Georgia Election Threats

Trump is patently unfit as well as simply horrible but we still have to sweat thin margins in swing states because of the damn Electoral College. The Electoral College is somewhat better, in a way, than Trump's scam university but not too much in the 21st Century. Only one got us two dubious "leaders of the free world." 

Georgia is one swing state where Biden barely won along with both Democratic senators, who allowed the Democrats to have a trifecta. It was a close call -- a fraction of one percent of the vote led to a runoff (thanks to the Libertarian candidate) for Jon Ossoff, helped by a freestanding election after Trump was tainted. 

Georgia County Installs ‘Panic Buttons’ For Poll Workers As Concerns Grow Over New Rules

Georgia has a semi-sane Republican governor, who is not "all-in" on MAGA electoral fiction. He supports various burdensome voting requirements that needlessly make voting harder. He is a Republican. He now is pro-Trump though is trying to split the baby, so to speak, on just how crazy he wants to go regarding election denial tactics. 

I notice the above article. One thing that makes it feel personal is that I do poll work. We don't have many problems here* in New York City and the two places I worked generally were smooth sailing. We have many polling places here, 10 ten days of early voting, and generous voting by mail rules.  

Lest we forget while it slowly moves along, a basic issue in the Georgia criminal case (also a civil lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani) was harassment and lies against two African-American poll workers. They are not alone.

Both parties, if they warranted our respect, would on a bipartisan basis be concerned when we get to this point:

The need for panic buttons is reflective of the current threat environment that election workers find themselves in. Neal Kelley, the former registrar of voters for Orange County, California and chair of The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections doesn’t think the implementation of these panic buttons is extreme, but rather, a necessary step to protect election workers. 

The 2020 election shows the potential dangers, especially if poll workers angered MAGA types by simply doing their jobs. Election officials are not happy about two new election rules that will make it harder to confirm the results:

The people who run elections in Georgia are angry and frustrated over new state rules that they say will make the process less secure and their jobs more difficult.

As the panic button notes -- we should always be concerned about the wider issues here -- the rules are dubious:

One of these rules gives the Georgia Election Board the authority to not certify election results until a “reasonable inquiry” into any discrepancies in the voting process at the county level has been conducted. As TPM has previously reported, the rule is vague and does not explain what constitutes a “reasonable inquiry.”

And the second rule, gives election board members power “to examine all election-related documentation before certifying the results.” This same rule also dictates that if there is a discrepancy between the ballot count and the number of voters, the board must investigate the discrepancy before the election can be certified. 

Our nation's elections are still largely state-run. It can turn on state litigation. Florida in 2000 showed how this could have national effects. It also underlines the stupidity of the Trump v. Anderson ruling. 

So, state regulation of the 14th Amendment provision might cause difficulties? Oh no! That never happens! The fact three of the justices involved in that case were also working behind the scenes in Bush v. Gore (Alito was a judge, Thomas was a justice, and not sure why Gorsuch was not involved) underlines the hypocrisy. 

Sen. Schumer says Senate Democrats are open to altering filibuster rules after the 2024 elections, including to pass major voting rights legislation. A bipartisan bill was passed to update the electoral vote process, making it harder to cause problems. Not surprisingly, this occurred when the Democrats fully controlled Congress.  

We are still far from having another trifecta to make such legislation possible. It also will not remove all problems, including the overall troubles with the Electoral College possibly negating a large popular vote victory. 

It underlines the importance of voting blue. 

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* Update: Okay. Well, we don't have people waiting for hours on lines and so on, but this blithe comment was somewhat too flippant. 

I was informed about a Board of Elections worker (Republican) indicted for extortion and conspiracy, including accepting bribes to give poll worker positions. Again, that hits home. 

The NYT article expands on recent problems:

The charges against Ms. Torres are the most recent in a string of scandals at the long-troubled board, which have included failing to mail out absentee ballots, a botched rollout of the ranked-choice voting system, disenfranchisement of voters and more.

So, yes, we have work to do here too.