The 2020 Presidential General Election thread

Also, the line in my precinct has a roughly 2:1 ratio of women to men. I don't know what the normal skew is in the morning, but it seems like a good sign.

Have you practiced your pickup line?

I voted. It was around 8am so it was pretty sparse. The election workers were rude, which is normal. No sticker. I'm kinda bummed about that.

I really want a Part II to this.

CNN reports Trump has taken a daunting 35 - 12 lead in exit voting in Maine! IS THIS THE END OF JOSEPH BIDEN????

But wait! Election Day Shocker: Biden up 28 - 3 in Atlanta! Looks like we've got a barnburner!!!

And Biden isn't finished yet! Voters in Minnesota are rejecting the "kill moose and squirrel" referendum by a 4 to 1 margin! Excuse me, ma'am . . . ? 5 to 1! Clearly anti-Russia sentiment is running high, Trump's chances do not look good here.

We go now to Arizona, where a mammoth sampling of 1,191 likely voters yesterday found that 50.005% agreed with the statement "If you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce, they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does." If that trend continues, Biden's chances of getting a Four-Corner bonus are basically nil.

We'll be back with more Decision 2020[TM] coverage after this. Joining us will be special guest Stephen A. Smith to explain how many states Lebron James could win if he were running.

I know you’d lose your water supply. That’s why I suggested it.

No line when I was there at 0800, but the poll workers told me they were very busy when they opened at 0600. Apparently it tailed off just before I arrived. Usual pattern is another big push at lunchtime.

You want Trump to win?

My ballot has been dropped off in the ballot box and accepted.
WA State.

I want @Tuttle's face superimposed over that woman's face.

The latest, voiced by Martin Sheen:

Hopefully most people send in their mail in ballots as soon as they could so most of them are already in and are just waiting to be counted...

I should probably add that I did something I just never do at election time and voted a straight party line. Biden for President, obviously, because the orange moron has GOT to go. Mark Warner for Senate because I actually know about him and like him. Don Beyer for the House, because the Republicans have lost their fuckin' minds and need not apply this year. Plus the usual assortment of ballot measures, like some bond issues and what not that I generally voted in favor of.

Unfortunately I had no choice but to go straight party dem. The only Republican I have any respect for is Governor Little. He’s doing an honest job of trying to manage the pandemic whilst trying to hold off the batshit crazies, including the Lt Governor who’s in the pocket of the Idaho Freedom Foundation.

Coverage of Trump's address to his campaign staff showed a man who seems sure he is defeated, and spoke almost entirely in the past tense.

Low energy. Sad.

Bigly!

Unconfirmed reports coming out, but this could be bad:

I'm not going to stay up tonight for the coverage, although I may sneak a look at my phone during the night.

For now I'm watching some CNN. They have an exit poll in half an hour. Does anyone know the details of what that concerns or how significant it might be?

Exit polls are just what it says on the tin: someone interviews voters as they come out of the polling place and asks them how they voted. It is assumed that people who respond are mostly telling the truth. And in fact, exit polls are fairly accurate. The significance is that it allows the media to "call a state" before the official vote tallies are done, and this can impact western states if it looks like a candidate is heading for a significant victory . . . people out west may decide note to vote at all if it looks like the election is already a foregone conclusion.

This is why some of my ideas for fixing our elections include having the polls open for 24 hours, and have that be the same 24 hours all across the country, and to prohibit any reporting of results until the polls are closed.

IIRC, at least one country prohibits reporting on election results until 24 hours after the polls have closed.

I've never, in my entire voting life, seen turnout like this. The wait time at my polling place was right at an hour. People of all colors and creeds. I only saw one couple not wearing a mask. One guy was wearing a Trump 2020 mask. That goes against the rules against campaigning within x number of feet of the polling site. But, do you ask him to turn it around? To take it off and not wear a mask at all? None of the Sheriff's Deputies seemed bothered by it. It wasn't worth causing a scene over, but it was a little cringe moment.

Exit polls are actually very misleading

It's not as much about what you are wearing as opposed to actively talking to people in line and pushing for a candidate.

Give him a plain surgical mask to put over it.

Maybe in your state. Elsewhere if you're carrying a sign or wearing a teeshirt, hat, or button with your candidate's name on it, you don't have to say a word in order to be asked to step out of the line until you've rectified the situation.

Not here. Just wearing clothing with a candidate or party affiliation on it is considered electioneering.

I've seen people from both sides be told that they need to either remove the clothing if it's something like a hat or turn a t-shirt inside out. Otherwise they're kicked out of the line.

It depends on the State. For instance, California law forbids you from wearing anything with a candidate's name or likeness inside the polling place. In a case, Chief Justice Roberts said it was a good, reasonable, and clear law.

Alabama's law says that you can't do any electioneering within 30 feet of the entrance to a polling site. This includes anything with a candidates name or likeness such as t-shirts, buttons, masks, etc.