Ready or not, election season in the US starts soon. The first ballots will go out in just two weeks https://t.co/fSOKry0cPV
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 24, 2024
Warming up for a fresh week…Per the Associated Press, “The first ballots will go out in just two weeks”:
There are just over 70 days until Election Day on Nov. 5, but major dates, events and political developments will make it fly by. Think about it this way: The stretch between now and then is about as long as summer break from school in most parts of the country.
In just two weeks, Sept. 6, the first mail ballots get sent to voters. The first presidential debate is set for Sept. 10. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is scheduled to be sentenced in his New York hush money case on Sept. 18. And early in-person voting will start as soon as Sept. 20 in some states.
Here’s a look at why the calendar will move quickly now that the Democratic and Republican conventions are wrapped.
Who’s ready to vote?
The first batch of ballots typically sent out are ones to military and overseas voters. Under federal law, that must happen at least 45 days before an election — which this year is Sept. 21.Some states start earlier. North Carolina will begin sending mail ballots to all voters who request them, including military personnel and overseas voters, in just two weeks, Sept. 6.
Voter registration deadlines vary by state, with most falling between eight and 30 days before the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The deadline is Oct. 7 in Georgia, one of this year’s most prominent presidential battlegrounds.
Nearly all states offer some version of in-person voting, though the rules and dates vary considerably. In Pennsylvania, another of the major presidential battleground states, voters can visit their local election office to request, complete and return a mail ballot beginning Sept. 16. For those counting, that’s about three weeks from now…
Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris have accepted an invitation from ABC News to debate Sept. 10 in Philadelphia.
Harris’ pick for vice president, Tim Walz, and Trump’s, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have agreed to an Oct. 1 debate hosted by CBS News in New York City.
Harris has forecast a possible second debate with Trump, but her proposal appeared to be contingent on the GOP nominee’s participation in the Sept. 10 debate. Trump has proposed three presidential debates with different television networks.
Vance has challenged Walz to a second vice presidential debate on Sept. 18, although it’s not been set…
Fights over voting and the election
Before the first ballots are even cast, both camps are gearing up to fight over voting.Battles over election rules have become a staple of American democracy, but they’re expected to reach new heights this year. Trump installed his own leadership team at the Republican National Committee, including a director of election integrity who helped him try to overturn Biden’s win in 2020. The RNC has filed a blizzard of lawsuits challenging voting rules and promises that more are on the way.
Democrats also are mobilizing and assembling a robust legal team. Among other things, they are objecting to GOP efforts to remove some inactive voters or noncitizens from voter rolls, arguing that legal voters will get swept up in the purges.
Republicans have particularly escalated their rhetoric over the specter of noncitizens voting, even though repeated investigations have shown it almost never happens. Some also are pushing to give local election boards the ability to refuse to certify election results.
All indications are these efforts are laying the groundwork for Trump to again claim the election was stolen from him if he loses and to try to overturn the will of the voters. But there’s no way to know if that will happen until the ballots are cast.
Ishiyama
All the media are talking about is the fact that the Democratic Delegates and guests were acting so overtly patriotic, with the USA signs and the chanting and the flag waving. I, careful observer that I have been, have reviewed the Philadelphia roll-out speeches; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rONg2cCqFBk
There are zero USA signs in evidence. About 30 minutes into the recording, Kamala starts talking about how “a daughter of Oakland, raised by a single mother” and a “boy for the Nebraska plains” could stand before them, seeking the office of President. The crowd starts chanting “USA”.
Forward to the Phoenix rally: Still no USA signs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_JrTu2HFmk
At 46 minutes into the recording, she is talking about Trump being unfit to stand behind the seal of the United States – “Never Again!”. She starts into the next phrase, about the audience all loving their country, and again, the crowd starts the chant.
In Las Vegas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GguhtK0HlKY
The same line about Trump drew the same chant, once again without signs.
(I didn’t check for any USA chants during Walz’s speeches; there may have been a few.)
Anyway, someone in the Kamala Harris campaign noticed that, and harnessed it. It was not an original part of the strategy (neither was weird).
raven
What a way to win and lose the Little League World Series!!
Kelly
Trump/Vance /Kennedy love triangle
https://bsky.app/profile/kragar.bsky.social/post/3l2l7p5wrey2q
Villago Delenda Est
Double check your registration, particularly if you’re in a red state, where they’re desperate to prevent “those people” from voting.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kelly: “They’ve memory holed their own VP nominee.”
Baud
@Ishiyama:
I can’t believe Dems no longer chant CA-NA-DA.
zhena gogolia
I’m going to remind everyone to read the Vanity Fair article on RFK Jr. It’s eye-opening.
Timill
@Baud: They do, but the media think it’s “KA-MA-LA”…
The Audacity of Krope
@Timill: I was saying “Boo-urns.”
Starfish
@Ishiyama: This is interesting. She is speaking to the American dream in that first speech.
A lot of what Trump talks about is destroying the American dream.
Steve LaBonne
@Ishiyama: I’ve been waiting so long for us to reclaim patriotism from those America-hating weirdos.
Baud
@Starfish:
The American Dream is a Republican Nightmare.
Mousebumples
Wisconsin voters – reminder to go to myvote.wi.gov to check registration, sign up for mail voting, etc.
My absentee ballot preparation hasn’t started yet. But we also just had the primary less than 2 weeks ago
ETA – October 16 is the deadline to register to vote (or update address, etc.) online in Wisconsin. Wisconsin does have Election Day registration, however, at the polls
It looks like September 19 is the deadline to send out ballots to voters with an active absentee request on file.
Baud
@Steve LaBonne: All it took was for Republicans to swear allegiance to Russia.
geg6
Fired up to get my ballot in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to vote against that orange asshole. And, of course, for Harris/Walz, Casey and DeLuzio.
A Ghost to Most
Mail-in/drop-off ballots should be the national standard. Far less fuckery.
Ishiyama
@Starfish: I learn a lot by watching the first few public appearances; it’s fascinating to see how the phrases that work are preserved, and the audience reaction changes. The unpolished raw material is very revealing.
opiejeanne
@Steve LaBonne: I bought a flag a couple of years ago because I was damned if I was going to let them take that from us. It flies on appropriate holidays as well as days when certain court cases begin, or end in a conviction.
I would have flown it on Thursday but knew I wouldn’t get home before it was dark out.
dmsilev
For California, the Voter’ Guide. Registration deadline is October 21. Vote by Mail starts October 7, and all registered voters will be sent a ballot in the mail. Go to https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/ to check your registration status.
wjca
Ouch!
Steve LaBonne
@opiejeanne: I have a lot of Trumpy neighbors so I fly it all the time. Also a Progress Pride flag. And currently Harris-Walz and Sherrod Brown signs. After the election we’ll go back to the BLM and Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights signs.
bbleh
74 days left until The Day, and far fewer as noted until substantial numbers of voters can vote early. ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that we do EVERYTHING to GOTV!! Georgia is setting up to be Florida 2000, and the LAST things we want are either GA to be THE deciding state or for MORE than one state to do likewise.
We can stop this by SWAMPING them at the polls! The 538 averages have Harris ahead in SIX OF SEVEN swing states as well as nationally. We need to turn that into an absolute tsunami. Volunteer! Write postcards, make phone calls, knock on doors, talk to your friends and make plans to vote!
M31
new nickname for JD Vance just dropped:
hahahahahaha
seen on bluesky but that person didn’t know where they’d seen it
Steve LaBonne
@bbleh: Contrary to that Atlantic article, I think the likely voter models are unlikely to be capturing the huge wave of Democratic enthusiasm and registrations and therefore I cautiously expect Harris and other Democrats to outperform the polls.
Baud
@Steve LaBonne:
It’s probably even too early to see what kind of bounce we get from the convention.
Villago Delenda Est
@M31: That’s good. I remember when the Milli Vanilli scandal broke, and people on Prodigy were calling them Phony Baloney.
bbleh
@Steve LaBonne: yeah the LV results tend to be better for Dems than the RV or (especially) AA results, but the margins are still too thin for my liking. We need the media Narrative to be set in stone by Wednesday morning latest, so any obstructions or chaos get ignored or shouted down.
(&btw, GA is the only 1 of 7 where Harris is behind, and there’s a LOT of discontent among GA election administrators about what the state board is doing, so it doesn’t terrify me, but it is worrisome, and it’s certainly not the only ratfking the Republicans are engaged in.)
banditqueen
@zhena gogolia: I’ve read enough snippets about RFKJr–he reminds me of the macabre German fairy tales where people cut off their toes or someone cuts off someone else’s hand. He can live his weird life on his own–he’s wealthy enough–no more nightmarish fairy tales of the freak.
Nelle
@opiejeanne: Question – is the code for flying the flag that I learned when I was a Brownie still operational? I may imperfectly remember it, but here’s what I kind of remember. If flying in the dark, there must be a light on it. Ragged and torn? Must be replaced. Rain? Take it down. Must not touch the ground. Must be the highest in a group of flags.
Am I an old fart? Well, yes, I am. But is there no currency to any of that anymore?
(Goes in the same group of questions as when did the “yield” signs go down on the merge lanes of freeways? I left the country for about ten years. I think they were still there when I left. Why do I still hear my driving instructor’s admonishments not to enter traffic unless I can do so without impeding the flow of traffic (turns, merges, etc.)).
bbleh
@Nelle: Evidently you do not understand the New Trumpian Order, in which OTHERS should yield to YOU no matter WHAT you do — including, say, gunning it forward through a red light because wtf does a “red light” even MEAN anyway and also FREEDOM!! — and if they become angry at you it’s THEIR fault and you can SHOOT them because Second Amendment something, and after all, “an armed society is a polite society.”
Oh, and flying the flag in the dark or in inclement weather IS permitted in cases where extraordinary displays of patriotism are indicated, and in cases where the US flag cannot be higher than others — eg where the flags of other nations are displayed — it should be the rightmost. Also, if hung over an E-W street, the blue field should be on the north side, and over a N-S street on the east side.
(And if worn as shorts by a MAGAt it should either be stripped off and burned immediately, or if necessary torched in place.)
Mowgli
@bbleh: My first batch of 100 postcards to Georgia voters were done earlier this month, second batch of 100 is underway!
LFGOTV!
Redshift
There are two countdown numbers in the white board in our local campaign office – the number until Election Day, and the number until early voting starts in Virginia, September 20.
It’s ingrained in my mind from so many years that the “real” campaign starts after Labor Day; it still seems weird to start door knocking in July, but here we are.
Danielx
@zhena gogolia:
I saw enough in that thread earlier. That is one strange person, and not in a good way.
Any odds on Trump throwing Vance under the bus under the bus and replacing him with RFK jr?
”He’s a Kennedy! That’s gotta be worth some votes, and women really hate Vance!”
Jay
Jeff Tiedrich goes off on how the Democratic Convention and Kamala Harris’s triumph has broken the Media’s brain*, and brings lot’s of receipts.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/kamalas-successful-convention-has
*they all share the one brain cell.
Rachel Bakes
@Nelle: learned the same rules as a Girl Scout and I think they still apply, to those who follow the flag code. The rain issue is negated if it’s an all-weather flag.
Drives me crazy to see the frayed flags flying on pick-up trucks. Not as clear a sign of patriotism/jingoism as you think!
Rachel Bakes
One quarter of the way through my postcards!
KatKapCC
@M31: ROFL!!!
Baud
@Jay:
I don’t usually read that stuff, but that was well done. He brought receipts.
Steve LaBonne
@Rachel Bakes: And the back / blue line / upside down flags. There is nothing patriotic about any of that crap.
Jeffro
a very exciting GO BLUE!!! day here:
*btw our local Dem HQ was a FLURRY, a FLURRY I say, of activity when we arrived…people were going out canvassing, people were coming in to phone bank…amazing! It’s not something I’m used to seeing before Labor Day weekend, that’s for sure!
Baud
@Jeffro:
Good to hear.
Jeffro
so, so agreed
blue line, red line, Gadsen/tea party, American flag with a politician’s name across it, black and white, 1776, upside down, Punisher-skull vertical, none of it is *our* flag: the original and best.
(why am I hearing a Lincoln Project narrator in my head when I type that? =)
But it’s just true and it needs to be said, over and over.
zhena gogolia
@M31: That’s a good one.
Bill Arnold
@Steve LaBonne:
Agreed. Those are all treason flags, IMO.
zhena gogolia
@Jay: That’s really good. And maddening.
Mousebumples
@Rachel Bakes: way to go! I need to work on mine. I’ve started but gotten sidetracked this past week…
Jay
https://counterhate.com/research/musk-misleading-election-claims-viewed-1-2bn-times-on-x-with-no-fact-checks/
Lacuna Synecdoche
AP News via Anne Laurie @ Top:
No way at all – aside from Trump’s history, and Trump’s rhetoric, and the memory of J6, and … and … and …
Harrison Wesley
@Jay: Brain cells or…..brain worms?
Darkrose
@dmsilev: Thank you! I just double-checked mine. I love that everything about the process is so easy in CA!
Frankensteinbeck
@Danielx:
I have been told that after the delegates vote, Trump is stuck with Vance. There is no mechanism for the president to fire the VP.
The Audacity of Krope
I still wonder whether this will stop him from trying.
KatKapCC
@Frankensteinbeck: Maybe he’ll take a lesson from Putin and Vance will slip and fall out a window.
M31
is there a mechanism if the VP candidate ‘voluntarily’ withdraws? you’d assume there’d be something
wjca
But that is merely a rule. And everybody knows, rules don’t apply to Trump. If any state (for example) objects, expect a deluge of baseless law suits filed by incompetent lawyers.
Jay
@Frankensteinbeck:
@The Audacity of Krope:
RFK Jr has lot’s of experience with roadkill, so maybe after Dolt 45 underbusses Couch Vance, Brainworm will have a new supply of falcon feed,……………………..
HumboldtBlue
@raven:
What a fantastic game!
Frankensteinbeck
@M31:
Bear in mind, in the original system the president and vice president were likely in opposing parties and the former being able to fire the latter seemed like a really bad idea. Plus that means the VP’s nomination exists separately from the president’s.
Mr. Bemused Senior
I think the greater threat is from Vance, whose goal is to ride Trump into the presidency.
karen marie
@Rachel Bakes: I think treating any flag as a sacred object is bullshit but the Venn diagram of people who SCREAM about flag burning and people who treat the flag like shit is a single circle
@Frankensteinbeck: What about the VP candidate stepping down because he needs to spend more time with his sofa?
TS
There is that 27% again – report from the Australian ABC
If Australian voters decided the US presidential election, Kamala Harris would easily beat Donald Trump by 48 per cent to 27 per cent.
Geminid
@Jeffro: My Atlanta friend’s brother-in-law is Joyce(?) Tinsley Witt’s campaign treasurer. So Claire sent Witt a $10 contribution and Witt sent a card back telling her how good it was to work with her brother.
Ken
@M31: I’m also seeing memes where some Vance idiocy is quoted, followed by “Sir, this is a Dunkin Donuts”.
karen marie
@Redshift:
Yup, here we are – August 25th!
Hahahahaha.
cain
@karen marie: hey it’s already Halloween season so..
sdhays
@Jay: It’s pretty astounding what shit the press bothers to ask when they see Harris. “What’s next?” She’s going to be the next fucking President of the United States, you’re whining about no interviews, and when you see her, you’re asking glorified scheduling details?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Harris’s team has a secret competition set up – the first reporter in the pool to ask an intelligent question gets a sit-down interview. The problem is, the reporters don’t know this competition exists and definitely wouldn’t want to embarrass themselves in front of the herd with an intelligent question, so they’re in for a very long wait….
sab
We were driving from our old house to our new house with a load of books and other stuff, and there was this small dog wandering in and out of the street. So I got out and picked her up. She was skinny and matted and had peed on herself.
So we took her home, and looked up lost dogs near us on book of faces. There was one that matched her almost exactly except wrong gender and owner couldn’t identify her distinctive collar.
Ponyo our staffordshire terrier is normally quite hostile to other dogs, but apparently this one was too tiny to concern her, or it reminded her of the chihuahua companions of her puppyhood. Anyway, she was pretty much okay.
Cats, on the other hand, are very concerned. Extemely concerned. Moved to the basement concerned. They just got moved to a new house with stuff moving around all the time, and now they have to deal with a new dog? Who nervous piddles everywhere?
I hope she has a chip and an anxious grateful owner. We are too old to get a new dog. We had succession plans for the cats, but not for a new dog. My husband is in love with her. I think dogs should be big enough to appear protective. Sigh…She is a sweety.
Ken
@sdhays: So we might end up with the first sit-down interview being with Teen Vogue? I’m OK with that.
lamh47
Latest from chump seems to me like he’s prepping to drop out of the debate to me!
https://x.com/notcapnamerica/status/1827897211704746490
Lyrebird
@sab: best wishes for a good outcome that leaves *you* with clean sheets to sleep on.
You and hubs have extra big hearts, is what it sounds like!
sdhays
@Ken: Yep. That would be cool.
Ishiyama
I think Nebraska is in play. I expect to see Walz there, as well as in Missouri, and Texas, before this campaign is done. I think we will see Kamala Harris in Florida, as well as Georgia and North Carolina.
They might do an East Coast swing, from Maine to Maryland, hitting the major cities. Kamala will visit the West Coast.
This is in addition to their appearances in the Mid-West swing states, and Nevada/Arizona.
It’s a busy schedule, but doable.
Jean
@Jeffro: Lots of volunteerism in VA. The group I belong to (LWCC, Liberal Women of Chesterfield County) are sending 1,000 postcards a week. Women–and some men who show up–meet and write postcards. Many are signed up to work at the polls. Phone banking, canvassing, etc. Everyone talks about feeling hope again. The energy is high.
Another Scott
@lamh47: It does sound like it.
Adam Kinzinger at the DNC:
TCFFG is a coward. I would not be at all surprised if he drops out of the debate, screaming that it’s so unfair…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
steve g
Oregon dates from Multnomah County, i.e. Portland. I think it will be the same state wide:
gwangung
@lamh47:
@Another Scott:
Nahhhhh. He’s just working the refs. He’s trying to get them bend over backwards and go soft on him.
cain
Deleted
rikyrah
@sab:
Awe🤗🤗😚😚
rikyrah
@Ishiyama:
We need to go to Florida. A few times
And Texas