US 2018 Midterms Elections - Divided Government Looms

[Love Mountain]

Wow I agree with half of the things you just wrote. Anti murder 10/10; pro self defense 10/10

The world would end if we enacted an inkling of gun control.

[Sar1n]

The world would end if we enacted an inkling of gun control.

Nah. US might, but we'd go on without you.

[Derpy Hooves]

The world would end if we enacted an inkling of gun control.

We already do have it, and many shootings have happened even when the laws on the books should have prevented them from happening

[PointOfViewGun]

We already do have it, and many shootings have happened even when the laws on the books should have prevented them from happening

Should have in a vacuum, but realistically could they? Not really, especially USA is kept in mind.

[Gaidin]

Here's the interesting story for anyone who says there vote doesn't matter:
https://www.alaskapublic.org/2018/11...riday-recount/

[Love Mountain]

We already do have it, and many shootings have happened even when the laws on the books should have prevented them from happening

Wow, sounds like we should have more laws and public officials to make sure existing laws are followed.

[Derpy Hooves]

Wow, sounds like we should have more laws and public officials to make sure existing laws are followed.

“Government isn’t enforcing the law”
”Wow we need more laws then!”
Or maybe we just need government to do its job

[Love Mountain]

“Government isn’t enforcing the law”
”Wow we need more laws then!”
Or maybe we just need government to do its job

"People aren't following speed limits and causing car crash!"

"Wow maybe we need we to legislate more safety technologies in cars or highways or build speed cameras"

"Maybe we just need the government to do its job"

Or maybe we need to be comfortable with discussing how to address the issue of guns, instead of you know, banning the CDC from researching the issue. Electing candidates who will vote "No" on anything and refuse to talk about it. I can see why you're happy about the Democrat not being elected.

[TheDarkKnight]

Anyone following the drama in NC 09?

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/pol...-bladen-county

Long story short...irregularities have cause a bipartisan commission to unanimously refuse to certify the victory of a republican candidate. May lead to a new vote pending an investigation.

Will be interesting if the only serious documented case of voter fraud happened in a Republican victory

[TheDarkKnight]

The scandal in North Carolina continues to grow.

We finally have an ACTUAL election fraud and yet the Republicans are oddly silent because they did it. How odd.

Combined with the absolutely that the GOP is pulling in Michigan and Wisconsin at the state level and it remains clear people should start getting locked up.

What a bunch of cowards who can't stand to lose.

[irontaino]

The scandal in North Carolina continues to grow.

We finally have an ACTUAL election fraud and yet the Republicans are oddly silent because they did it. How odd.

Combined with the absolutely that the GOP is pulling in Michigan and Wisconsin at the state level and it remains clear people should start getting locked up.

What a bunch of cowards who can't stand to lose.

But hey, the real voter fraud is in minority neighborhoods, so their votes have to be supressed amirite?

[TheDarkKnight]

I'm pretty sure voter fraud = minorities voting in ANY situation to Republicans so...probably.

But this is election fraud. A much bigger deal...and one that will hopefully lead to the Republican candidate losing overall. Again..with all the thievery happening in Michigan and Wisconsin this is just icing on top of the anti-democratic cake.

[Love Mountain]

This isn't voter fraud. It's election fraud. Voter fraud is virtually non-existent. Though that certainly hasn't stopped the Texas GOP to attempt to make an example out of this poor woman. This doesn't serve to prove any of GOP's rhetoric, only serves to prove their inhumane cruelty (in before some conservative yaps about how much "better" our prisons are than living in Haiti). What this shows is the GOP is not at all concerned with the election process and never was. This is all about political power, pure and simple. The numerous allegations and suspicious circumstances of voter suppression and election fraud prove that.

[TheDarkKnight]

They don't care at all. The Republican Party is so crooked right now it's unbelievable that people don't see it. Their actions in states such as North Carolina, Michigan, and Wisconsin show as much.

Speaking of which...The Dem candidate from NC-09 has officially withdrawn his concession.

I hope he ultimately wins. These Republican s need to be shown the door.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/06/p...ion/index.html

[Gaidin]

They don't care at all. The Republican Party is so crooked right now it's unbelievable that people don't see it.

Fair's fair, NC is as republican as it is. And the Dems haven't made as much noise as you think they have. The appointments in the state board of elections in the...well...past decade will favor republicans. And they're hounding this line a god damn dog. Let me put it this way. They're not Chicago. They're not even neutral like Florida which has it's own problems. There are states that accept that they're going to make national news for awkward stories. There's like...three of them. North Carolina isn't really traditionally among them. The fact that this is happening is screwing with them and they're dealing with this BS even if it means they have to send a Democrat to Congress.

To point. North Carolina don't want national news. Or. To wit. When they have national news it best be about the fact that Duke won the national championship. Not this . They'll clean this up.

[Coughdrop addict]

He's doing about as good a job as HH at sourcing his claim. *cluck cluck cluck*

It's like when the right was swearing up and down that there was massive voter fraud after the midterms, yet couldn't come up with any evidence beyond "I don't like the results!"

[B. W.]

It's like when the right was swearing up and down that there was massive voter fraud after the midterms, yet couldn't come up with any evidence beyond "I don't like the results!"

You're so ill informed it's pitiful:

https://therightscoop.com/texas-says...tered-to-vote/

[Coughdrop addict]

You're so ill informed it's pitiful:

https://therightscoop.com/texas-says...tered-to-vote/

From your own link:

UPDATE:

The Texas Tribune says that the facts are being misrepresented by some in the media – here’s their explanation:

In an advisory released Friday afternoon, the office said it was flagging individuals who had provided the Texas Department of Public Safety with some form of documentation — including a work visa or a green card — that showed they were not a citizen when they were obtaining a driver’s license or an ID card. Among the individuals flagged, about 58,000 individuals cast a ballot in one or more elections from 1996 to 2018, the secretary of state’s office said.

It’s unclear exactly how many of those individuals are not actually U.S. citizens and whether that number will be available in the future. In its notice to counties, the secretary of state’s office said the names should be considered “WEAK” matches, using all capital letters for emphasis.
That means counties may now choose to investigate the eligibility of the individuals who were flagged, which would require them to send a notice asking for proof of citizenship within 30 days, or take no action. By law, the counties aren’t allowed to automatically revoke a voter’s registration without sending out such a notice.

As I pointed out elsewhere, the irregularities are over a span of elections, which means even if none of these people could prove they’re legal voters, it would go down to about 5,000 illegal votes per election in Texas.

What's that all mean? From Politifact, and I'll even highlight the important parts for you

The state's list is not the final word on how many people have voted illegally. It is now up to county officials to collect more information about these voters and determine their citizenship status. It's possible in some cases, for example, that someone obtained a driver’s license before earning their citizenship.
The whittling process that is just starting across Texas has played out in other states that mounted similar voter roll purges based on driver’s license data, said Justin Levitt, a Loyola law school professor and expert on voter registration.
"Percentages are infinitesimal of the original eye-popping headline," Levitt said.
"WEAK matches"
For nearly a year, the Texas Secretary of State and the Texas Department of Public Safety have been trying to identify noncitizen voters. (This started long before Gov. Greg Abbott appointed David Whitley as secretary of State in December.) They argue that any fraud undermines the integrity of elections while voting rights advocates say it is an attempt to suppress voter participation.
Voting in an election in which the person knows he or she is not eligible to vote is a second-degree felony in Texas.
State officials looked at two sets of data for their current investigation: the names of people who provided documents indicating they were not citizens when they obtained a driver’s license or a state ID, and the names of people who registered to vote.
That resulted in a list of 95,000 people with a current driver’s license or state ID who also had a voter registration record in Texas. Of those, 58,000 people voted in elections back to 1996, said Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the secretary of State.

But the same advisory that is the source of those numbers urged caution in interpreting them, using all capital letters to describe the similar records as "WEAK matches." The announcement didn’t say 58,000 noncitizens definitely voted.

Despite the warning, the numbers inspired some overhyped reactions, including from the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who tweeted a "voter fraud alert."
County officials can’t cancel a voter’s registration based on the information provided so far. The advisory states that if registrars have reason to believe a voter is not eligible, they should send a letter to the voters asking for proof of citizenship within 30 days. After that point, election officials can cancel the person’s registration.

Problems with the data
Voting rights advocates raised a key concern about the data: driver’s license data may not reflect a person’s current citizenship status.

"Indeed, between 52,000-63,000 are naturalized every year in Texas," Texas Civil Rights Project spokesman Zenén Jaimes Pérez told PolitiFact.

We asked the Secretary of State’s office if it’s possible that some of the people in the 58,000 or 95,000 groups have since become citizens.
"That’s up to the county voter registrars and/or the Attorney General’s office to determine," Taylor responded.
On Jan. 28, county election officials across Texas were starting the process of examining the information from the state. So far, it is too early to determine if those on the list are actual noncitizen voters, said Chris Davis, the head of the Texas Association of Elections Administrators and the administrator in Williamson County.
Bruce Elfant, the voter registrar in Travis County and a Democrat, said that he has concerns about whether the data reflects current citizenship information.
"We really know very little at this point," he told PolitiFact. "Those who weighed in alleging voter fraud, I would say it is premature and irresponsible. … This is going to be long and complicated."
Douglas Ray, a special assistant county attorney in Harris County, told the Houston Chronicle that he’s skeptical of the use of Department of Public Safety records that he described as "notoriously" outdated for the citizenship status of drivers.
Ray said the county is going to compare the list of names from the state with a list of people who have gone through naturalization ceremonies.
In addition to outdated citizenship information, it’s possible that there are mismatches of people with similar names.

Myrna Pérez, who works on voting rights at the Brennan Center for Justice, said she was once denied an absentee ballot by the state of Texas because her mother, who has the same name, had already voted.
"That may sound like a one-off, but actually it’s not when we are talking about databases that big," she said.
Proven cases of noncitizen voters are rare
While the final outcome in Texas could be months away, we know that proven instances of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections are rare.
A national database of criminal convictions of election fraud by the conservative Heritage Foundation shows four individuals who have been convicted of noncitizen voting in Texas. In November, a Texas appeals court upheld the conviction of Rosa Maria Ortega, a green card holder, who was sentenced to eight years in jail after voting multiple times. And on Jan. 15, Paxton announced that a noncitizen was charged with illegal voting.

A 2017 report by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice found that election officials in 42 jurisdictions referred an estimated 30 incidents of suspected noncitizen voting (out of more than 23 million votes) for further investigation or prosecution.

In August 2018, federal prosecutors in North Carolina announced charges for 19 foreign nationals believed to have voted in the 2016 general election. So far, 10 have pleaded guilty to voting, and one pled guilty to aiding and abetting a noncitizen in falsely claiming citizenship in order to vote, a spokesman for the U.S. District Attorney in the eastern district of North Carolina said.
Florida engaged in a controversial attempt to search for noncitizen voters based on driver’s license leading up to the 2012 election. The search was rife with errors, turning up the name of a Brooklyn-born World War II veteran as a noncitizen voter. The state initially identified 182,000 people but ended the purge after removing just 85 names.
Before we issue our ruling, a quick word about Trump's call for "strong voter ID." Texas already has among the strictest voter ID laws in the country. The original 2011 law required voters to show a government-issued ID such as a driver’s license or passport. After a court found that the law had a discriminatory effect, the state passed a new law that allowed voters to provide other forms of ID, and it survived a federal appellate test in 2018.

Our ruling
Trump said, "58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote."
Trump omits that even the Texas Secretary of State has expressed caution in these numbers, calling the match in records "WEAK" and outlining a process county elections officials can undergo to check the flagged voters.

At this point, we don’t know how many on the list culled over 22 years of data will be proven to be noncitizens who cast ballots — some may have gotten their citizenship after their driver’s license and voted legally.
Because he inaccurately characterized the early stage of what Texas actually reported, we rate this claim False.

[B. W.]

From your own link:



What's that all mean? From Politifact, and I'll even highlight the important parts for you

The important part is the last paragraph where the author admits that at a minimum there are at least 5,000 illegal votes cast in each election.

That's a lot of votes! It's enough to tilt an election in a House race for sure and there were a number of House seats in Texas that were lost by far fewer votes. I know for certain there was a Republican House seat in Harris County that went Dem by just a few votes (Harris County is dominated by sanctuary city Houston).

It could easily determine the outcome of a senatorial race and in local races it could be a dominate factor. In some states such as Florida, it could turn the state's electoral votes to a different candidate.

Now you know why Dems don't want the voter rolls audited in Blue states.

Practice your reading comprehension. From the article:

As I pointed out elsewhere, the irregularities are over a span of elections, which means even if none of these people could prove they’re legal voters, it would go down to about 5,000 illegal votes per election in Texas.

[Cyclops]

Pretty sure Trump's claim about "massive voter fraud" is lies, like a lot of what he says. He's a blatant entitled liar, too lazy or stupid to cover his tracks. He said Mexico would pay for the wall, now he's holding the US government to ransom to get US taxpayers to pay for it.

He may be lying about Russia, but he's such a stupid barefaced liar surely he'd have contradicted himself about this already if he had sucked up to Putin. His idiot son did, tweeted the evidence too.