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Social distancing, self-quarantine, and lockdowns threaten the American institution of primary elections, not to mention the general election in November. Is there a way to conduct the primaries in the age of COVID-19 without raising questions about the legitimacy of the balloting. Scott Ott, Stephen Green, and Bill Whittle wrestle with the implications of several options for how we’ll pick a president in 2020 and beyond.
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12 replies on “COVID-19 Election: How We’ll Pick a President in the Age of Self-Quarantine”
I have long opposed the democratic primary process for the simple reason that ever since it was instituted, the choices have gotten worse and worse. Every good parent should understand. When you offer a child the choice of eat those nasty green things or go to your room (where all your toys, etc are), they’re not going to make the right choice. Well, when candidates were chosen at conventions (or, more specifically, in the smoke-filled back rooms of conventions) we got choices (in my lifetime) of Truman or Dewey, Eisenhower or Stevenson, Kennedy or Nixon, Johnson or Goldwater; all excellent choices and I could respect whichever won (regardless of whether or not I voted for them). With the advent of the primary system, the only good choice I’ve seen is Reagan. Trump has been a happy surprise but, in all honesty, he was never even a choice for me in the primary process and I only voted for him because he wasn’t Hillary.
Absentee ballots. Already being used in rural Oregon and California. Ballots need a way to verify the person casting it, and a thumbprint wouldn’t be hard to do.
Constitutional.Carry!
Bill, you are focusing only on the presidential ballot in the primaries. We have state and local offices up for grabs, and plenty of candidates filing in both parties. What will be the local effect of canceling or curtailing these primaries?
Agree w/ Green. This environment is a godsend to my misanthropy.
Amen! https://babylonbee.com/news/nations-nerds-wake-up-in-utopia-where-everyone-stays-inside-sports-canceled-social-interaction-forbidden
That sounds like me. But I don’t wanna rule anything. I just wanna be left alone to play the new Stellaris DLC. And take naps.
I just think it’s awesome that my natural lifestyle preferences have now become not just socially acceptable, but socially promoted.
Of course, I regret that people had to die to make this happen. And I regret the economic consequences. Still, there is always a silver lining to every cloud, right?
I endeavor to not meet enough people in meat-space to know if my lifestyle is socially promoted or not. I’m getting the imprecation from boards I hang out in that it is. So… cool.
JUST SAY, “NO!”
Conflating the risks associated with online voting and the risks associated with online personal data is a false flag. The former has consequences beyond the individual that are too often ignored by proponents of online voting.
I’m with Bill here. Paper ballots and thumb ink.
Over-arching thumbprint requirements produce a black market economy for thumbs. It sounds like a feasible economic stimulus.
</sarcasm>
Nice!
But I didn’t mean thumbprints. I meant “dip your thumb in permanent purple ink” like they did in the first free Iraqi elections held under our auspices 15(?) years ago. This wouldn’t solve the problem of illegal aliens voting but it would solve the problem of people voting more than once. (In order to work, it would require elimination of voting by mail and early voting, something I also support because of its proven susceptibility to fraud, and which Bill has discussed in the past.) (Also of course eliminating electronic voting machines in favor of paper.)
On a slightly tangential note, Harris County, the largest county in Texas, just settled a lawsuit (after two years of illegally stonewalling) and will allow access to their voter registration data for research into how many non-citizens are voting. (There is a similar lawsuit pending in Chicago.) I personally experienced incompetent administration when I voted in this month’s primary in Harris County. They have made several questionable decisions changing the process and I have very little confidence in the integrity of any vote conducted by Harris County.