Trump now wants to defund the US Post Office

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Of course he did. He's very consistently a moron. 

[Guest]

Whether that day is this Nov/Dec/January or 4 years from now, I look forward to the day this scum is out of White House. 

Unbelievable

Edit: I have a feeling the team red is going to lose the Senate this fall. If that happens, even if he's Potus again it wont mean nearly as much. 

[Guest]

Trump admits he's blocking postal cash to stop mail-in votes

By DEB RIECHMANN and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated PressAugust 14, 2020 — 7:10am

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump frankly acknowledged that he's starving the U.S. Postal Service of money to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him reelection.
In an interview on Fox Business Network, Trump explicitly noted two funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill. Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won't have the resources to handle a flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”
Trump's statements, including the false claim that Democrats are seeking universal mail-in voting, come as he is searching for a strategy to gain an advantage in his November matchup against Joe Biden. He's pairing the tough Postal Service stance in congressional negotiations with an increasingly robust mail-in-voting legal fight in states that could decide the election.
In Iowa, which Trump won handily in 2016 but is more competitive this year, his campaign joined a lawsuit Wednesday against two Democratic-leaning counties in an effort to invalidate tens of thousands of voters’ absentee ballot applications. That followed legal maneuvers in battleground Pennsylvania, where the campaign hopes to force changes to how the state collects and counts mail-in ballots. And in Nevada, Trump is challenging a law sending ballots to all active voters.
His efforts could face limits. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rebuffed Republicans who challenged an agreement in Rhode Island allowing residents to vote by mail through November’s general election without getting signatures from two witnesses or a notary.
For Democrats, Trump’s new remarks were a clear admission that the president is attempting to restrict voting rights.
Biden said it was "Pure Trump. He doesn't want an election.”
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said it was " voter suppression to undermine the safest method to vote during a pandemic, and force Americans to risk their lives to vote."
Negotiations over a big new virus relief package have all but ended, with the White House and congressional leaders far apart on the size, scope and approach for shoring up households, reopening schools and launching a national strategy to contain the coronavirus.
While there is some common ground over $100 billion for schools and new funds for virus testing, Democrats also want other emergency funds that Trump rejects.
“They want $3.5 billion for something that will turn out to be fraudulent. That’s election money, basically,” Trump said during Thursday's call-in interview.
Democrats have pushed for a total of $10 billion for the Postal Service in talks with Republicans on the COVID-19 response bill. That figure, which would include money to help with election mail, is down from a $25 billion plan in a House-passed coronavirus measure.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has said that the agency is in a financially untenable position, but he maintains it can handle this year's election mail. A major donor to Trump and other Republicans, DeJoy is the first postmaster general in nearly two decades who is not a career postal employee.


https://www.startribune.com/trump-admits...fresh=true

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mail-in-ballots-sent-to-trump-and-first-lady-in-florida/
President Trump has requested a mail-in ballot for Florida's Tuesday primary election, despite weeks of criticizing the practice. Ballots were mailed on Wednesday to both the president and first lady Melania Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, which Mr. Trump lists as his legal address, according to online Palm Beach County elections records. 
Both previously voted by mail for the presidential preference primary in March, according to records.
Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Assume you're talking about an absentee ballot?  There are very specific requirements to get an absentee ballot.  One must complete an application which is cross referenced with the voter rolls for that precinct and then sent out.  Absentee ballots have verification, simple mail ballots do not.  I could go with mail out system if there was voter verification.
Current history of mail out balloting was problematic in primary voting in the few states trying it.  Have all the problems/issues been identified and can solutions be implemented in time before the election?

[Guest]

@IDVikingfan said:

@MaroonBells said:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mail-in-ballots-sent-to-trump-and-first-lady-in-florida/
President Trump has requested a mail-in ballot for Florida's Tuesday primary election, despite weeks of criticizing the practice. Ballots were mailed on Wednesday to both the president and first lady Melania Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, which Mr. Trump lists as his legal address, according to online Palm Beach County elections records. 
Both previously voted by mail for the presidential preference primary in March, according to records.
Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Assume you're talking about an absentee ballot?  There are very specific requirements to get an absentee ballot.  One must complete an application which is cross referenced with the voter rolls for that precinct and then sent out.  Absentee ballots have verification, simple mail ballots do not.  I could go with mail out system if there was voter verification.
Current history of mail out balloting was problematic in primary voting in the few states trying it.  Have all the problems/issues been identified and can solutions be implemented in time before the election?

Colorado's been voting by mail for 8 years without a problem. What Trump is claiming is a myth meant to suppress vote. 

Voter fraud is rare overall, and rarer by mailWhen fraud does occur, election administrators identify it and take action, correcting election returns and prosecuting those responsible. That’s what happened in North Carolina in 2018, when a Republican political activist paid others to collect incomplete absentee ballots so they could be filled out to vote for the Republican candidate. The activist was arrested, charged and convicted — and the entire election was invalidated and run again.
But overall election fraud is rare.
A database of election fraud reports maintained by the conservative Heritage Foundation reports approximately 1,200 allegations of voter fraud — for which there were 1,100 criminal convictions — for voter fraud since 2000.
Of those, only 204 allegations, and 143 convictions, involved mail-in ballots. That is a tiny fraction of the roughly 250 million mail-in ballots cast over those two decades. In addition, problems are extremely rare in states that rely primarily on vote by mail.
Of course, any voting system must be protected against fraud. Election officials are already doing that, including prosecuting fraud attempts.

[Guest]

Personal attempt to manipulate the election.  End of story.  He had 4 years to make a change, now he wants to make it (despite spending the last 2 decades voting by mail in voting)

Voter Suppression pure and simple.  Disgusting and offensive to every American and their right to vote in this country.  Again, a real threat to our democracy unlike “mask requirements”

Can you imagine if the previous President did this running up to the 2012 election?  Holding up the second stimulus in month 6 of a pandemic.  

[Guest]

Several states had problems with primary balloting and took a long time to declare the winner.  Are all the problems known leading to this result and can they be fixed before the election?

I personally prefer verified in person voting as the gold standard.  Idaho requires showing your photo ID at the polling place.  Absentee ballot is available with cross reference that you are registered in the precinct.  Application can be done on-line so not a major hassle.  Mail-in has no verification and not available in Idaho. 

My mother was living in a Stillwater, MN nursing home at her last opportunity to vote.  Democrat workers were visiting residents and handing out ballots.  Mom was life long Democrat and enjoyed visiting with the young Dem that came to her room.  They discussed the ballot and then Mom voted and handed the worker the completed ballot.  The Dem asked her how she voted and then strongly berated her because mom didn't vote "correctly".  Mom was very angry and I don't blame her. IMO, it was not right to ask how one voted, not right to berate a voter for how they voted nor right for a party worker to deliver the ballot.  

[Guest]

@StickyBun said:

@MaroonBells said:

Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Of course he did. He's very consistently a moron. 

I'm curious how many presidential candidates vote absentee?  I would guess the vast majority since it is unlikely that they will be home on election day.  Generally  have party election central in a major city. Maybe not vast majority, but I'll bet it is not uncommon.

[Guest]

@IDVikingfan said:

@StickyBun said:

@MaroonBells said:

Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Of course he did. He's very consistently a moron. 

I'm curious how many presidential candidates vote absentee?  I would guess the vast majority since it is unlikely that they will be home on election day.  Generally  have party election central in a major city. Maybe not vast majority, but I'll bet it is not uncommon.

lol, that's not the moron part I'm talking about.

[Guest]

@StickyBun said:

@IDVikingfan said:

@StickyBun said:

@MaroonBells said:

Following multiple claims that mail-in voting was unsafe and vulnerable to fraud, Mr. Trump changed his mind about the practice last week, at least in Florida.

Of course he did. He's very consistently a moron. 

I'm curious how many presidential candidates vote absentee?  I would guess the vast majority since it is unlikely that they will be home on election day.  Generally  have party election central in a major city. Maybe not vast majority, but I'll bet it is not uncommon.

lol, that's not the moron part I'm talking about.

LOL, missed that. You do agree that many/most presidential candidates  vote absentee?