Georgia GOP Leader: More Absentee Voting Will Help Turnout, Be 'Devastating To Republicans'

[TomCADem]

It is odd that while Republicans are willing to delay a vote, they don't want to permit vote by mail. Yet, in many States, vote by mail is pretty standard:

https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/all-mail-elections.aspx

My take is rather than delay or cancel primaries, just conduct the elections through absentee ballots. We already do for deployed members of the military, so there is no reason why states can't implement such a system.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/georgia-absentee-voting-republicans-david-ralston_n_5e85f736c5b692780508d69f

The Republican speaker of the Georgia state House is not happy that election officials are making it easier for residents to vote from home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

* * *

But he also admitted he doesn’t like the fact that absentee ballots will make it easier for people to vote ― and presumably increase turnout ― because that will hurt Republicans.

“The president said it best ― this will be extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in Georgia,” said Ralston.

“Every registered voter is going to get one of these. Now I ask you ... what was turnout in the primary back in 2018 or 2016. Was it 100%? No. No. It’s way, way, way lower. This will certainly drive up turnout,” he added.

[AlexSFCA]

1. I thought more older folks vote GOP than young ones?

Older, high at risk population, won’t go to the polls. It’s a loss loss for GOP.

[BidenBacker]

2. Maybe, maybe not

Fact check: are older Americans really more likely to vote Republican?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2016/sep/23/older-americans-vote-republican-fact-check-election-2016

There's more than one factor that determines who an "older" voter will tend to go with. Long ago I heard that people tend to generally stick with the party that they voted for when they were younger. I've also read that it is not unusual for one generation to flip on the previous one and be more like their grandparents...maybe as the result of some kind of rebellion against their parents...I dunno. Those could also be political myths too for all I know.

Bottomline is that historical trends can be useful but they can sometimes also be misleading. Especially when you have an "aberration" (as Joe correctly called him) like Trump involved. Personally, I think Trump scares the living shit outta many older Americans...not to mention younger ones as well. And many middle-aged ones. And cats & dogs and birds & fish. If a person isn't scared by now they just ain't paying much attention...or are dumber than goldfish.

[Hortensis]

5. People are born naturally liberal or conservative, but then

environmental factors have big influence. What party labels mean in different regions can change, also, so that just saying someone belongs to one party or another now may mean something very different than assumed.

Becoming parents has a big conservatizing effect on virtually everyone. Young cons who affect liberal atttitudes where that's the thing to do, find their true selves fast with parenthood, but liberals also get more cautious. It'd be interesting to see figures for Sanders followers; I'd expect to see lower numbers of those required by life to be responsible for others.

Bottom line, though, when wondering how old folk vote, liberals by personality who cheered civil rights advances for 30 years when they were younger will never turn into strong conservatives (who relatively speaking disapprove of equality), and vice versa, no matter how old they get. Different wiring. I was born liberal, no confusion added, and will die liberal.

[BidenBacker]

6. All very true, Hort

Especially the part where you said "different wiring".

Many years ago I read some fascinating psychological studies that discovered that the brains of liberals and conservatives actually function differently...ie, the "wiring" truly is different.

Unconscious Reactions Separate Liberals and Conservatives

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/calling-truce-political-wars/

These key psychological differences can determine whether you're liberal or conservative

https://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-differences-between-conservatives-and-liberals-2018-2

This does not bode well for the chances of Democrats being able to compromise or even rationalize with the worst of the Republicans. Aside from the fact that many Pubs have a totally unique set of "alternative facts" (ie, garbage falsehoods) they often think and respond totally different than how we libs do even in those rare cases where we DO agree what the truth is.

It's like trying to prove to them that 2+2=4 when their conservative math tells them 2+2=5. How the hell are we supposed to reason with a totally different alien species like that???

[Cha]

3. KR!

[The Magistrate]

4. As The Man Said, Sir

"When conservative views cannot prevail in elections, conservatives will not give up those views. They will give up on Democracy."





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."