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Author | Message |
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Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
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 The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Mr. Kevvy Send message Joined: 15 May 99 Posts: 3776 Credit: 1,114,826,392 RAC: 3,319 |
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. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
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.†In Pennsylvania, a man was accused of threatening to shoot poll workers who told him he wasn’t registered to vote. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
http://jeffersoncountyclerk.org/myballot/Images/Ballots/G154.pdf devil in the details? https://www.whas11.com/article/news/what-is-the-constitutional-amendment-marsys-law-on-the-2018-kentucky-ballot/417-610741982 |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
http://jeffersoncountyclerk.org/myballot/Images/Ballots/G154.pdf Looks like it has it's roots in California - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsy%27s_Law The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Angela Send message Joined: 16 Oct 07 Posts: 13130 Credit: 39,854,104 RAC: 31 |
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Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
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 The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
Richard Haselgrove Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 14649 Credit: 200,643,578 RAC: 874 |
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.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. |
moomin Send message Joined: 21 Oct 17 Posts: 6204 Credit: 38,420 RAC: 0 |
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... |
Richard Haselgrove Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 14649 Credit: 200,643,578 RAC: 874 |
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. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
Hope she didn't quit her day job yet |
moomin Send message Joined: 21 Oct 17 Posts: 6204 Credit: 38,420 RAC: 0 |
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. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
Her salary is $174,000 per year, 156,600 after tax. 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! |
moomin Send message Joined: 21 Oct 17 Posts: 6204 Credit: 38,420 RAC: 0 |
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.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". |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Florida's secretary of state announces recounts in Senate and gubernatorial races. |
Gary Charpentier Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 30608 Credit: 53,134,872 RAC: 32 |
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.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. 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. |
moomin Send message Joined: 21 Oct 17 Posts: 6204 Credit: 38,420 RAC: 0 |
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. |
Richard Haselgrove Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 14649 Credit: 200,643,578 RAC: 874 |
One conclusion is that 'being competent' and 'being wealthy' are unrelated, and are quite possibly mutually exclusive. |
Richard Haselgrove Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 14649 Credit: 200,643,578 RAC: 874 |
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. |
Gordon Lowe Send message Joined: 5 Nov 00 Posts: 12094 Credit: 6,317,865 RAC: 0 |
I've never understood why the U.S. senators get six year terms, and the House Representatives get two year terms. The mind is a weird and mysterious place |
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