Commenting to hopefully bring attention to your fantastic interview with Josh Rogin. We’re all tired of “must watch/read/listen” claims, but this one makes the list for me.
Josh was articulate and brought up a rash of issues I’ve not heard discussed elsewhere. Thanks for giving him the airtime and not continuing the wider trend of blacking out voices that offer counter-narrative opinions. Especially, as in this case, when the unpopular opinion seems so wildly tiltee with facts in its favor.
Both are very rare, Ralph, not only here but worldwide. It is generally a county matter, not a state matter, because much--perhaps most--voting occurs at the county level for commissioners, school committee, sometimes judges, sheriff, etc.
Voting raises two contradictory issues. We must know who cast each ballot. At the same time, it must be impossible to learn whom anyone voted for. Drive-through and 24-hour both acerbate both issues. Florida mail-in voting solves this nicely by having the anonymous ballot sealed inside a serial-numbered envelope that you can drop, day or night, into any mailbox.
A lot of voting rules were changed because of covid, and often rather informally. What we are seeing now is a move to formalize some of those changes. It should not be surprising that the election winners want to keep things the same, because it is working for them, while the losers want to change things, and perhaps have a better chance next time.
Are voting laws solving a problem that doesn't exist? It is illegal in eight states to keep a monkey as a pet. (In Oregon, however, you can have one as a service animal.) Illegal in my home state of Massachusetts to discount drinks during "happy hour." Illegal to drive through a broken red light, except in a few states with "dead red" laws. To smoke cannabis in all but a handful of states and, of course, anywhere federal. To sit or lie down in public, in about half of large cities. Spit outdoors in almost all. Omit eBay sales from your income tax return. Use a fake name online. Record someone without their permission. I could go on and on.
Lots of laws address problems that don't exist. They address problems that are only perceived. Imaginary problems. Tens of millions of Americans still falsely believe that there was fraud in the last election. (Embarrassingly, I am one of them.) Laws that address imaginary problems are still good laws if they make people feel more secure. The proposed TX and GA voting laws both would do that.
Commenting to hopefully bring attention to your fantastic interview with Josh Rogin. We’re all tired of “must watch/read/listen” claims, but this one makes the list for me.
Josh was articulate and brought up a rash of issues I’ve not heard discussed elsewhere. Thanks for giving him the airtime and not continuing the wider trend of blacking out voices that offer counter-narrative opinions. Especially, as in this case, when the unpopular opinion seems so wildly tiltee with facts in its favor.
On your take, it would have been nice to know how many states offer drive thru voting or 24-hour voting.
Both are very rare, Ralph, not only here but worldwide. It is generally a county matter, not a state matter, because much--perhaps most--voting occurs at the county level for commissioners, school committee, sometimes judges, sheriff, etc.
Voting raises two contradictory issues. We must know who cast each ballot. At the same time, it must be impossible to learn whom anyone voted for. Drive-through and 24-hour both acerbate both issues. Florida mail-in voting solves this nicely by having the anonymous ballot sealed inside a serial-numbered envelope that you can drop, day or night, into any mailbox.
A lot of voting rules were changed because of covid, and often rather informally. What we are seeing now is a move to formalize some of those changes. It should not be surprising that the election winners want to keep things the same, because it is working for them, while the losers want to change things, and perhaps have a better chance next time.
Are voting laws solving a problem that doesn't exist? It is illegal in eight states to keep a monkey as a pet. (In Oregon, however, you can have one as a service animal.) Illegal in my home state of Massachusetts to discount drinks during "happy hour." Illegal to drive through a broken red light, except in a few states with "dead red" laws. To smoke cannabis in all but a handful of states and, of course, anywhere federal. To sit or lie down in public, in about half of large cities. Spit outdoors in almost all. Omit eBay sales from your income tax return. Use a fake name online. Record someone without their permission. I could go on and on.
Lots of laws address problems that don't exist. They address problems that are only perceived. Imaginary problems. Tens of millions of Americans still falsely believe that there was fraud in the last election. (Embarrassingly, I am one of them.) Laws that address imaginary problems are still good laws if they make people feel more secure. The proposed TX and GA voting laws both would do that.