https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/23/us/politics/trump-power-transfer-2020-election.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage


SMH this dangerous, horrible, shameless piece of s***

Trump Won’t Commit to ‘Peaceful’ Post-Election Transfer of Power
In response to a question, the president complained about mail-in ballots and said: “There won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.”


WASHINGTON — President Trump declined an opportunity on Wednesday to endorse a peaceful transfer of power after the November election, renewing his baseless warnings about extensive voting fraud before saying there would be no power transfer at all.

Asked whether he would “commit here today for a peaceful transferral of power after the November election,” Mr. Trump demurred, passing on a chance to call for a calm and orderly election process.

“We’re going to have to see what happens,” he told a reporter during a news conference at the White House. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”

“I understand that, but people are rioting,” responded the reporter, Brian Karem of Playboy magazine, who repeated the question.

“Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” the president said. That was an apparent reference to mail-in ballots, which for months he has railed against, without evidence, as rife with fraud and likely to produce a delayed, tainted or outright illegitimate election result.

Mr. Trump’s refusal — or inability — to endorse perhaps the most fundamental tenet of American democracy, as any president in memory surely would have, was the latest instance in which he has cast grave uncertainty around the November election and its aftermath. Democrats are growing increasingly alarmed as Mr. Trump repeatedly questions the integrity of the vote and suggests that he might not accept the results if he loses.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said he needed to swiftly confirm a successor for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because he expected disputes over the election result to be resolved by the Supreme Court, which could split 4-to-4 if a ninth justice is not seated.

“He’s threatening the election process and saying out loud what everyone has assumed he’s been thinking,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of American political history at Princeton University. “The more he makes these arguments, the more he normalizes the fact that this can be part of the conversation.”

“Even if meant to distract, these are powerful words to come from a president,” Mr. Zelizer added. “He’s clearly accelerating his effort to set up a challenge to an outcome that is unfavorable to him.”

Hours after Mr. Trump’s assertions, Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, expressed alarm over the comments on Twitter. “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” Mr. Romney wrote. “Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.”

Mr. Trump’s remarks are a continuation of a long series. During an interview with Fox News in July, Mr. Trump similarly demurred when pressed by the network’s anchor, Chris Wallace, to “give a direct answer” about whether he would accept the election results regardless of the outcome.

“I have to see,” Mr. Trump said. “No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time, either,” he added, referring to his similar equivocation before the 2016 election, which he warned might be stolen from him.

Even after his election that year, Mr. Trump falsely insisted that he had lost the popular vote only because millions of immigrants ineligible to vote had cast ballots for his opponent, Hillary Clinton.


In this campaign, Mr. Trump has primed his supporters to believe his defeat is possible only through what he has called a “rigged” or “stolen” election. “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election,” Mr. Trump said last month during the Republican National Convention.

Mr. Trump has also long joked about retaining power beyond legal limits, making frequent mention of serving beyond January 2025, when the Constitution — which limits presidents to two terms — requires that he leave office.

In 2018, after China’s Communist Party announced the end of a two-term limit for its presidency, Mr. Trump said at a closed-door fund-raiser that China’s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, would be “president for life.”

“I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday,” Mr. Trump said, to cheers from his supporters.

In July, Mr. Trump even floated the idea of delaying the November election — a suggestion that lacks legal authority — although he dropped the notion after Republicans criticized it.

Mr. Trump did not elaborate on his Wednesday comments, in part because he abruptly ended his news briefing to take what he called “an emergency phone call,” without offering further information. The White House did not provide further comment or explanation.

The once-unthinkable notion that a president might refuse to accept the results of an election and leave office without resistance has become an increasingly major theme in the 2020 campaign.

This month, Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, warned that Mr. Trump might contest the election result and seek to maintain his grip on power.

“What we have got to do in the next two months is to alert the American people about what that nightmarish scenario might look like in order to prepare them for that possibility and talk about what we do if that happens,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview with Politico.

David Cole, the national legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s comments “should trouble every American.” “The peaceful transfer of power is essential to a functioning democracy,” he said.

Yet the president’s remarks were a jarring contrast to the conventional words of his own attorney general, William P. Barr, just a day earlier.

“What this country has going for it more than anything else is the peaceful transfer of power, and that is accomplished through elections that people have confidence in,” Mr. Barr, an outspoken opponent of widespread voting by mail, said during a news conference in Milwaukee on Tuesday in response to a question about mail-in ballots.

“And so we should be doing everything to support that confidence,” he added.

The more they plant the idea..... the more he plays into it.
Not saying it shouldn't be of concern...but at the same time...they aren't doing anyone any favors by continuing to play it up...

I just got my mail in ballot too

https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1309097166661615619

headlines of nonsense.

I said I was done months ago and I lied. I’ve been all in and it’s unhealthy af.

All I will do is vote and spend the rest of my time focusing on family and local issues I can actually interact with and touch, see and feel.

This shit ain’t healthy. Fuck them. Fuck all of them.

and i basically raised the white flag. for some reason forces at work both seen and unseen are allowing this guy to terrorize the country... and there is absolutely nothing i can do about it. i gotta let go and let God.

politics is local as fuck.

we should be voting, running for office, attending city hall meetings, school board meetings, encouraging an informed and caring community, holding our county and state legislators accountable, cultivating competent mayors and governors

we haven't been doing that well for at for at least a generation

imagine if every school kid was encouraged to involve themselves in local politics...most of us don't raise our kids that way

anyway yeah

d

Authoritarians depend on people giving up. People doing the least is a win for them. You want to know how millions of people get wiped off the face of the earth? By having good people give up. It depends on the "Good German"

People doing the least because they are psychologically compromised and unsure of what to do isn't a fucking accident it is textbook tactic.

We claim reverence for the people who were beaten, shot, murdered, maligned, set-up and strung-up but when it comes time to step up people want to step aside.

Everybody's a real live nigga until shit really gets live. Folks went from "By Any Means Necessary" to "Nah, I'm just gonna x, y, z" real quick.

Hate to break it to folks, but we are at OUR moment in time and we won't get another one. We can't afford to miss it. It is only going to get harder after this. It's only going to cost more. You think is rough now?

Yes, take care of yourself but honor the people who gave everything with work. Leave it all on the table.

Remember, self-care is a privilege we have paid for with the blood of people who came before us and the lives of people dying right next to us.

"If you wasn't ready to die for it, you really ain't want it"
- Tracy Morgan

-----------------------

>Authoritarians depend on people giving up. People doing the
>least is a win for them. You want to know how millions of
>people get wiped off the face of the earth? By having good
>people give up. It depends on the "Good German"
>
>People doing the least because they are psychologically
>compromised and unsure of what to do isn't a fucking accident
>it is textbook tactic.
>
>We claim reverence for the people who were beaten, shot,
>murdered, maligned, set-up and strung-up but when it comes
>time to step up people want to step aside.
>
>Everybody's a real live nigga until shit really gets live.
>Folks went from "By Any Means Necessary" to "Nah, I'm just
>gonna x, y, z" real quick.
>
>
>Hate to break it to folks, but we are at OUR moment in time
>and we won't get another one. We can't afford to miss it. It
>is only going to get harder after this. It's only going to
>cost more. You think is rough now?
>
>
>Yes, take care of yourself but honor the people who gave
>everything with work. Leave it all on the table.
>
>Remember, self-care is a privilege we have paid for with the
>blood of people who came before us and the lives of people
>dying right next to us.
>

^^^^ All this

I've been feeling hopeless recently after putting in some work. Gonna be putting in as much as I can as the election gets closer.

Thank you.


>Authoritarians depend on people giving up. People doing the
>least is a win for them. You want to know how millions of
>people get wiped off the face of the earth? By having good
>people give up. It depends on the "Good German"
>
>People doing the least because they are psychologically
>compromised and unsure of what to do isn't a fucking accident
>it is textbook tactic.
>
>We claim reverence for the people who were beaten, shot,
>murdered, maligned, set-up and strung-up but when it comes
>time to step up people want to step aside.
>
>Everybody's a real live nigga until shit really gets live.
>Folks went from "By Any Means Necessary" to "Nah, I'm just
>gonna x, y, z" real quick.
>
>Hate to break it to folks, but we are at OUR moment in time
>and we won't get another one. We can't afford to miss it. It
>is only going to get harder after this. It's only going to
>cost more. You think is rough now?
>
>Yes, take care of yourself but honor the people who gave
>everything with work. Leave it all on the table.
>
>Remember, self-care is a privilege we have paid for with the
>blood of people who came before us and the lives of people
>dying right next to us.
>
>"If you wasn't ready to die for it, you really ain't want it"
>- Tracy Morgan
>
>-----------------------

Keeping conscious of "This is exactly how they want me to feel" can help.

Rest, restore. Build in time to laugh and enjoy yourself and be a human being. There is time now but there may well be less time later.

It's gonna take everybody.

We're all playing keep up AND catch up at this point. But we can't afford to give up.

Let's go.

I just get tired of hearing about his shit on the daily.

If it was easy, everybody would do it.

This shit is hard. It is demoralizing.

But try to remember they want us down. They want us out.

I know we rarely agree on shit but, real talk, I don't want you and yours having to live in a country like the one we could be living in anymore than I want me and mine.

Black and Brown people gave this country what little humanity it has at great cost and I will be damned if I am going to let some third-rate crackers destroy that and build a white ethnostate out of it.

But for real, do what you need to take care of yourself and your family

>Black and Brown people gave this country what little humanity
>it has at great cost and I will be damned if I am going to let
>some third-rate crackers destroy that and build a white
>ethnostate out of it.

but some days I have to unplug and recharge.

Thanks.

Taking that time is just as important and is a powerful act unto itself.

Be well

Thank you for writing this.

https://wagingnonviolence.org/2020/09/10-things-you-need-to-know-to-stop-a-coup/

I know, know at the site name but there is some valuable stuff here. I may not agree w/ everything here but I believe this will come in handy now and in the very near future.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"10 Things You need to Know to Stop a Coup"

While keeping people focused on a strong, robust election process is a must, we also need to prepare for a coup.

Daniel Hunter September 18, 2020

We have a president who has openly said he might not respect the outcome of our election. We have to be ready if he claims victory before votes are counted, tries to stop counting, or refuses to accept a loss.

Some days I feel confident it will happen. A poll showed over 75 percent of Democrats think this is possible — and a shocking 30 percent of Republicans do too!

Other days I feel confident this is tough talk from a president not good at planning ahead. Still, he is good at the kind of misdirection that can keep us complacent and reactionary — which could lead us to stop doing the important groundwork of getting out the vote, protecting the post office and fighting voter suppression.

So what I’m offering isn’t asking us to stop what we’re doing now. Instead I’m part of an effort called Choose Democracy, which is prepping people for the possibility of a coup while keeping people focused on a strong, robust election process. After all, the best way to stop a coup is to not have one.

These guidelines are drawn from the wide body of experience and evidence from the many countries that have experienced a coup since World War II. You can read some fuller case studies from Choose Democracy or a longer evidence-based handbook for this moment from “Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy.”

1. Don’t Expect Results Election Night

Election season 2020 is shaping up to be very unusual. Many mail-in ballots may not be counted until days or weeks after Election Day. Since Democrats are expected to use them more frequently than Republicans, voter tallies are expected to swing towards Democrats post-election night (they call it a “blue shift”). As a result, a wave of confusion may unfold starting election night.

The strange Electoral College creates multiple intervention points. After election night (Nov. 3), trumped up claims of fraudulent ballots may cause a wayward attorney general or other government officials to try halting counts or excluding ballots.

On Dec. 14, the delegates of the Electoral College meet and vote for the state’s outcome. This is typically done without fanfare, but in contested states we might see governors and state legislatures sending in different results — one reflecting the results from voters, the other claiming “it’s a fraud” and “we know best.” This is worrying in swing states like Pennsylvania, where the governor and state legislature are of different parties.

All these issues then get resolved on Jan. 6 by the new Congress. And if the House and Senate don’t agree about the result, then a convoluted process unfolds where the newly seated House — via one state, one-vote — determines the president. Meanwhile, the Senate (by majority) votes for the new vice president. (#ShutDownDC provides a visual break-down of these steps.)

During this time expect false flags and outlandish claims. Be very cautious with news. Don’t simply pass on whatever seems like dramatic examples of wrongdoing — but take the time to check if it has been verified, already debunked, or from a source you don’t trust. Encourage people in your community to prepare for some uncertain weeks. As election results start coming in the message needs to come through loud and clear: Count all the votes and honor the result.

2. Do Call it a Coup

One reason to use the language of a coup is that people know it’s wrong and a violation of Democratic norms — even if they’re not familiar with the exact definition of a coup.

We have to be ready to declare loudly and strongly: This is a coup.

Language like “election tampering” or “voter suppression” signal deterioration of the democratic process. But if we get ourselves into a coup situation — like where Trump just won’t go — we need to help people help our country move into a psychic break.

We know it’s a coup if the government:

Stops counting votes;
Declares someone a winner who didn’t get the most votes;
or
Allows someone to stay in power who didn’t win the election.

These are sensible red lines that people can grasp right away (and that the majority of Americans continue to believe in).

People who do power grabs always claim they’re doing it to save democracy or claim they know the “real” election results. So this doesn’t have to look like a military coup with one leader ordering the opposition to be arrested.

If any of those three principles are violated, we have to declare loudly and strongly: This is a coup.


3. Know that Coups Have Been Stopped by Regular Folks.

Coup attempts have happened all over the world, and over half have failed. That’s because coups are hard to orchestrate. They are a violation of norms that require quick seizure of multiple levels of institutions with a claim that they are the rightful heir.

Coups tend to fail when government institutions (like elections) are trusted, there is an active citizenry and other nations are ready to become involved.

The role of citizenry is crucial. That’s because during the period right after a coup attempt— when the new government is claiming it is the “real” government — all the institutions have to decide who to listen to.

A failed coup in Germany in 1920 gives an example. The population felt beaten down by defeat in World War I and high unemployment. Right-wing nationalists organized a coup and got the help of a few generals to seize government buildings. The deposed government fled but ordered all citizens to obey them. “No enterprise must work as long as the military dictatorship reigns,” they declared.

Widespread nonviolent resistance quickly began. Printers refused to print the new government’s newspapers. Civil servants refused to carry out any orders from the coup. And leaflets calling for an end to the coup were spread by airplane and by hand.

There’s a story of the coup leader wandering up and down the corridors looking in vain for a secretary to type up his proclamations. The acts of resistance grew and eventually the democratic government (which still had grave problems) was returned to power.

The moments after a coup are moments for heroism amongst the general population. It’s how we make democracy real.


4. Be Ready to Act Quickly — and Not Alone.

Typically power grabs are organized in secret and launched suddenly. Most campaigns that defeat coups do so in days: The Soviet Union in 1991 took three days, France in 1961 took four days and Bolivia in 1978 took 16 days.

It’s rare for any country’s leader to publicly admit they might not respect the results of an election. There’s some good news in that — because people who stop coups rarely have the chance to get training, warning or preparation. In that way, we’re ahead of the game.

A group of D.C. insiders called the Transition Integrity Project ran multiple simulations, such as what might happen if Biden wins by a slim margin or if Trump simply declares victory when there’s no clear winner. In every simulation they concluded that a “show of numbers in the streets may be decisive.” Regular people make the difference.

To start preparing, talk to at least five people who would go into the streets with you — the safest way to take to the streets is with people you know and trust. Talk to people you know in civil service and various roles about how they could non-comply with coup attempts. Use this time to get yourself ready to act.

5. Focus on Widely Shared Democratic Values, Not on Individuals.

In Argentina in 1987, a coup got started when an Air Force major, resenting attempts to democratize the military and bring it under civilian control, organized hundreds of soldiers at his base.

While the civilian government tried to quietly negotiate a settlement, people took to the streets. Against the government’s pleading, 500 regular citizens marched to the base with the slogan “Long live democracy! Argentina! Argentina!” They could have spent time attacking the major. Instead, they were appealing to their fellow citizens to choose democracy.

The major tried to keep them away with a tank, but the protesters entered the base anyway, and he knew that open firing on nonviolent civilians would cause him to lose more credibility. Soon 400,000 people took to the streets in Buenos Aires to rally in opposition to the coup.

This gave strength to the civilian government (which had largely been absent). Civic organizations, the Catholic church, business groups and labor unions united under a pledge to “support in all ways possible the constitution, the normal development of the institutions of government and democracy as the only viable way of life.” The coup plotters lost their legitimacy and soon surrendered.

This approach is different than protesters going in the street with a list of issues or a grievance against a vilified leader. Instead, it’s exalting widely-shared core democratic values. In our project we use the language of “choosing democracy.”

This affirms another finding from the research on anti-coups: Because coups are an attack on the current institution, loyalists to the traditional way — who may never join other movement causes — are open to joining actions in the street. That’s if we make the invitation about democratic values they can connect with.

6. Convince People Not to Freeze or Just Go Along.

Imagine that at your job a corrupt boss gets fired and a new one is brought in. Instead of leaving, your old boss says, “I’m still in charge. Do what I say.” A bunch of your co-workers say, “We only take orders from the old boss.” At that point, doubt arises.

That doubt is how coups succeed. Enough people freeze. Even when only a few people go along with the coup and act as though that’s normal, people may reluctantly accept it as inevitable.

In all the research on preventing coups, there’s one common theme: People stop doing what the coup plotters tell them to do.

In Germany, from military commanders to secretaries, they refused to obey the orders of the coup. In Mali they called a nationwide strike. In Sudan protesters shut down government-supported radio stations and occupied airport runways. In Venezuela all shops were closed.

This is very different than mass marches at the capital or street protests shutting down intersections. It’s not about protest but about getting people to reassert core values — like showing up at elected officials’ offices to get them to agree to honor election results. And it’s not about single points of actions like marches in D.C. — but instead actions like mass strikes from youth and students refusing to go to work or school until all votes are counted.

Coups are not a time to just watch and wait until “someone else” figures it out. No matter who you are you can be a part of choosing democracy.

7. Commit to Actions that Represent Rule of Law, Stability and Nonviolence.

Stopping a coup is dependent on the size of mobilizations and winning over the center. It is really a fight for legitimacy. Which voice is legitimate? Some people will have already made up their minds. The aim, then, is convincing those who are uncertain — which may be a more surprising number than you expect.

Stopping a coup is dependent on the size of mobilizations and winning over the center. It is really a fight for legitimacy. Which voice is legitimate? Some people will have already made up their minds. The aim, then, is convincing those who are uncertain — which may be a more surprising number than you expect.

Mass resistance to coups wins by using walk-outs and strikes, refusing orders and shutting down civil society.

To swing them to our side, that uncertain center has to be convinced that “we” represent stability and “the coup plotters” represent hostility to the democratic norms of elections and voting.

We prevent that possibility when we dehumanize potential defectors, make sweeping statements like “the police won’t help,” never encourage people to join our side and create chaotic scenes on the street.

Historically, whichever side resorts to violence the most tends to lose. In a moment of uncertainty, people pick the side that promises maximum stability, respects democratic norms and appears to be the safer bet. It’s a contest of who can be the most legitimate.

Mass resistance to coups wins by using walk-outs and strikes, refusing orders and shutting down civil society until the rightful democratically-elected leader is installed. For mass movements to succeed against coups, they should refuse to do violence to the other side.

8. Yes, a Coup Can Happen in the United States.

It may be hard to imagine that a coup could happen in this country. But whenever there is an order to stop counting votes, we call it a coup.

Even by the strictest definition of coups, there has been a militarized coup in the United States. In 1898 after reconstruction in Wilmington, North Carolina, seeing the rise of a prosperous and successful Black population, white racists organized a coup. They gave rallying cries like, “We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of Negroes, even if we have to choke the Cape Fear River with carcasses.”

Despite a terror campaign before the election, Black turnout was high and a slate of Black candidates was voted in. Black power was met with white supremacist violence, with white squads killing 30 to 300 people, including newly elected officials. Over 3,000 Blacks fled this extreme violence, and the era of Jim Crow began.

9. Center in Calm, not Fear.

It’s scary to believe we’re having to talk about a federal coup in the United States. And we know that fearful people are less likely to make good decisions.

Let’s aim for calm and avoid hyperbole. Be a reliable source by double-checking rumors and spreading high-quality facts. Sure, read social media… but spend some time, you know, doing real things that ground you.

Breathe deeply.

Remember how you handle fear.

Play out scenarios, but don’t become captured by them.

We’re doing this to prepare, just in case.


10. Prepare to Deter a Coup Before the Election.

The best way to stop a coup is to never have one. People are doing lots of good work on issues of voting rights, urging turn-out, stopping repression, uncovering fraud and getting people to commit to democracy. That may be enough.

The best way to stop a coup is to deter it.

Another way to prepare is to get people into the mindset of taking action so they don’t freeze. The classic formulation of this is the “if-this-then-that” model designed by the Pledge of Resistance. In that model people prepare themselves for an action by saying “If it comes to this bad thing, then I’ll act.” By signing a pledge before the crunch moment, you get wider buy-in.

In that spirit, Choose Democracy has created a pledge:

1. We will vote.
2. We will refuse to accept election results until all the votes are counted.
3. We will nonviolently take to the streets if a coup is attempted.
4. If we need to, we will shut down this country to protect the integrity of the democratic process.

COVID aside.....

Personally, I didn't want to leave anything up to chance (COVID, DeJoy destroying the Post Office, Trump supporters attempting to intimidate voters at the polls)

My county's BoE has a couple of tents set up in the parking lot with officials to accept forms (weather permitting).

Then I verified it had been accepted a couple of days later via my state's ballot tracker.

I'd probably recommend that or early voting, personally.

My mom was going to early vote but is now going to the same process I did.

My aunt is doing absentee and my mom will drop it off on her behalf at the BoE because she's in a home and my mom can do that as her near relative (per BoE definition).

If that's not an option, I'd go with Early Voting next, in-person after that and then mailing last maybe.

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919283793/texas-governor-limits-ballot-drop-off-locations-local-officials-vow-to-fight-bac

Texas Governor Limits Ballot Drop-Off Locations, Local Officials Vow To Fight Back

Local officials in Texas say they plan to fight a new order from Gov. Greg Abbott to limit the number of places where voters can hand deliver mail-in ballots.

Abbott announced the order Thursday, the same day local election officials opened the drop-off sites.

Starting Friday, Abbott said in a statement, "mail ballots that are delivered in person by voters who are eligible to vote by mail must be delivered to a single early voting clerk's office location as publicly designated by a county's early voting clerk."

Abbott said the order was an effort to enhance "ballot security protocols" for mail-in ballots, though he offered no evidence having multiple sites would affect the security of these ballots.

"The State of Texas has a duty to voters to maintain the integrity of our elections," Abbott said in his statement. "As we work to preserve Texans' ability to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic, we must take extra care to strengthen ballot security protocols throughout the state. These enhanced security protocols will ensure greater transparency and will help stop attempts at illegal voting."

In Travis County, home to the state capital of Austin, county Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir had set up four sites for voters to hand deliver their ballots. She called the order "most unfortunate" and said she plans to "challenge the governor" and his effort to close three of those sites.

"I don't know what is going to happen to the governor's order until we get to the point that I can talk about it in court," she said. "In the meantime, I am still going to listen to what the county attorney tells me is the appropriate thing for the county clerk to do. And that is what we will follow."

Harris County, home to Houston, planned 12 ballot drop-off sites. County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, says the change will "result in widespread confusion and voter suppression."

While most states have made it easier to vote by mail this year amid the pandemic, Texas has held out and stuck with some of the most stringent rules for getting an absentee ballot in the country. Still, an unprecedented number of Texans are expected to vote by mail, particularly those who are disabled, over 65 or in one of the other limited categories the state allows.

In past presidential elections, DeBeauvoir said, her office received an average of 27,000 applications for mail-in ballots. So far this year, it has received 71,000 applications, she said.

Concerns over potential USPS issues handling the increase in mail-in ballots forced local election officials in populous counties to come up with more options for people planning to vote by mail in the upcoming election.

These hand-delivery sites, or in-person drop-off sites, were among the solutions.

DeBeauvoir said Abbott's sudden disapproval of these sites is "targeted" at urban counties, which tend to be heavily Democratic.

"This is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the election," she said. "If the governor was truly worried about this, he could have stopped this program more than a month ago or contacted the urban counties that are all doing the same thing Travis County is doing."

In response to the governor's order, Texas Democrats called Republicans "cheaters."

"Republicans are on the verge of losing, so Gov. Abbott is trying to adjust the rules last minute," Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. "Governor Abbott and Texas Republicans are scared. We are creating a movement that will beat them at the ballot box on November 3, and there's nothing these cheaters can do about it."

While the state has long been a Republican stronghold, polls show the race between President Trump and Democrat Joe Biden to be extremely close. Democrats are hoping to make substantial gains in both U.S. House and state legislative races this fall.

Austin's lone Democratic congressman, Lloyd Doggett, called Abbott's order an "outrageous act of voter suppression" aimed at affecting the election.

"This sabotage is not about election security," he said in a statement, "it is about Republican political insecurity. With over a month to return your ballot, voting by mail remains the safest way to participate."

some states do not allow mail in votes to even be OPENED, let alone counted, until election day
some states allow for counting to start a few days before
some 2 weeks before

so check your state - if its a situation where they're not going to count your mail-in ballot until election day, its gonna be better for you to vote in-person (ideally early)

https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-16-when-absentee-mail-ballot-processing-and-counting-can-begin.aspx

https://twitter.com/NinaBernstein1/status/1311633015609622529?s=20

I think Bomani Jones said it best on his podcast the other day
That with Trump you can't believe a word he says, but that you have to take everything he says seriously.

Like "oh he means that."


Elite folks aren't built to deal with people like him, not on the level of spite and fight.