https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/u...n-ballots.html

PA most likely will get closer if not swing back to Biden

Still waiting for his wake up Twitter meltdown. Only thing keeping me up at this point.

The diplomatic answer is that running election is up to the states, so routines, regulation and procedures differs. The brutal answer is that the US election process is a mess with many gaping flaws, and a history where politicians look to exploit that mess instead of fixing it.

If it hadn't been for the US' international status, I suspect US status as a modern democracy (or representative republic for the misguided nitpicker) would be questioned.

It's a testament to American culture, however, that despite all of this and despite a raging pandemic it is now approaching a 70% voter turnout in the 2020 election. That's a lot with an election process that is extremely cumbersome. It's very, very tough to stop American people, something both presidential candidates are now experiencing to the fullest.

As a foreign observer I'll dryly note that the American people seem far better at democracy than the people elected to serve them.

Biden came roaring back in Michigan (still currently behind though)

2020 take aways...

#1 Democrats said to hell with that voting in person crap I'm mailing this joint in.

#2 Republicans were too embarrassed to admit to pollsters that they were voting for Trump.

Voting should be done on a blockchain

But equally it is just as easy for a less passionate conservative voter to vote for Trump by mail in than go out and vote and potentially face ridicule for doing so that appears quite obviously as a potential reaction that one would receive if they were open about their voting intentions.

Woha, 60K is indeed far better than expected.

But if I understand the american system correctly you would need to win a state to get into kongress?

People were voting anti trump regardless, you don’t think if people voted weeks ahead of time they weren’t going to in person votes if there was no COVID. With that being said, I think we need to make it a national holiday so that everyone has an easy time voting in person. Many people can’t afford to vote due to the time commitment/their job on Election Day.

I just woke up is Biden gona do it?

This fell about 50 yards from making any sense.

Betting markets think so

Trump lead in Michigan down to 27 K on CNN.

Biden lead in Wisconsin up to 20 K.

Honestly, I'm not sure how he would have found sleep. I'm living on the opposite end of the world but I have been glued to the results coming in for the greater part of the past eight hours and the overall result probably effects me very little. I think Trump lies and exaggerates but I also think Biden is a puppet and a phony. Either way if my job were actually at stake here I don't imagine I'd find sleep especially off an adrenaline rush where I would have thought I had a reasonable chance at victory. That's part of the reason why the whole process has been so unsatisfactory for a viewer. Imagine a sporting event that gets to the final frame, etc and then the media is like, ahhhhh........., it may be a few days now, etc. Complete crazy to watch a close election in real time with the way they conduct it.

I'm just going to say this in your favour that it is still early and counting hasn't really re-commenced just yet.

Are you referring to electoral votes? I would say it depends. Most states the candidate who wins the most wins all the electoral votes but some are different. But yeah, in most elections the Dems or republican candidates get all the electoral votes but occasionally you’ll get someone like Perot that gets a couple but it’s tough. I’d much rather they start giving % vote for % electoral so if you win 51/49, you essentially split the vote versus taking it all in certain states. This current system hurts states that are hard one party and benefits if you can win close elections.

Is there any evidence backing up the “they were too embarrassed to tell pollsters they were voting for Trump” narrative? I’m open to it if there is but that seems like a convenient story. It basically lets pollsters off the hook.

I went to bed 9 hours ago and now waking up to see critical counting still ongoing.

Don’t worry voters, as long as trump isn’t incarcerated, he can keep tweeting and doing all the same **** he does but at least he doesn’t have the strongest job in the world at his disposal.

Honest question? Did you expect anything less? The popular vote was never in doubt in my mind. It was where the votes were spread.

Interesting night to say the least. Kind of curious if Biden wins which path the Trumpers will take here (of those that continue to post). Will it be the "it is rigged, they should not count votes after midnight for random reasons" approach or the "we are still winning anyway in 2024" - so much winning approach. Seems there are a couple good options, and perhaps some others that will develop (this is a vote for Antifa or something), and I hope the Trumpers fill all the possible lanes as that will be a lot more entertaining. Guessing Hunter stuff is done for now.

I've pressed the point in the days running up to this election that Trump's last bastion was voter enthusiasm and refrained from trusting polls overly much. His digital reach is enormous, makes him far less vulnerable to media coverage and voter enthusiasm is a very powerful metric. Campaigning against Trump is a bit like swatting at an elephant-sized fly, you better aim well.

I also have a suspicion he he hits "political super-spreaders" more, social hubs (small groups, specific people) that carry greater influence over their immediate network. That could explain outreach to more people who aren't as easily to reach or measure via polls. That's pure conjecture though, I'm no polling expert. I know from social science that these networks are very powerful in shaping opinion, however.

So we should make exercising a constitutional right a more difficult process than wiring $10k because...what? Builds character?

Not only should we be making it easier so that more citizens have a voice in their govt, we should make it mandatory and impose a fine for failure to vote. Same logic that makes it illegal to ignore a call for jury duty.

Just for fun, what odds would you give the following people to become president in 2024:

- Andrew Yang

- AOC

- Kanye

- Ben Shapiro

- Donald Trump Sr

- Donald Trump Jr

Bonus round: if there wasn't a rule that you had to be born on U.S. soil, what do you think Elon Musk's chances would be in 2024, if he ran for president?

Yeah interesting night for sure. How are you feeling as you were mighty confident as many were before the election?

I just hope if Trump wins we won't see the kind of rioting we saw earlier in the year and if Biden wins that there is an orderly exit from Trump.

His tweets probably cost him the majority of his votes. If he learned to shut up more on social media and in real life he probably wouldn't be in the predicament that he is in right now. He actually does inspire confidence in some of his speech but he cannot help but go overboard with alot of it, and ya, sometime outward exaggerate and lie . It's what I said, he isn't a career politician. That **** speech that Biden gave multiple times about missing someone at your Thanksgiving table, etc. Trump doesn't know how to do that sort of stuff because to smarter people in America that's an insult. A politician has to play dumb to the masses.