Lifted from comments (Fred C. Dobbs)
The most complicated election in modern history is coming
— soon. Are we prepared?
via @BostonGlobe – September 20
A TEST FOR DEMOCRACY
Experts worry about a nightmare election during a pandemic marred by disenfranchisement and chaos, followed by an acrimonious legal and political dispute over the results that would test the nation’s democratic resolve. …
(A lengthy article, in six parts.)
Chapter 1 – A history of disenfranchisement
Chapter 2 – Fear and mistrust
Chapter 3 – Running elections amid COVID-19
Chapter 4 – Legal battles
Chapter 5 – Disinformation and cybersecurity
Chapter 6 – Mail-in voting
And don’t forget to worry about this:
How a Pennsylvania law could delay presidential election results for days or even weeks
Jon WardSenior Political Correspondent
Yahoo News–September 16, 2020
https://www.yahoo.com/news/how-a-pennsylvania-law-could-delay-presidential-election-results-for-days-or-even-weeks-205118975.html
Republicans control both chambers in the state Legislature, and Democrats say they are using the issue of pre-canvassing as leverage, trying to extract concessions that will make it harder to vote in other ways.
The state House passed a Republican-led bill two weeks ago that has yet to be taken up by the state Senate. The law would allow clerks to pre-canvass three days before Election Day. But the GOP included other provisions in the bill that would eliminate most drop boxes in the state and shut down an effort to allow voters to deliver their mail or absentee ballots by hand to a satellite voting location.
“A TEST FOR DEMOCRACY”???
[Nope, but it might be a test for popularly elected unrepresentative republicanism. Although not a literal democracy, private campaign financing does sort of make it a dollar democracy, if that is what was meant.]
We are not a democracy, we are mostly a republic. I mention this because faking people into thinking we are a democracy hides the essence of making government multipliers greater than one. And when we fake about democracy we end up doing all sort of weird crappola. The fraud hurts the poor, be we do it anyway. People with a bit of wealth also tend to understand this issue, so it is really an unfair game we put on the poor.
A TEST FOR DEMOCRACY
Chapter 1 – A history of disenfranchisement
‘They’re doing everything to stop us from voting’
This year, the pandemic, the sputtering postal service, and President Trump’s verbal assaults on the integrity of the electoral system, have raised the specter of widespread voter disenfranchisement. But those are simply new fractures in the bones of a system that has often seemed better at shutting out voters than protecting them. …
Chapter 1 – A history of disenfranchisement
The other articles…
Chapter 2 – Fear and mistrust
Chapter 3 – Running elections amid COVID-19
Chapter 4 – Legal battles
Chapter 5 – Disinformation and cybersecurity
Chapter 6 – Mail-in voting