The polls are opening up soon in Oklahoma. The most important question on the ballot is whether or not Oklahoma will take a massive infusion of federal cash to insure large chunks of their population through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion.
If you are a Sooner and have already voted — thank you.
If you are a Sooner and are planning to vote today; bring water and snacks, wear a mask, and be conscientious of both your health and the health of your fellow citizens and residents of the state as you vote.
Go vote!
WereBear
I never expected a revolution in Oklahoma!
But I’m always ready to be surprised.
Geminid
Thanks to Medicaid expansion voted by the Virginia General Assembly in 2017, over 400,000 low income Virginians have been added to the Medicaid program. Eleven republican delegates and three republican state senators voted for expansion. It’s just common sense.
Baud
@Geminid:
No, it was common sense a 8 years ago. Now it’s just a belated acknowledgement of reality.
Nicole
I was in OK recently and the commercials I saw were all in favor, but boy, they were sure still full of resentment. They wouldn’t even say what they were advocating (i.e., expanding Medicaid); the phrasing was like, “Oklahoma has been giving lots of money for years to places like NEW YORK and it’s time we got some money ourselves!”
(I laughed at that, even though I do want Oklahomans to have health care because I’m a dirty liberal. As Molly Ivins said, fish gotta swim, hearts gotta bleed).
So, I’m optimistic that it will pass, but I don’t expect any other major shifts in the Sooner State. All of the state-level politicians running commercials made sure to state how much they love Trump.
sylvainsylvain
@Nicole:
I’ve noticed something this election cycle, & I wonder if anyone else out there is seeing it in their elections…
There were almost no political ads this election, except a couple of pro-Medicare expansion ones that ran often for the last month or so. But starting on Friday, ads for all the elected offices, and anti-Medicare expansion ads came on, strong. The Repub ones were as generic as always down here (pro-Trump (?!? weird I guess), and the attack ads against the few Dems that run here, which were more incoherent than normal. Lots of lying, lots of misleading, no real surprise.
But it’s still weird. Usually there’s a cycle of ads & counter ads leading up to the election. This year, 80% of the ad buys are at the very end.
WereBear
SUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE.
scuffletuffle
@WereBear: Would LOVE to see a comparison of federal taxes paid on income earned, state to state. Good for a few laughs, if nothing else.
scuffletuffle
And the answer is…just under 10% of what New York state pays in federal tax…what a surprise…
Nicole
@sylvainsylvain: That’s really interesting. We cut the cable cord a few months ago, so up here in New York, which Oklahoma is apparently sending lots of healthcare money to (according, at least, to Oklahoma), I’m not seeing much broadcast TV, but now you have me curious. Maybe they’re figuring the only people the TV ads may convince are the undecideds who they figure won’t make up their minds until the very end?
David Fud
The good thing is that Oklahoma actually has a very effective voting system. They have hand marked paper ballots paired with scanners. Gold standard, and voter suppression shouldn’t be an issue.
patrick II
@Geminid:
Yeah, if only common sense worked.
There is a judge in Virginia today who got her appointment as a bribe because of her ex-democratic dad’s retirement just before an early Medicaid vote which kept expanded Medicare out four extra years.
About 830 people per 1000 without Medicaid die unnecessarily each year, so about 500 (of the 400000 without insurance) people a died in Virginia in each of the four years Republicans held back expanded Medicaid. It only became “common sense” when even the gerrymandered districts couldn’t keep enough democrats out and the Republicans ran out of corrupt Democrats to bribe.
Martin
@Nicole: Hmm. Oklahoma receives $4,000 more per capita in federal spending than it pays, and New York pays $2,000 more per capita than it receives.
And give it up for ND and NE, the only two red states that pay more than they get. And Mitch is doing his job looting the federal govt, KY gets $9,000 more per capita than they pay, which is impressive for a state with so few military bases.
Martin
@David Fud: I won’t even ask about the state of their vote by mail system.
Oklahomo
@Nicole: The last week has been a flood of insane ads where the candidates are trying to out-Trump each other. “Pro-Trump” is actually being touted as an advantage. Idiots.
Geminid
@patrick II: Medicaid expansion was the common sense position in 2010, and it was the common sense position in 2018. Republican opposition was ideological, and republican resistance dimished enough for passage in 2018 because enough legislators understood that the electorate wanted the common sense position and not the ideological one.
Geminid
@patrick II: Medicaid expansion was the common sense position in 2010, and it was the common sense position in 2018. Republican opposition was ideological, and republican resistance dimished enough for passage in 2018 because enough legislators understood that the electorate wanted the common sense position and not the ideological one.
Geminid
@Geminid: sorry for the duplicate comment.
Leumas
Short lines at polling places here (Tulsa area) today. We have unrestricted
absentee voting, and anecdotally, it has been used a lot. Local news had
stories about the County Election Board overwhelmed with mail in ballots
a couple of weeks ago. I voted last week. Very little organized oposition
to the Medicaid expansion, at that only came up within the past week.