $1,642 a month. 487 sq.ft.
That's about 13% of her disposable salary.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez is from Bronx.
Let's say she rent a 3 beds.
That's $2,915 a month. 915 sq. ft.
And about 22% of her disposable salary .

That's a total of 35% a her disposable salary.

OMG! Poor sod.
Well she's a rookie in politics but will very soon learn how to deal with the situation.

She has to get a staff to fill her offices. Yes, she will have a rent paid office in DC, but she will have to rent her field office. As to NY taxes, you have to "reside" in your district IIRC.

There are a lot of expenses to be paid long before you get your first check or can put in an expense reimbursement voucher.

If she had campaign funds left she might be able to keep her campaign staff on until she can hire them as her office staff.

Being elected is a very expensive proposition!
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Message 1964476 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 22:17:49 UTC - in response to Message 1964464.  

If she had campaign funds left she might be able to keep her campaign staff on until she can hire them as her office staff.
Being elected is a very expensive proposition!
So what you basicly say, a member a political party and being a member of the Congress or a Senator in the US have to rent his/her own personal so that the member can work.
Who is paying that member? I don't think the member pay that from his/her own pocket.
Nevermind the tax "problem".
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Message 1964478 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 22:38:13 UTC - in response to Message 1964476.  

Florida's secretary of state announces recounts in Senate and gubernatorial races.
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Message 1964489 - Posted: 10 Nov 2018, 23:25:41 UTC - in response to Message 1964476.  

If she had campaign funds left she might be able to keep her campaign staff on until she can hire them as her office staff.
Being elected is a very expensive proposition!
So what you basicly say, a member a political party and being a member of the Congress or a Senator in the US have to rent his/her own personal so that the member can work.
Who is paying that member? I don't think the member pay that from his/her own pocket.
Nevermind the tax "problem".

They don't take office the instant the election is over. Until they are sworn a couple months later, everything is on their dime as they are still private citizens.
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Message 1964504 - Posted: 11 Nov 2018, 0:09:40 UTC - in response to Message 1964489.  
Last modified: 11 Nov 2018, 0:10:21 UTC

They don't take office the instant the election is over. Until they are sworn a couple months later, everything is on their dime as they are still private citizens.
I see. In the US you have to be very rich to become a member of the Congress or a Senator. What ever happened to "We the people"?
To me it's apparent that in your country you block competent leaders from office because they are not wealthy enough.
Instead you have to chose between Trump and alike.
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Message 1964587 - Posted: 11 Nov 2018, 8:50:02 UTC

One conclusion is that 'being competent' and 'being wealthy' are unrelated, and are quite possibly mutually exclusive.
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Message 1964637 - Posted: 11 Nov 2018, 16:54:22 UTC - in response to Message 1964616.  

That was a cheap throwaway line. But I do seriously worry about a slightly different formulation.

Democracy - proper democracy, proper voting - used to involve real debates, town hall meetings, lots of reading (printed manifestos), lots of thought. People took it very, very, seriously, and felt they had a duty to elect "the right man for the job". And yes, 100 years ago or more, it was usually a man.

Now, it seems to me, that winning a vote seems to be on a par with winning a Saturday night TV quiz - both for the winners, and for the voters.

As was said in the recent SCOTUS scrutiny of Judge Kavanaugh, this isn't a quiz show - it's a job application.

And in two years time, the voters will be deciding the application for the post of Leader of the Free World. I sure hope they choose somebody competent at holding down the job they've applied for.
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Message 1964647 - Posted: 11 Nov 2018, 17:34:33 UTC

I've never understood why the U.S. senators get six year terms, and the House Representatives get two year terms.
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