Ballot harvesting

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There appears to be a new tactic in the voting arena and the underlying motive would seem to be ballot harvesting.

I gotta say this is a bit disturbing as this would essentially require someone to register to vote. Now, I am all for voting and have never missed a vote that I can remember. However, voting is a right guaranteed to every American citizen not a requirement of every American citizen. Making it a requirement, in my estimation, practically compels someone to “speak”, which would be a Constitutional violation as there are protections against such a thing.

If you haven’t yet read the article but had to guess which party is sponsoring such a preposterous proposal, which do you suppose it would be? If you guessed Democrats, you’d be correct.

If you have have been paying attention, you might recall that Democrats/liberals have suddenly gotten real good at and have promoted endlessly the ability to “harvest ballots.” Now, in my state, they aim to make it easier to ballot harvest by requiring all eligible people to register to vote, have a ballot mailed to all those people, and then collect them from anyone who has completed their civic duty (or possible even the ones who haven’t). At the very least, it would provide a list of people who haven’t yet submitted a completed ballot and allow for them to pursue said ballot by visiting the home of the recipient.

“Hi, I’m Joe Blow from the Democratic party. Records show you haven’t yet submitted the voting ballot sent to you a week ago. I was here to see if you have completed it and if I could offer to deliver it for you….oh, you haven’t yet filled it it? OK, well, I am willing to wait if you’d like to do it now and then I could take it when you’re done…oh, you don’t know much about what is on the ballot? I could certainly offer some advice, if you’d like…”

Pressure.

I am sure you can probably imagine the numerous scenarios for which something like the above would take place. The problem with the who process is that it opens the potential for election security problems and that, despite what some will argue is not happening, is of serious concern and should be prevented.

Conspiracy theorist? Maybe.

Cautionary tale? Perhaps.

Completely pessimistic and skepitcal of motivations? Winner, winner chicken dinner!

Requiring someone to register is just bad. It isn’t how the democratic process works and shouldn’t even be considered.

What do you think? Am I off base on this?

Poll dancing

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Prognostication. I hate it. I especially hate it when it comes to elections.

I seriously dislike the whole idea that the media thinks we need to know how voting is going before voting is done. Even worse, telling us how voting is going before it has even started.

How did election polling become such a big business?

The number of polls about politics has become a plague. Each of them trying to get a pulse on what will happen before it happens, all so they can get the scoop and make the news first. (yes, you read that right – MAKE the news.)

I honestly believe that polls actually discourage people from voting and I actually believe that they actually affect the outcome of an election. Polling is corrupting the processes of an election. In essence, they create undue influence on an election. Interference. I think this is especially probable when it comes to a liberal media who has a vested interest in getting liberal candidates elected.

So, today, go vote. Don’t answer any questions about who or what you voted for. Don’t give the pollsters any info. Period.

Oh, and while you’re at it, stop electing career politicians and idiots.

Thank you.

Loss of freedom

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Did everyone really think China was just going to leave Hong Kong alone when the British handed it over 23 years ago? Sure, the agreement said that China would have to keep it’s democracy intact and not limit the freedoms of the people loving there. Ha! With a wink, wink, and a nudge, nudge China said, “Sure, we’ll do that.” But they secretly had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

We have watched the slow-ish erosion of freedoms ever since. Today, the Communists in China effectively eliminated democracy from the one area most hoped would have greater influence on the rest of China. The resistance in Hong Kong has been admirable, but Communism just keeps on rolling. Mao is probably dancing in his grave today.

I feel sad for the people in Hong Kong. Their lives aren’t going to get better. It almost always goes the wrong direction when it comes to this stuff.

That Great Wall of China just got, for all intents and purposes, a little longer.

Fatigue

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Anyone else just tired of everything? I mean, like, EVERYTHING.

Literally half the country has lost it’s freedom loving mind.

Not to mention that literally three counties in my state control (read that as dictate) the election results for the other 36.

I am just tired. No wonder people wander into the wilderness, live off grid, and desire to never see other humans again.

Cavemen had it good.

Suppression

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Did you see that post from yesterday? The one where I asked people not to vote if…

I am guessing probably not.

Wonder why I ask? Because I believe WordPress is suppressing it.

I can’t think of any other reason why it wouldn’t have gotten at least five times as many views (I don’t ask for much, really). Honestly, wouldn’t people be interested just to see what it is about? I click on stuff to read all the time just because I wanna know what point of view the author is coming from, even if I don’t agree. Am I the only person who does this now? Do you only read the headline and move on without giving it even another thought or shred of curiousity?

As of this morning, it only had TWO views. Of those two views, none of them were from the Reader – those people (roughly, there is a lot of spam) who actually have followed the blog. There are no views on it today yet either.

I can only come to one conclusion…it’s being suppressed because it is telling people not to vote. Well, not exactly, but essentially that is the suggestion if you can’t meet certain qualifications, most of which are pretty straight-forward and common sense.

I guess asking for people who are educated, well informed, and have common sense to vote is wrong.

Interesting. How the politics of free speech play out on social media and other platforms, right?

Political ads suck

i voted sticker spool on white surface

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I know it is two days late and a dollar short, but who cares.

I know you all agree with me so I am kinda preaching to the choir here, but political ads suck. They are everywhere during political season (mind you we just left one election cycle and the next presidential cycle is about to begin shortly), radio, tv, internet, next to the road, in the mail, social media…and and now also in my texts.

I kid you not, I got a text on election day reminding me to vote (and how to vote on an initiative). So, now we are going to get bombarded in the future with text messages from campaigns…

I didn’t sign anything petition so other than my public voter registration I am not sure how they got my number but this is a bad sign. A bad bad sign.

I should have taken a screen shot of it so I could post it here to prove it, but I was so pissed I deleted the second I opened it to read it. #smh

Anyone else get political ads via text this cycle?