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Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and...
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...you still haven't counted 3000 absentee ballots? or did you, and i missed it?

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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CNN reports all absentee ballots have been counted. There are still some provisional, military and overseas ballots remaining.

The White House is blaming a weak candidate.
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [HandHeartCrown] [ In reply to ]
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HandHeartCrown wrote:
CNN reports all absentee ballots have been counted. There are still some provisional, military and overseas ballots remaining. The White House is blaming a weak candidate.

we had all the absentee ballots from the other counties counted and announced last night. except westmoreland county. and maybe green county but on 8 people live there, so, no matter. what were the results of the absentee ballots from westmoreland county? there were only 3000 of them and the hardest part is opening the envelopes, the easy part is scanning the results. westmoreland's absentees is the only reasonable cohort of voters that could impact the election (only cohort large enough). do we have the results from that county? i ask because i really... don't... want... to make a snippy comment!

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
HandHeartCrown wrote:
CNN reports all absentee ballots have been counted. There are still some provisional, military and overseas ballots remaining. The White House is blaming a weak candidate.


we had all the absentee ballots from the other counties counted and announced last night. except westmoreland county. and maybe green county but on 8 people live there, so, no matter. what were the results of the absentee ballots from westmoreland county? there were only 3000 of them and the hardest part is opening the envelopes, the easy part is scanning the results. westmoreland's absentees is the only reasonable cohort of voters that could impact the election (only cohort large enough). do we have the results from that county? i ask because i really... don't... want... to make a snippy comment!

They claimed last night at around 11:20 EST that they didn't have the manpower to count them last night. To be fair, I don't suppose they thought the race would be so tight that the result could rest with those votes. That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.

Of course, many of the 'staff' tend to be elderly volunteers who move at their own pace...
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Kay Serrar] [ In reply to ]
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Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.

Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [slowguy] [ In reply to ]
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slowguy wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.


Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?

Maybe the urgency is to declare a winner before the district ceases to exist.
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [slowguy] [ In reply to ]
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slowguy wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.


Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?

yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it. as well as i can tell westmoreland county is about equivalent to the part of allegheny county that is in this district. what is it about allegheny county that empowers them with the ability to count votes that westmoreland county lacks? maybe between now and november westmoreland county can ask their brethren for help.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
slowguy wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.


Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?


yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it. as well as i can tell westmoreland county is about equivalent to the part of allegheny county that is in this district. what is it about allegheny county that empowers them with the ability to count votes that westmoreland county lacks? maybe between now and november westmoreland county can ask their brethren for help.

It's a bigger, poorer, much less populated, rural county, compared to Allegheny. I can imagine that the latter would have more resources.

But the entire US election apparatus is in dire need of an upgrade. Most Latin American countries have far better election systems than the US. You would have thought that after the debacle of 2000 in FL all this would be far more sophisticated by now. Maybe we need someone like Elon Musk to sort it out... I mean he's now building a rocket to go to Mars next year, and we still have shitty election systems.
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Kay Serrar] [ In reply to ]
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Kay Serrar wrote:
Slowman wrote:
slowguy wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.


Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?


yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it. as well as i can tell westmoreland county is about equivalent to the part of allegheny county that is in this district. what is it about allegheny county that empowers them with the ability to count votes that westmoreland county lacks? maybe between now and november westmoreland county can ask their brethren for help.


It's a bigger, poorer, much less populated, rural county, compared to Allegheny. I can imagine that the latter would have more resources.

But the entire US election apparatus is in dire need of an upgrade. Most Latin American countries have far better election systems than the US. You would have thought that after the debacle of 2000 in FL all this would be far more sophisticated by now. Maybe we need someone like Elon Musk to sort it out... I mean he's now building a rocket to go to Mars next year, and we still have shitty election systems.

but we would have to want that. and it's hard to want that when part of the country wonders whether it's really that urgent.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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From the following source:


Westmoreland County Elections Director Beth Lechman said the county has about 20 provisional ballots to count and had received 23 military ballots. Nearly 72,000 people voted in Westmoreland on Tuesday — about a third of all votes cast in the congressional district.

There was no reference to the article about absentee ballots in Westmoreland County. It did mention that 1400 ballots in Washington and Greene countries were counted earlier today.
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [HandHeartCrown] [ In reply to ]
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maybe westmoreland county has counted and announced the results of the absentee ballots. this local paper story said yes, it had, last night. but i don't see it, yet, in the natl papers. i don't want to indict anyone. i just want to know whether westmoreland county's absentee ballots are reflected in the current listed totals or not.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it.

I find it very difficult to believe that voter engagement is significantly impacted by taking 24hrs to count absentee ballots. These are ballots that were mailed in days or weeks ago. Those voters have already been waiting.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [slowguy] [ In reply to ]
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slowguy wrote:
Quote:
yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it.


I find it very difficult to believe that voter engagement is significantly impacted by taking 24hrs to count absentee ballots. These are ballots that were mailed in days or weeks ago. Those voters have already been waiting.

i've been waiting for weeks for the NCAA tournament to start. i, and others, and the players and coaches, would prefer not to wait a couple of days to find out what the score is of the game just played. aside from the fact that it isn't just those who voted by mail who're interested in the outcome. it's everyone. candidates included.

if you're a small govt, efficient govt guy - which i sense you are - then i would think a govt that actually works hard and efficiently, turning out a proper product, is a goal. which i think you must understand. which makes me think you're just fudgin' wit me.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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i've been waiting for weeks for the NCAA tournament to start. i, and others, and the players and coaches, would prefer not to wait a couple of days to find out what the score is of the game just played.

Sure, because there is another game in a day or two. Pretty sure you understand the differences between a Congressional election and a basketball tournament, with respect to timing and urgency.

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aside from the fact that it isn't just those who voted by mail who're interested in the outcome. it's everyone. candidates included.

Of course they're interested. Interest and urgency aren't the same thing. I think the results should be tabulated efficiently and in a timely fashion, but that doesn't mean it's urgent that they do it right this second.

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if you're a small govt, efficient govt guy - which i sense you are - then i would think a govt that actually works hard and efficiently, turning out a proper product, is a goal. which i think you must understand. which makes me think you're just fudgin' wit me.

As I said, I think the process should be as efficient as it can be, and should deliver timely results when possible. I don't see any issue with urgency just because it takes overnight and into the next day to finish tabulating results, especially in a very close race where the impact of error is greater. I think most people's "urgency" is in the fact that they want to point at Trump supporters and laugh at them, or claim that the DNC will run the table in the next elections, or some other nonsensical motivation. Since there are relatively few people actually directly impacted by which of these men is elected, I'm having trouble seeing why, for example, a California business and triathlon forum owner would be so interested and sense so much urgency in the PA 18th District special election.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: Westmoreland Co., we're pushing up against noon, EST, and... [Kay Serrar] [ In reply to ]
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Kay Serrar wrote:
Slowman wrote:
slowguy wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
That said, they should have been up early this morning getting them counted by 8am or so, but apparently they didn't share the sense of urgency.


Is there really any actual urgency for this? I mean other than the urgency from the media who needs a "breaking story" or from people who are super eager to throw the results in the face of their political adversaries on chat boards?


yeah, i think there is. it's now 3pm eastern time. i think it's hard to expect a populace to be engaged in a process if the folks in charge of running it are cavalier about it. as well as i can tell westmoreland county is about equivalent to the part of allegheny county that is in this district. what is it about allegheny county that empowers them with the ability to count votes that westmoreland county lacks? maybe between now and november westmoreland county can ask their brethren for help.


It's a bigger, poorer, much less populated, rural county, compared to Allegheny. I can imagine that the latter would have more resources.

But the entire US election apparatus is in dire need of an upgrade. Most Latin American countries have far better election systems than the US. You would have thought that after the debacle of 2000 in FL all this would be far more sophisticated by now. Maybe we need someone like Elon Musk to sort it out... I mean he's now building a rocket to go to Mars next year, and we still have shitty election systems.
Get the Russians to fix it. Apparently they're pretty good at stuff like this and they already have experience working within the US voting system.

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
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