Why does the US provide all critical electronic design knowledge to the world?

[fourfathom]

(Early voting and mail voting are also allowed.)

Where I live (on an island between Washington State and Vancouver Island) we have no polling place, but instead everyone mails in their ballot or drops it off in a box in front of the "city hall".  We get the ballots in the mail several weeks ahead of time and can submit them up until election day.  There's probably a grace period to allow for slow US Mail delivery.

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, but I am concerned that the voter rolls aren't purged effectively.  I believe that if you don't vote in a few sequential elections your name should be dropped from the rolls.  But my daughter used to live there and voted, but moved away over ten years ago and we still get her mail-in ballot.  I could vote twice if I wanted and I doubt that it would be caught.

[BU508A]

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, [...]

You should really watch this video:

[TimFox]

I once had to explain to a "wingnut" co-worker that the election reporting on television the night of the election were not the official results.
In each jurisdiction, there is a "canvass" some time after the polls close.
https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/electionofficials/QuickStartGuides/Canvass_and_Certification_EAC_Quick_Start_Guide_508.pdf
The deadlines vary from State to State  https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/canvass-deadlines

Again, our former President moaned that the reports on TV shifted from candidate to candidate as the informal results were reported from jurisdictions of different populations, obviously a plot against him.
My memory shows several elections during my lifetime when the informal result was not known before midnight on Election Day.

The results in the extremely tight contest between Bush and Gore in November 7, 2000 were not final until a Supreme Court decision on December 12.
Post-mortem analyses by different academic groups showed different results in Florida, where the results determined the final electoral count.
If Gore had won his home state of Tennessee, the Florida vote, with a reported margin of 327 votes would not have mattered.
The final result, including Florida's 25 electoral votes, gave Bush a 1 vote margin in the Electoral College.
Gore did not fight the case after the Court decision, but he did win the popular vote.
In 2000 and 2016, the popularr vote winner lost the Electoral College.
The court case actually was to stop a proposed recount of the Florida vote, and is widely considered to have been political in nature.

[coppice]

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, [...]

You should really watch this video:

If you find that video interesting, try watching a few more about people manipulating US voting. Both parties have a dreadful history of playing the Gerrymandering card. This could be a really major issue for democracy going forwards. There is now software which will model an area, and figure out how to redistrict it to achieve pretty much any desired outcome. The only time it appears to fail to find a solution is when the area is so small it lacks enough diversity to mix things up in a suitable way. The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

[bd139]

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, [...]

You should really watch this video:

If you find that video interesting, try watching a few more about people manipulating US voting. Both parties have a dreadful history of playing the Gerrymandering card. This could be a really major issue for democracy going forwards. There is now software which will model an area, and figure out how to redistrict it to achieve pretty much any desired outcome. The only time it appears to fail to find a solution is when the area is so small it lacks enough diversity to mix things up in a suitable way. The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

That's exactly what was being done in the UK.

Also fortunately why Farage just about scraped shit hole Clacton and some shit hole in Lincolnshire. He wasn't using anything like that.

[Andy Chee]

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, [...]

You should really watch this video:

Speaking of odd, I do find that ballot drop boxes a bit silly and redundant.  What's wrong with using the conventional postal mail system?  If the existing postal system is inadequate, then measures should be taken to improve them, rather than create a parallel system!

[Andy Chee]

The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

In Australia, we have an independent body that redistricts new boundaries.  Our boundaries are never drafted by the incumbent party (or opposing party) alone.

[coppice]

The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

In Australia, we have an independent body that redistricts new boundaries.  Our boundaries are never drafted by the incumbent party (or opposing party) alone.

There is no such thing as an independent body. Its full of people, and people are partisan. The best you can hope for is a body made up of people from all sides, and hope there aren't too many of them gaming the system, by expressing views they don't really hold, to get in and manipulate the outcome.

[TimFox]

I'm happy with this method, and doubt that there is significant fraud, [...]

You should really watch this video:

Speaking of odd, I do find that ballot drop boxes a bit silly and redundant.  What's wrong with using the conventional postal mail system?  If the existing postal system is inadequate, then measures should be taken to improve them, rather than create a parallel system!

Although the Post Office is a feature of the main body of the US Constitution, recent trends have been to eliminate public subsidies thereof.
The current Postmaster General of the US Postal Service (no longer a cabinet post, as held by Benjamin Franklin back in the day) is from the private sector (logistics and freight) and a heavy political contributor.
His former companies hold contracts with the USPS.
His cost-cutting decisions, including scrapping many high-speed sorting machines, were controversial and did not speed delivery.

[Andy Chee]

The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

In Australia, we have an independent body that redistricts new boundaries.  Our boundaries are never drafted by the incumbent party (or opposing party) alone.

There is no such thing as an independent body. Its full of people, and people are partisan. The best you can hope for is a body made up of people from all sides, and hope there aren't too many of them gaming the system, by expressing views they don't really hold, to get in and manipulate the outcome.

That's exactly what I mean by independent.  Our redistricting body is indeed made up people from all sides.  Definitely NOT one sided like US gerrymandering.

[Simon]

I am bemused by the moderators’ tolerance for political discussions. This one has been going on for days, and the mods, who are usually quick to shut down any thread criticizing Russia’s war, whether political or not, are surprisingly turning a blind eye to this thread. Have the forum rules changed?

PS. Should I throw a wrench into this discussion, by describing how elections are held in Russia, to get it locked promptly?

maybe try starting at the beginning? why are political threads usually shut down? What has not happened in this thread that usually gets a topic locked quickly? Why are you so intolerant of people expressing an opinion?

[TimFox]

In the US, decennial redistricting has been mandated since several Supreme Court decisions in 1962 to 1964 about States that hadn't bothered to re-district since 1901 or so.
However, since redistricting is done by State legislatures, clever partisans can achieve numerically reasonable districts that favor the political party in power in the legislature.
The original "gerrymander" was done in 1812 when E Gerry was Governor of Massachusetts (he pronounced his surname with a hard G, but the portmanteau word is normally pronounced with a soft G).
It can be considered an original sin of US politics.
Recent academic work has proposed algorithmic redistricting, such as "minimum isoperimetric quotient", while other academics have generated algorithms to optimize the gerrymander for the party in power:  until recently, Wisconsin had perhaps the most complete gerrymander mathematically possible, based on work by academic consultants, using similar mathematics to those who analyze existing districts for gerrymander.
This is further complicated by court decisions that invalidate districting that reduces minority representation, but not districting that reduces political party representation.
The former consideration has resulted in geographic districts that are more extreme than Gerry's original one.

[tooki]

Anyone likes the font he is using?
I do not read his posts because of that idiotic font.

I've asked him multiple times to stop, since it reduces legibility. He insists it improves it, but it's again him imposing his taste on others, rather than allowing every reader to choose the font settings that are best for them.

[vk6zgo]

Australians are bemused by the US system, particularly how Elections are held on weekdays when most people are at work, & to add insult to injury, employers can prevent their workers from leaving work to vote without incurring any penalty.

It's a pretty old system.
Wednesday is a market day and Monday is a travel day.
1st day shop keepers do their books and November is after harvest.

Yes, I have heard the back story, but it is still silly.
Even if they kept the current days & made it an offence for employers to penalise employees for taking the time off to vote it would be an improvement.

[vk6zgo]

The problem is redistricting is a necessity. Some areas grow in population, and some decline. You can't set districts in stone for all time. You certainly have problems keeping it fair and reasonable, though.

In Australia, we have an independent body that redistricts new boundaries.  Our boundaries are never drafted by the incumbent party (or opposing party) alone.

There is no such thing as an independent body. Its full of people, and people are partisan. The best you can hope for is a body made up of people from all sides, and hope there aren't too many of them gaming the system, by expressing views they don't really hold, to get in and manipulate the outcome.

In any group in this country, around 50% are partisan for one side, & 50% for the other.
Decisions are made on a strictly population basis, with no idea of who votes for one party or the other.

If a redistribution favoured one party against the other, the "injured" party would scream long & loud!

We don't have "primaries" which is a step back from the "grass roots democracy" aspect of such contests, but has the advantage that there are no voters "registered' for one party or the other, so in a large area there is no real way of "carving out" those areas that vote against your favoured party.
When I walk into a polling booth, nobody knows who I vote for, unless I care to tell them.

[TimFox]

The United States contains various religious groups whose members observe the Sabbath on different days.
I'm not aware of any who keep Tuesday as a sacred day.
Which group should we offend?

[vk6zgo]

The United States contains various religious groups whose members observe the Sabbath on different days.
I'm not aware of any who keep Tuesday as a sacred day.
Which group should we offend?

Those who hold Saturday sacred don't seem to have a problem with it in Australia.
After all, voting is a duty, & soldiers from those groups don't abandon their duty on their sacred day.

[AVGresponding]

Anyone likes the font he is using?
I do not read his posts because of that idiotic font.

I've asked him multiple times to stop, since it reduces legibility. He insists it improves it, but it's again him imposing his taste on others, rather than allowing every reader to choose the font settings that are best for them.

You are free to choose whatever fonts settings you like, for any post you read. This is not altered by my choice of formatting. I will not be bullied into changing how and where I post, by you, or anyone else.

[AVGresponding]

Australians are bemused by the US system, particularly how Elections are held on weekdays when most people are at work

Are they also bemused by the uk ,that always hold elections on a thursday (unless theres a world cup),but the polling station is open fro 7AM -10PM so plenty of time to  get in and vote.

Additionally, in the UK, if you are in the queue to vote, by 10pm, even if this queue is a mile long (exaggeration for effect), you will be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes to actually get to marking your ballot paper.

[tom66]

Anyone likes the font he is using?
I do not read his posts because of that idiotic font.

I've asked him multiple times to stop, since it reduces legibility. He insists it improves it, but it's again him imposing his taste on others, rather than allowing every reader to choose the font settings that are best for them.

You are free to choose whatever fonts settings you like, for any post you read. This is not altered by my choice of formatting. I will not be bullied into changing how and where I post, by you, or anyone else.

Yes it is - because your text will override the stylesheet.  AFAIK there's no way to override the rules you've applied without manually editing the HTML.

From my perspective I don't mind, but it is a little odd to me.  If you want teal-coloured Trebuchet text you can add your own stylesheet to the forum attached to the 'post.inner' element.  This can be done using many browser plugins that are freely available.  That would make everyone's text match that, besides users who have set their own text colour/font/etc.

[coppice]

If a redistribution favoured one party against the other, the "injured" party would scream long & loud!

This seems like a very reasonable argument, yet really twisted districting happens a lot across the planet, and there are numerous articles and documentaries about how messed up it is, yet little really changes.

[TimFox]

Australians are bemused by the US system, particularly how Elections are held on weekdays when most people are at work

Are they also bemused by the uk ,that always hold elections on a thursday (unless theres a world cup),but the polling station is open fro 7AM -10PM so plenty of time to  get in and vote.

Additionally, in the UK, if you are in the queue to vote, by 10pm, even if this queue is a mile long (exaggeration for effect), you will be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes to actually get to marking your ballot paper.

Similarly, in the US, to vote in person you only need to be in the line by the closing time prescribed by local statute.
In some locations, where one party is desperate to minimize voting, it is now illegal for third parties to give water to those standing in line.

[CatalinaWOW]

Similarly, in the US, to vote in person you only need to be in the line by the closing time prescribed by local statute.
In some locations, where one party is desperate to minimize voting, it is now illegal for third parties to give water to those standing in line.

While this may sound terrible, it is probably in line with prior statutes that prohibited serving whiskey within 200 feet of polls and other similar restrictions to restrict small bribes (I'll give you a double shot of Old Stomach Killer if you vote for my guy").   No doubt all such laws are abused, in both directions, but the intent is not always evil.

[themadhippy]

it is probably in line with prior statutes that prohibited serving whiskey within 200 feet of polls and other similar restrictions to restrict small bribes (I'll give you a double shot of Old Stomach Killer if you vote for my guy")

A similar  idea is supposedly one of the reason the uk don't vote on friday. Most people were paid  on  a friday and  the call of the pub was greater than the call of the polling booth

[TimFox]

Illinois used to have a statute forbidding the sale of alcohol (both on- and off-premises) while the polls were open, but lobbying from the baseball teams and liquor retailers resulted in its repeal.