So, seven tRump counties in Penn said tonight that they will not count absentee ballots until

[yaesu]

Last edited Mon Nov 2, 2020, 11:08 PM - Edit history (1)

the 4th, according to Maddow right now, even though all other counties will be counting them on the 3rd. These seven counties went for tRump in '16, I smell a RICO case in the making!

[The Magistrate]

1. More Likely, Sir

Will be pleas to count every vote from those saying now that counts should end on election night....

[elleng]

3. The 'counts should end on election night' are b.s.,

and not required at all; count every ballot IS required, as stated by J. Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

[The Magistrate]

6. Of Course, Ma'am

As someone said recently, until all the ballots are counted, the election is not over. The thing does not end when the polls close, and network projections are not official declarations from a state board of elections. If someone leads at 10 PM, the election has not been flipped if that person trails at dawn, or next Thursday.

[regnaD kciN]

8. Plus, the AP has already said they will not call the election until the result is certain...

...but, as Keith Olberman noted, Trump will try to set the narrative with his planned "victory speech" tomorrow night. If the networks fall for it, and show it live, that narrative becomes established, no matter how much the network anchors can then proclaim that the race isn't callable yet. If that's accepted, any change in the results in later counting will be viewed by many as "illegitimate."

[Laelth]

4. That's what I expect.

Trump’s tune is going to change . When it’s clear on election night that Biden has won, his tune will change from “only election day votes count” to “count every vote, no matter how long it takes.”

Think I will launch an OP on this subject.

-Laelth

[Blue_true]

2. If they are trying to prevent the state from being called for Biden on election night,

they are pissing into the wind. The large cities and suburbs so swamp then, that if Joe has a big lead in the big places, the hollows of red country won’t prevent the state from being called.

[regnaD kciN]

9. But we have no reason to think "the large cities and suburbs" will provide final totals by then...

...either. And, yes, these are Republican counties. But the fact remains that more Democrats are voting by mail than Republicans, so the election-night numbers from these counties (which will be reporting in-person voting totals) will be even more heavily-weighted toward Trump than they would otherwise be...which will buoy his numbers and make it look like he's doing better than he is.

[Blue_true]

11. There will be in person voting in the big places also tomorrow.

They won’t swamp anything, they are too small compared to the whole and are buoyed only by gerrymandering, which is not an issue for a Presidential or Senate race.

[Hoyt]

5. Don't have a big problem with that and for at least these two counties doesn't seem a conspiracy.

Americans may have to wait beyond election night to find out who won Pennsylvania, since at least two counties in the state will not begin counting mail-in ballots until the day after the election.


Election officials in Cumberland and Butler Counties, both of which are heavily Republican, say their staffs are simply too small to tally mail ballots while at the same time running Election Day operations.

Under state law, it's legal for these counties to wait. They're allowed to open mail-in ballot envelopes, check signatures and scan ballots — a process known as "pre-canvassing" — on the morning of Election Day, but they must wait until polls close at 8 p.m. to report results.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsylvania-election-ballots-butler-cumberland-counties-count-after-election-day/

[greenjar_01]

7. Election officials are usually acting in good faith, regardless of their side of the aisle

Trump counties in PA are sparser, with less centralization, and fewer people on hand to help with shit like this. That likely explains this decision. I don't think it helps Trump at all, and may even hurt him. These votes won't register on Election night, but any analyst worth her salt will know how many votes are outstanding and how they're likely to fall based on district and in-person voting ranges. Pennsylvania could even be called with these votes out. If you're down 450,000 and there are only 500,000 left to count, you're not going to make it up.

[Demsrule86]

10. They never do...that is PA.