4 ms·

How does it help the left and hurt the right? Serious question.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
zaroth 6y ago
I’ll get downvoting for attempting to answer but,... why would someone think this helps the left and hurts the right? Ballot harvesting is generally agreed (by both political parties) to have been a major factor in the last congressional elections in CA for example. Personally I think it is a very strange dynamic to have 200-300 political operatives canvassing specific addresses in a district to deliver provisional ballots, assist a very targeted set of people in helping to fill out those ballets, and then driving those filled out ballots to the polling station on Election Day. > Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said her staff and volunteers have collected mail-in ballots for GOP candidates and turned them in along with Democratic and independent ballots. > Briceño said her favorite story about ballot collection came in 2018, after she knocked on the door of a Latino man in his 70s. Her told her he’d never voted because he’d been intimidated by the ballot and process. Briceño said she spent time walking him through how it worked and discussing the candidates with him. By the end of their talk, she said the man was crying because he’d just finished voting for the first time in his life. [1] We don’t allow campaigning within a certain distance of a polling place. But the chair of the Democratic Party can knock on a man’s door with a provisional ballot, discuss the candidates, and help him vote? Republican campaigns take the position that their voters would never hand over a completed ballot or accept “help” in filling one out. > Fred Whitaker, chair of the Republican Party of Orange County, said they spent money on a ballot harvesting program in 2018 but saw almost no results. He said, “Republicans will basically tell you, ‘You’re not prying my ballot from my hand.’” The SF Chronicle wrote a piece on the last CA election where Democrats gained more seats then they’ve ever won before in CA; > California Democrats took advantage of seemingly minor changes in a 2016 law to score their stunningly successful midterm election results, providing a target for GOP unhappiness that is tinged with a bit of admiration. [2] > ...They felt the hit on Nov. 6 — and in the days after, as late-arriving Democratic votes were tabulated and one Republican candidate after another saw leads shrink and then evaporate. This week, a seventh GOP-held congressional seat flipped to the Democrats, leaving Republicans controlling a mere seven of California’s 53 House districts. In Orange County alone, where every House seat went Democratic, “the number of Election Day vote-by-mail dropoffs was unprecedented — over 250,000,” Fred Whitaker, chairman of the county Republican Party, said in a note to supporters. “This is a direct result of ballot harvesting allowed under California law for the first time. That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later.” [1] https://www.ocregister.com/what-is-ballot-harvesting-and-how-is-it-affecting-southern-california-elections https://www.ocregister.com/what-is-ballot-harvesting-and-how... [2] https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-late-votes-broke-big-for-13432727.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-la...
zhoujianfu 6y ago
I think because what is the right and the left constantly rebalance around 50% popularity. So, because currently it’s harder for certain people to vote, typically liberal people, if they were able to more easily vote, they would tile things to the democrats. But then the republicans would readjust to the new realities (or never get elected again!), and soon things would be right back to around 50/50... but a 50/50 that more accurately reflects the now higher % of people who vote.
millstone 6y ago
Adding friction to voting disproportionately hurts marginalized voters, who typically vote left. A clear example is requiring a drivers license or passport for voting. It makes voting easier for the rich than the poor.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

I’ll get downvoting for attempting to answer but,... why would someone think this helps the left and hurts the right? Ballot harvesting is generally agreed (by both political parties) to have been a major factor in the last congressional elections in CA for example. Personally I think it is a very strange dynamic to have 200-300 political operatives canvassing specific addresses in a district to deliver provisional ballots, assist a very targeted set of people in helping to fill out those ballets, and then driving those filled out ballots to the polling station on Election Day. > Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said her staff and volunteers have collected mail-in ballots for GOP candidates and turned them in along with Democratic and independent ballots. > Briceño said her favorite story about ballot collection came in 2018, after she knocked on the door of a Latino man in his 70s. Her told her he’d never voted because he’d been intimidated by the ballot and process. Briceño said she spent time walking him through how it worked and discussing the candidates with him. By the end of their talk, she said the man was crying because he’d just finished voting for the first time in his life. [1] We don’t allow campaigning within a certain distance of a polling place. But the chair of the Democratic Party can knock on a man’s door with a provisional ballot, discuss the candidates, and help him vote? Republican campaigns take the position that their voters would never hand over a completed ballot or accept “help” in filling one out. > Fred Whitaker, chair of the Republican Party of Orange County, said they spent money on a ballot harvesting program in 2018 but saw almost no results. He said, “Republicans will basically tell you, ‘You’re not prying my ballot from my hand.’” The SF Chronicle wrote a piece on the last CA election where Democrats gained more seats then they’ve ever won before in CA; > California Democrats took advantage of seemingly minor changes in a 2016 law to score their stunningly successful midterm election results, providing a target for GOP unhappiness that is tinged with a bit of admiration. [2] > ...They felt the hit on Nov. 6 — and in the days after, as late-arriving Democratic votes were tabulated and one Republican candidate after another saw leads shrink and then evaporate. This week, a seventh GOP-held congressional seat flipped to the Democrats, leaving Republicans controlling a mere seven of California’s 53 House districts. In Orange County alone, where every House seat went Democratic, “the number of Election Day vote-by-mail dropoffs was unprecedented — over 250,000,” Fred Whitaker, chairman of the county Republican Party, said in a note to supporters. “This is a direct result of ballot harvesting allowed under California law for the first time. That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later.” [1] https://www.ocregister.com/what-is-ballot-harvesting-and-how-is-it-affecting-southern-california-elections https://www.ocregister.com/what-is-ballot-harvesting-and-how... [2] https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-late-votes-broke-big-for-13432727.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/California-s-la...

zhoujianfu 6y ago

I think because what is the right and the left constantly rebalance around 50% popularity. So, because currently it’s harder for certain people to vote, typically liberal people, if they were able to more easily vote, they would tile things to the democrats. But then the republicans would readjust to the new realities (or never get elected again!), and soon things would be right back to around 50/50... but a 50/50 that more accurately reflects the now higher % of people who vote.

millstone 6y ago

Adding friction to voting disproportionately hurts marginalized voters, who typically vote left. A clear example is requiring a drivers license or passport for voting. It makes voting easier for the rich than the poor.