5 ms·

Misinformation, low voter turnout, and an electoral system that massively over-represents people living in areas of low population density and underrepresents t

Misinformation, low voter turnout, and an electoral system that massively over-represents people living in areas of low population density and underrepresents those living in areas of high population density. That’s ignoring any possibility of interference with insecure voting or tallying computers.

altairprime 7mo ago
Don’t forget racism. This administration got elected in large part because they are openly racist, delivering outcomes at a velocity that ‘Southern’ dog-whistle deniability doesn’t allow for those that do, for whatever reason, want to continue having positive or neutral reputation with those opposed to racism (which includes half of U.S. women, or more if you limit to those younger than 30) while also benefiting personally from racism’s privileges to them and their families.
- 5555624 7mo ago
  racism was a minor factor in the 2024 election. Had Harris been white, she still would have lost. She ran a campaign that said nothing about what she as going to do, she only said how evil Trump would be. She lost the election when she was asked on "The View," a Democrat friendly show, if there was anything she would do differently than Biden. There's only one wrong answer to that question ad she gasve, saying not a thing. Had she just said she'd tackle the border and illegal immigration, she'd have had a chance. Had Biden kept to his word and been one and one, the Democrats would have had a primary and selected a candidate who could have won. (Harris would not have won the nomination in any sort of primary.)
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - altairprime 7mo ago
    I’m not referring to any single election or opponent.
  - UncleMeat 7mo ago
    It isn't just "the dem candidate is black and I am racist so I will vote for the republican candidate." Trump and his people going on TV and whipping up racist paranoia about how refugees are eating people's pets and how he is going to get rid of all of the immigrants motivates racists to the polls.
Buttons840 7mo ago
We need paper ballots because people can understand them. Election conspiracy theories are becoming a problem. Having a counting process that people can understand and trust is a feature.
- mullingitover 7mo ago
  We already use paper ballots[1]. You can't use reason to get people out of a mindset they didn't use reason to get into. [1] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/some-good-news-donald-trump-we-already-use-paper-ballots https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/some...
  - apothegm 7mo ago
    Paper ballots that we almost never bother manually checking against the insecure digital tallies unless there’s a very close race or explicit challenge to the count.
    - estearum 7mo ago
      This is just literally not true. Nearly every state routinely does statistical audits of voting machines compared with paper records. People hate to hear this but: statistics work. You can randomly sample a portion (say, 2% to 5%) of ballots and have effective certainty about how much fraud or error there is in your voting system.
- estearum 7mo ago
  Conspiratorial thinking can't be fixed with additional facts. There is no set of facts that conclusively establish any claim to someone who is already committed not to believing the claim.
  - AnimalMuppet 7mo ago
    Additional facts can slow the rate at which conspiracy theorists can convert others. It helps if the additional facts are visibly obvious.
paulddraper 7mo ago
> an electoral system that massively over-represents people living in areas of low population density and underrepresents those living in areas of high population density Trump won the electoral college and popular vote.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- muwtyhg 7mo ago
  But he is shielded by the Senate, which vastly favors low population density areas/states.
theshrike79 7mo ago
> low voter turnout Why voting day isn't a federal holiday is baffling to me. Along with all the weird-ass rules about "registering to vote" and people having to queue for hours in the heat and nobody is allowed to even give them water. I usually vote a few weeks in advance while grocery shopping, there's a booth set up at the supermarket. I can just walk in with my ID, vote and the vote is sealed in a box until the official day. Or I can walk like 1km to the nearest school, again show my ID, vote and go home. If I had to "register to vote", I'd most likely forget it or not bother to do it.
- apothegm 7mo ago
  In the US, this is a partisan issue. The left benefits from higher turnout and the right gets less traction. States with Republican leadership and vaguely competitive elections are doing their best to make it harder to vote.

altairprime 7mo ago

Don’t forget racism. This administration got elected in large part because they are openly racist, delivering outcomes at a velocity that ‘Southern’ dog-whistle deniability doesn’t allow for those that do, for whatever reason, want to continue having positive or neutral reputation with those opposed to racism (which includes half of U.S. women, or more if you limit to those younger than 30) while also benefiting personally from racism’s privileges to them and their families.

5555624 7mo ago
racism was a minor factor in the 2024 election. Had Harris been white, she still would have lost. She ran a campaign that said nothing about what she as going to do, she only said how evil Trump would be. She lost the election when she was asked on "The View," a Democrat friendly show, if there was anything she would do differently than Biden. There's only one wrong answer to that question ad she gasve, saying not a thing. Had she just said she'd tackle the border and illegal immigration, she'd have had a chance. Had Biden kept to his word and been one and one, the Democrats would have had a primary and selected a candidate who could have won. (Harris would not have won the nomination in any sort of primary.)
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- altairprime 7mo ago
  I’m not referring to any single election or opponent.
- UncleMeat 7mo ago
  It isn't just "the dem candidate is black and I am racist so I will vote for the republican candidate." Trump and his people going on TV and whipping up racist paranoia about how refugees are eating people's pets and how he is going to get rid of all of the immigrants motivates racists to the polls.

Buttons840 7mo ago

We need paper ballots because people can understand them. Election conspiracy theories are becoming a problem. Having a counting process that people can understand and trust is a feature.

mullingitover 7mo ago
We already use paper ballots[1]. You can't use reason to get people out of a mindset they didn't use reason to get into. [1] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/some-good-news-donald-trump-we-already-use-paper-ballots https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/some...
- apothegm 7mo ago
  Paper ballots that we almost never bother manually checking against the insecure digital tallies unless there’s a very close race or explicit challenge to the count.
  - estearum 7mo ago
    This is just literally not true. Nearly every state routinely does statistical audits of voting machines compared with paper records. People hate to hear this but: statistics work. You can randomly sample a portion (say, 2% to 5%) of ballots and have effective certainty about how much fraud or error there is in your voting system.
estearum 7mo ago
Conspiratorial thinking can't be fixed with additional facts. There is no set of facts that conclusively establish any claim to someone who is already committed not to believing the claim.
- AnimalMuppet 7mo ago
  Additional facts can slow the rate at which conspiracy theorists can convert others. It helps if the additional facts are visibly obvious.

paulddraper 7mo ago

> an electoral system that massively over-represents people living in areas of low population density and underrepresents those living in areas of high population density Trump won the electoral college and popular vote.

deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
muwtyhg 7mo ago
But he is shielded by the Senate, which vastly favors low population density areas/states.

theshrike79 7mo ago

> low voter turnout Why voting day isn't a federal holiday is baffling to me. Along with all the weird-ass rules about "registering to vote" and people having to queue for hours in the heat and nobody is allowed to even give them water. I usually vote a few weeks in advance while grocery shopping, there's a booth set up at the supermarket. I can just walk in with my ID, vote and the vote is sealed in a box until the official day. Or I can walk like 1km to the nearest school, again show my ID, vote and go home. If I had to "register to vote", I'd most likely forget it or not bother to do it.

apothegm 7mo ago
In the US, this is a partisan issue. The left benefits from higher turnout and the right gets less traction. States with Republican leadership and vaguely competitive elections are doing their best to make it harder to vote.