This may be premature but can someone tell me how many Senate seats, both D and R, will be in play in 2020? Because the deck was stacked against the Dems this time it seems that it may be stacked against the GOP in 2020. Numbers anyone?
3
Why can't this country have mail in voting throughout the country like Washington, Oregon and Colorado? I voted like that for years in Washington. Voter turnout would increase and people would have time to study the issues. I used to love the voters pamphlet Washington put out--both sides were represented. I did early voting in Idaho but I still had to drive to the courthouse to do so--pita.
1
I would like to see the ubiquitous Red/Blue map side by side with a popular vote map.
I have finally come to the conclusion that many people have given no thought to who they vote for. Prime example... A local voter was interviewed about who he voted for in our Senate races (we had two, one a special election). He said he voted for Amy Klobuchar because she supported and defended unions and he was a union member. But in the other race, he voted for Karin Housley, because he was a hockey fan and liked the fact that her husband was a retired NHL hockey player. Not even considering the fact that Housley supported restricting unions while in the Minnesota Senate. A truly uninformed voter. As long as people don't pay any attention we are doomed to idiocy governing the US.
3
Josh Hawley is better-looking than Beto, and he won.
1
The takeaway is that Barack Obama not only lost his voice but also his mojo, judging by that Gillum could not make it and Stacy is stubbornly refusing to accept she lost.
This was hardly the Blue Wave liberal pundits were predicting.
Now that the Dems have control of the House, they better deliver on their promise of healthcare and immigration reform. If they simply used their power of subpoenas to harass Trump, they will ensure Donald's reelection bigly in 2020. And they will lose control of the House.
I am waiting to watch the internecine battles when Nancy Pelosi wants to seize control of the gavel.
Let the Hunger Games begin.
3
I like the term "marquee races" used here. I don't like the term "viral stars" you used elsewhere. These were the races that the press covered incessantly. To turn around and call them "viral stars" as if it were us unwashed masses who gave them star status and not yourselves, is a backdoor for the press to claim fly on the wall status.
The number one key takeaway, which wasn't in your key takeaways at all, was voter turnout. There are three messages there: Motivated voters will turn out, and turn out willingly. High voter turnout is the number one antidote to antidemocratic forces. And the number one suppressor of votes in a midterm isn't election rigging, it's press boredom.
People who normally are "too busy" or uninvolved to vote showed up yesterday and stood patiently in line like they belonged there, first time voters many of them, you can tell because they're unfamiliar with the procedure.
People exercised their franchise. You could tell. They had spent hours working through the ballots to vote precisely as they believed, and many relinquished mail-in ballots to be at the polls in person to have their say.
In 2014, the press was already so jubilantly covering 2016 that you couldn't tell there was an election happening at all. The opposite this time. Look at the difference in turnout.
Democracy isn't dead, the giant was sleeping. To the young people out there, you have never looked more in charge of your future than you did casting your vote yesterday.
3
On the upside, at least Big Pharma Bob "I hope it rains hard tomorrow"[1] Hugin got beat. What a sick living antidemocratic insult to actual Marines like Mueller!
We the Sane did and won some good here. Not nearly enough, but we did. We can't call for the impeachment we need or for the ranked-choice voting that would allow third-party votes to be safely cast and no longer "spoilers", nor can we be sure the Supreme(ly Stolen) Court won't destroy our remaining rights, but at least the House can be the kid in the backseat to annoy the "covfefe" regime.
"Is the audit done yet?" "No."
"Is the audit done yet?" "No."
"Is the audit done yet?" "No."
"Is the audit do—" "FINE! ALL RIGHT! You can have my tax thingies, and by the way they are so beautiful, and so tremendous, look at these big Russi—I mean hotel numbers, so nice...but you can have my tax returns, but now let me play my golf, which I win SO easy, like trade..." *sulks away in cart while twitting away at iPhone*
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/us/politics/election-day-weather-rain.html
3
Article after article in your paper talks about the high turnout and then moves on without a single figure. I know you don't like numbers at the Times, but can we please have the turnout figure? It's one of the first numbers calculated on election night, it shouldn't be a big mystery, and to those of us who worked at the polls, it's something we saw and would like to know.
9
I see hope. I see future. The young and bold newly elected Democratic congressmen and women will learn and adapt to the political games in DC very soon. They will take over the Republican senate majority lead in due time. Although Beto didn't win the senate race in Texas this time. Given his youth and boldness, he will come back and eventually win the seat from the Republican party. You can bet on it.
6
Two words Donald :
Subpoena Power
4
Three words, r:
Tempest tea cup
1
@Sophia
Take off the orange blinders.
And ask yourself WHY he won’t release those tax returns.
No other POTUS has ever refused.
5
It doesn’t matter what party “won” if you look at some of the more promising statistics of 90 women heading to the House, two Muslim women heading to Washington. Native American representation, several other minority wins, and LGBTQ representation. The only way to move this country anywhere is to have more viewpoints represented than deeply entrenched right or left. Our nation is changing demographically and our democracy needs to start representing that. With that slow change, I am excited as to what the next 10 years will bring. And hopefully more states will bring in more initiatives like Voters Not Politicians to address gerrymandering. Moderation, give and take, compromise, and consensus need to return.
9
The story of where we are as Americans gets uglier. Apparently, half the country thinks there's nothing wrong with a president who lies and divides and uses his office to enrich himself. Millions of grandparents and parents and educators have clearly failed - or, more likely, not even bothered - to instill values of honesty, civility and charity. Many of them, alas, think of themselves as "good Christians." Trump's brazen mendacity and hate-mongering during the last few weeks should have been a wake-up call to the Republican faithful. Instead, they demonstrated once again that they proudly belong to a party of moral sellouts. I don't think there's any way to reach these people. The Democratic victories notwithstanding, yesterday's results are a warning that Nov. 3, 2020 could be the darkest day in our country since cannons roared at Ft. Sumter.
6
The forces of good won! Coal is out.
1
Finally the corrupt Trump administration can be truly investigated.
4
Finally some sobriety in the House, and a stop to Trump's egomania in destroying whatever was in front of him, with oh so much help from a cowed G.O.P.; although there is much to be said by regaining political power for the good of the country, we fell short by not sending home some hateful, divisive and arrogant thugs 'a la Ted Cruz', a 'tribute' of loyalty to party divorced from their self-serving.
2
Aside from a few “missed it by THAT much” results, it wasn’t a bad night for the Dems. The suburban move towards the Democrats and what appears to be a pretty strong bench of newcomers may bode well for FDR’s party two years from now.
5
"Representative Steve King of Iowa won...despite...his associations with white nationalists."
I think you mean because of.
22
The Democrat majority House ought to establish an independent counsel to investigate voter suppression in federal elections - in Georgia, North Dakota, for sure - and voter fraud in Florida and Ohio.
When Donald Trump tweeted his warning on voter fraud, you know that's projection - because that's what the GOP must have done somewhere.
If Kemp becomes the Governor of Georgia, anything he did as secretary of state to make that happen should mean criminal indictments.
16
By the capturing of House of representatives, Democrats may would Donald Trump and his administration More accountabl, a nationalist President of the USA. Donald Trump has make America's democracy dangered and created unprecedented threats for media and journalist. I want to conclude with a quote by Levitsky and Ziblat, " Democracy may die but not in hand of Generals, rather in the hand of elected representatives " , Donald Trump is one of them.
3
Soberly, this election entrenched the battle lines. It will be trench warfare from here on out.
Trump achieved a takeover of the GOP; it's the Trump party now, and it is the party of rural white males. The party has cast its future into doubt, but strengthened its constitutionally-gerrymandered bastion ... for the moment.
Sane Republicans will look at Texas and Florida -- held by the barest of margins, and demographics are not on the side of Trump's angry-white-older demographic.
The Republicans who are claiming that losing the house doesn't matter are fools; but Democrats who think expansive goals can be met with only control of the house are at least equally out-to-lunch.
It will get very ugly ... depend on it.
44
@Lee Harrison
It HAS been ugly since 45 took over.
8
@Lee Harrison. Yes and all the more reason to employ peacemaking practices. As a nation of diversity we need to be trained in communication skills that create win-win solutions. Yesterday’s letter to the editor by Bruce Higgins offered a mediation strategy. Citizen education is sorely needed.
5
@Lee Harrison In 2016 Trump got over 100,000 votes in Philadelphia, which is hardly a Republican haven, and where Dems outnumber Repubs something like 9 or 12 to 1. Trump also wins in cities and suburbs, not just rural, but keep pitching that line, and he'll win again.
3
A modicum of sanity is restored but this should by all rights have been an even more successful night for Democrats. Disappointed that Beto didn’t win and surprised national disgraces like Nunes were re-elected. At least the adults are back in charge of one of the chambers of Congress. Now to hold Trump and co to account while making progress!
7
As a European I would say that the results of this kind of extreme election fit the image that we have of Americans : low education and knowledge of the world , narcissistic and racist psychology, conformist with the power of money.
More so than ever .
12
I'm waiting for the analysis that shows the total numbers of people who voted and how they voted. Just because a few races where Dems were hopeful didn't turn blue that doesn't mean a blue wave isn't upon us. Our system is horribly skewed toward rural voters, and Republicans have done a masterful and cynical job of locking in their majorities in many areas.
The total numbers will tell us what to expect in 2020. Even then, with our embarrassing and undemocratic Electoral College system, Democrats will need huge majorities to win back the white house. If things continue as they have the last few years Democrats will continue to win the popular vote and lose the presidential elections. Our election system is a farce.
12
Again, democrats think that most people vote with conscience and a dose of realism. No, the people who supported Trump will never listen to anything other than Trump himself. Trump’s lies and bigotry do not bother them because they feel they have been ignored and pushed around by all other politicians EXCEPT Trump - at least he’s honest with them, they believe. He’s the second coming of Jesus to them, and literally to the Evangelicals.
And those moderate voters, if they even exist, won’t save democrats because democrats had to be so politically correct and “pragmatic and thoughtful” they can’t even say out loud “radical islam” without being ashamed, not to mention forcing people to accept gays, lesbians and transgenders in a period of time less than most people even understand what it means to accept them socially. You may be able to change laws but you can’t change the way people look at things in the nick of time.
All this might have been forgiven had they not been economically and socially left behind. Yes, it’s no one’s fault but themselves’. But left behind they are, so anger and frustration mount, with no one to blame. Wait, the Immigrants. That’s right, they are to be blamed for all their woes, even it takes a bigot like Trump to make it public. Dems meanwhile preach gospel about the need to restore “the great American ideals” that made America Great. While Trump hearkens back to the days when white people felt great about themselves and none of these insecurities.
2
The Blue Wave turned out to be a Blue Puddle.
Easy to jump over and fast to dry out.
No big deal.
4
The GOP dream of destroying Social Security and Medicare is over.
12
The real key for the Senate races is not the additional seat or two the Republicans will have for the next two years, but the impact that these will have on the ability of the Dems to take back the Senate in 2020. Looking at the open seats, the Republicans certainly will take the Dem. seat in Alabama that Jones won over Roy Moore. That means that if the Republicans control 53 seats after this election, the Dems would have to gain 4 (assuming they win the Presidency) to get a tie and therefore control. Possible, but not easy. If they control 54, I think it starts to get pretty tough. 55 gets really, really tough as they would have to win a seat in a very red state.
3
Love seeing the Trump supporters pretend this is a win. The House flipped in a big way, in districts Trump won handily two years ago. The republicans only took the senate because of the races in this cycle (races in states with less than a million people, mind you). And several states flipped in governors' races.
It is a repudiation of Trump, who no longer has unchecked power and spineless sycophants in the House and Senate. But more than that it is a testament to the candidates who worked hard for these victories. The House will look much more like America in January, a little less like an all-white country club in the South. And republicans, losing moderates, will continue to suffer for borrowing billions to give tax cuts to billionaires, hoping to pay for it by cutting health insurance (and Social Security and Medicare, for good measure).
Some sanity prevailed, at least for a night.
7
Digging deeper, Red states got redder and Blue States got Bluer. Tribalism is winning and almost nobody likes it. The Founding Fathers had their reasons for giving out-sized power to the less populous states, but that fateful decision seems more and more archaic. Democrats easily outdistanced the Republicans in the popular vote for the Senate, the House and the state houses, but the minority still holds the
lion's share of the power. We are not a center right society. A majority supports almost every one of the liberal positions on the issues. And not to be forgotten is the 22-2 Republican lead in the Senate from the states of the Confederacy where racism is alive and well. The biggest question. Can a society and culture so divided against itself continue to stand?
12
I am not sure these results count as a Democratic victory, if we only end up with a razor-thin, one- or two-vote majority in the house. The opposition usually does well in the midterms, and I suspect the Democrats did not perform better than average. We shall see a bit later once all the results are in.
I also wonder to what extent the gerrymandering of congressional districts played in reducing Republican losses in the house.
Above all, Democrats should be asking themselves, why we didnt sweep in 2016 and 2018? Was it all due to racism? A weak yet self-entitled presidential candidate in 2016?
Or perhaps the Democrats came off as weak on illegal immigration? So far, I have seen little soul-searching among the urban elites who make up the core of the Democratic base.
5
@Victor Val Dere
Gerrymandering of congressional districts played a role in reducing Democratic victories in the house. Is it necessary to lie and create fake excuses?
Given the numbers of Republican Governors in power before last night's election most Democratic victories on previously Republican districts were in places controlled by Republicans. Are you suggesting the Republicans gerrymandered their districts to get Democrats elected? Check the results Republicans lost in Texas, Georgia, and Florida, all controlled by Republican governors and legislatures.
Think about how transparent your attempt at deception is. Is Trump's serial liying caused by a contagious virus?
@Eli I think you need to re-read my post, Eli. The gerrmandering to which I refer is that performed by Republican-controlled statehouses.
1
The Dems overcame rampant voter suppression, rigged districts, and 99.99% probable tampering with the voting machines to still win the popular vote by 8%, they overcame the FoxNews / Evangelical parallel universe of voting for an infinitely monied Vengeful God of multinational kleptocratic Rigpublican propaganda wrath stirring up a frenzy of cooked fears, faked smears, and sneaky distractions 24/7.
We overcame that we do not feel today that the stealing superrich have loaded our future collective credit card with stolen trillions, nor how the rigged Supreme Court will overwhelm democracy in the future.
Boy, does that plead for Americans!
Still the grip of the kleptocracy on politics remains a sealed deal of horrible pollution and exploitation crimes, market and political power abuse forcing the 99% in a perennial costs and debt prison of fruitless career stress for nothing but losses, besieged health, and destruction, as Harvard teaches us it is already for decades. The superrich Rigpublican puppets consistently take policy stances so extreme they end up with even the outcomes they get from the Dems better for them than they could have foreseen in their wildest dreams a few years ago.
Meanwhile we get nothing but an acclerated climate, ecological, and economic meltdown.
To remake history for a first, we gotta wait out the next desastrous Financial Crisis in the pipeline of the greed steroids that the kleptocracy has already forced upon current politics to swallow whole.
7
Blue Wave, meet Mask of the Red Death.
And remember, voting isn't the end of your civic duty.
It is your responsibility to learn the issues, vote with your wallet, and constantly communicate with your representatives... after they've been elected.
Just because your district turned a color doesn't mean we all sit back and let congress do our fighting for us.
18
Hopefully, the Democrats learned a lesson through the backlash from Pelosi's steamroller efforts to pass the ACA and will adopt a method of smart cooperation on issues that benefit America and choose to fight hard against those issues that hurt it. The Republicans gave tint-for-tat since gaining a majority in both houses, not to mention the Presidency. It's time for "America first" to become more than buzzwords spoken by an imposter to the throne and become the goal of more moderate and earnest minds.
8
I won't be going to Florida or Texas for the next four years. Hawaii it is. Spend your dollars where they vote smart.
31
That Cruz beat Beto is proof that the voting machines are rigged. Probably the same in Florida with Gillum's loss to DeSantis.
15
@Fourteen
No, it's not proof. But what it does is show the kind of candidate who can come very very close to winning in red states. These are not centrists.
8
@Fourteen
However, if you want to blame voter supression for Abrams and Heitkamp, you may have a case.
6
Democrats know that all they must do to win big is wait for demographic changes to occur, and so they wait... and they wait... and they wait...
4
All of the alleged experts have repeatedly underestimated Trump's political savvy. He now has a Senate that will rubber stamp all of his lifetime judicial appointments. He also has a Senate that will never actually remove him as President through an impeachment trial. Republicans won the governor's races in Ohio and Florida, the two most important swing states in Presidential elections, and where re-districting and other political shenanigans can and will likely play a fundamental role in the 2020 Presidential election to the benefit of Trump. While Democrats will control the House, many of them do not even support the de facto choice of Pelosi for Speaker of the House, and many of the Democrats elected will actually support conservative positions. Just as Republicans could not resist investigating rather than legislating during the Clinton years to their detriment, I fear that the Democrats will do the same resulting in little progressive legislation to be proud of and to help fuel their resistance in 2020. Tonite was hardly a blue wave - more like a blue backsplash that will ultimately benefit Trump.
6
If anybody thought getting this country back to sanity was going to be easy, they were dreaming. It’s going to be a tough road back. But that journey has begun with the House of Representatives. Ignore the screeching panic or Monday morning quarterbacking of punits, both professional and amateur. Did all these people howling about Democratic Party mistakes even vote? Are we such immature, impatient children that we will give up and panic because Democrats didn’t win every single race, ignoring the success in the House races several governorships?
Ignore the noise and just roll up your sleeves. Saving democracy is up to us. Get ready for 2020. Donate if you can spare a few bucks. Volunteer to work on campaigns if you can. And above all, keep voting.
34
Moderates of both parties are an endangered species. The extreme wings of both national parties have influence out of proportion to their numbers . This does not bode well for the future. There is no success without excess.
3
I never felt optimistic about this one, but I did have one simple wish: that congress will subpoena his tax returns. Will I get my wish?
23
Bill Brown (below) makes some great points. The Democratic senators--most prominently the ones running for president--indulged in some catastrophic histrionics during the Kavanaugh hearings that I think paved the way for confirming Mitch McConnell as the most effective politician in America. But the silver lining is that Nancy Pelosi delivered a PERFECT victory speech to celebrate retaking the House. She is usually an indifferent to bad public speaker. But tonight she showed that she might be the only Democrat who is in Mitch McConnell's league where behind the scenes political work is concerned. In her speech, she laid out a platform and struck a tone from which the now shrunken minority of senators, as well as the presidential hopefuls, can learn. Now that the Democrats will be chairing committees, I hope they will learn from Pelosi about to avoid overreach and how to operate in an environment in which Republicans can get away with both running in and supervising an election while accusing the Democrats of cheating,
10
What a relief to see America refused to buy what Trump was selling. Hmm, rational voices eager to address real problems instead of fake ones take control of the House. Sounds like a plan. Bravo!
8
Once again Dems over-promised & under delivered. The mainstream media & progressive pundits elevated this election somewhere along the lines of "The Fate of Humanity is at Stake!" That was a blunder...hysteria rarely works. But there have been many blunders during this election cycle for the Dems. The messy judicial hearings, calls to impeach, Heidi Heitkamp apology, Elizabeth Warren DNA tests, Hillary & the caravan. If this election is a referendum on Trump then it's also a referendum on progressive politicians. If they lose...& all indicators are they will...then it will strengthen the hand of Democratic moderates. From the GOP's perspective losing the House is irrelevant. They've won the Senate...increasing their majority. Control the Senate & you control the most important lever of power: the judiciary. This election should have been a blowout for the Dems. Three months ago it was looking that way. But the blue wave never appeared. The Dems will reclaim only a few states,will lose the emotional races in Texas, Florida, & Georgia, won't reclaim the Senate & will win the House. As usual, after the election, pundits will congregate to discuss “why” Dems didn't have a better showing. Here’s “why.” Trump isn't the problem. It's the 62 million people who voted for him. If anything they will become more determined to win the cultural war that has divided this country. Until the Dems can engage voters on economic OUTCOMES, they will continue to be beaten by the GOP machine.
72
I agree completely with your analysis. It's a step forward however small to have control of one branch . Congressional committee subpoena power if properly exercised will help. But the Trump cult is impervious to responding to whatever is revealed in these hearings.
42% of the country rules thanks to the Electoral College, gerrymandering, and voter suppression....also some public apathy and resignation.
18
@Bill Brown It seems amateur pundits like yourself aren’t even waiting until tomorrow to tell us why you have the secrets to victory.
The Democrats have won a lot of House races and some governorships in non-traditional areas, and O’Rourke ran an extremely tight race in the biggest red state. Pay attention to what these new leaders are doing. Ignore the the posturing of pundits, professional or amateur.
42
@Bill Brown
That's right. Huge loss for the Democrats. That map looks more red than in 2018.
3
Not only did the Republicans pick up additional Senate seats, they also no longer have to content with Flake and McCain, which were more of a pain to Trump than some Democrats.
President Trump now has absolute control of the Senate and can confirm any judicial nominee he wants. That is huge.
Similarly, the Republicans left in the house are a lot more Trump Republicans, than wishy-washy/RINO Republicans.
In the end, the only thing Democrats can do in the House is make noise - they can't pass any legislation and they can't confirm any nominations. And Democrats had to outspend Republicans nearly 2 to 1 to buy a few seats in the House.
37
Also agree. Susan Collins loses influence. Yes and add Corker to McCain and Flake. We are facing a two year stalemate except as you have noted judicial appointments which is huge.
3
@Baron95 Democrats in the House can do a lot more than make noise. They can effectively block any GOP legislation. They also now have subpoena power and will be able to use that to shine a light on the corruption running rampant in the administration.
15
@Yuri Prlham
Stalemate sounds great. Maybe the democracy will survive.
7
The Republicans should be proud of their wins tonight. President Trump should also be proud of the results of this election. As predicted, they did lose the house but won some important states that will help him with his continued agenda. Apparently, his support for most of the Republicans helped them win their seats. It did not appear to hurt as was feared by some. There are a few senate seats that hopefully will be wins for the Republicans to keep control. We should know for sure soon.
5
@WPLMMT this is actually far more worrying than anything else
1
First order of business for the Democratic Congress should be to investigate this election. The gerrymandering, voter suppression and vulnerability of voting machines mock democracy. I would suggest that the group to take this on should be the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. There is nothing so UnAmerican as denying citizens their right to vote.
22
A real shame Beto shouldn’t get up over Cruz - it might have shown the Democratic leadership a way forward on winning any state with good policy and a good candidate.
13
The senate races are something Mueller should be looking at. All of them are something that the Russians had something to do with. We all know this to be true. And lets not forget taking out Kavanough. What is his first name again? Doesn't matter cause he is Trump.
11
Alright, panic over, folks. This went just as it should have. The Democrats take the House with a sizable majority. The Democrats had no chance of taking the Senate with the collection of states in play and that is good. The Democrats got lucky for not winning the Senate (believe me, it is true). By winning both houses of Congress, they would have shared blame for the problems that Trump's presidency is already sowing the seeds for (exploding deficit, overheated economy built on credit and crumbling government). Now they get to investigate and rightly blame the president and Senate for their irresponsible policies. This outcome just made Donald Trump a one term president.
171
@The Hawk Exactly the opposite as Trump can (and will) blame any lapses in the economy, national security, etc. on the House. Meanwhile, he will continue to pack the courts. And the Dems have lost some of the moderate Senate voices (McCaskill, Heitkamp) that could have appealed to moderates, while also losing key races in Texas (Beto who?) and Florida. Dems had better move quickly to identify their 2020 candidate and think carefully about how they will use their slim House majority.
9
@The Hawk
Respectfully, sir: what on earth are you talking about? A sizable majority? When the tally is over, the Dems' majority will probably be in the single digits. Not a blue wave, not even a blue tide -- barely even a blue jacuzzi jet. Meanwhile, the party gave away easy pick-ups in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, and probably Nevada as well.
My reaction is precisely the opposite of yours: after tonight, I have little-to-no confidence that the Democrats are poised to assume the presidency in 2020. It appears the party learned precisely none of the right lessons from 2010, from 2014, from 2016. They're about to hand the speaker's gavel to... Nancy Pelosi. They're about to nominate one of a half-dozen septuagenarians as a candidate the presidency. They've somehow failed to understand that the vast majority of this country doesn't really care about or sympathize with the media's pet favorite issues: #MeToo, DACA, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. Somehow they've managed to synthesize the worst aspects of establishment politics with the most unpalatable blend of woke progressive activism; tonight's drubbing in any non-House election is an excellent barometer for how Americans feel about the future of the Democratic Party.
20
@Michael
But they tried!
And winning isn't everything.
And they didn't compromise their values.
Besides, you can't win them all.
They can be proud of their effort.
Especially as there was some rain.
5
This should be a day of jubilation. We are exercising the right guaranteed by our constitution to vote on candidates and issues that will shape our country for years to come. We may not get the senate or congress we hope for, but we will have made those choices as a nation.
I find it moving to look at the lines of people at the polling places and I am proud to have been one of them. This is what makes American great, not chauvinist slogans, threats, name-calling, boasts, nor promises that may or may not be kept.
There is a lot at stake, and the essence of our democracy is that we will have an impact on the outcome.
Vote.
84
@dutchiris
"the essence of our democracy is that we will have an impact on the outcome."
Seriously? Only a Civics teacher would believe that.
Yep Fourteen, cynical sneers will help.
3
The photos of all these people -- young and old alike -- standing in long lines, standing in the rain, riding in the back of pick up trucks holding up signs to vote -- brings tears to my eyes.
To each of them I say: Thank you!
My mother, who would be 95, lost her ability to vote in Texas. I think about all those folks in nursing homes, like her, who don't have a current driving license, a current passport, a current gun license (I couldn't believe it either when I checked out the i.d. requirements), an electric bill, or a state ID. Hard to get one without the aforementioned criteria.
There are still folks from the Greatest Generation alive.
And undoubtedly some of them can't vote. So I say thank you for all those standing in the rain, for giving up an hourly wage, for overcoming all the obstacles in your way to vote, for putting your fear on one side to deal with intimidation and voter suppression.
Thank you, thank you!
186
I realize that many elderly people may not keep drivers licenses, but they certainly can get an ID from the department. I have one
12
@Terry
In Massachusetts, no ID required. You tell them your street address and they find your name. It's like they trust you.
12
And if their English is poor? What happens then?
My wife saw a man voting tonight who, at the least, could not read English. His wife was reading him the ballot and showing him where to fill in the circles next to the choices he made. He would not have been able to vote if he did not qualify to do so under state and federal requirements but how many states would have denied him the opportunity to do so because of his disadvantage?
Immigrants in past days, Italians, French, Germans, and many others all faced the same disadvantage but still helped us build this nation and were proud to have the chance.
It warmed my heart to know he cared about his country enough to vote but more that he could do so in this rural community where I live.
How would he have faired in Georgia, North Carolina, and other states and towns that are doing everything they can to restrict the vote?
11
The Dems have taken control of the House. They have subpoena power. This is a bad night for Trump. It is a good night for those of us who want a "leash put on that puppy."
15
@susan
Mueller is done though. Senate = Trump shakes up his cabinet, including Sessions.
1
@susan
Big deal. After 2 years of Trump and the Republicans they should have won the Senate and the House in a landslide.
This was a Red Wave, just like in 2016. Without a complete change in the Democratic Leadership, Trump will win 2020 easily.
Trump is not the problem, the Democratic Leadership is the problem.
8
@Fourteen
"should have won the Senate and the House in a landslide"
I would agree with this statement if the average American was able to put together as many coherent sentences as you just did. Because they can't, the Trump sickness will probably take 4-6 years to burn itself out...the time frame when these attention span-less people are ready for change...just for the sake of change. This latter concept is the primary voter motivation...astonishingly.
2
I have never been one of those 2nd Amendment people until recently.
3
There are 300,000,000 guns but no well regulated militias. Where are the well regulated militias. Maybe there is one- the NRA, very well regulated and in total control of gun policy which was not a priority amongst the voters.
I never saw anyone work so hard for something as Beto O'Rourke, he has my respect, and I hope he and his family are doing ok. Thank you !
31
Today is an absolute calamity for the Democratic Party. Wow, they picked up governorships in Illinois and Michigan; that's not a momentous achievement -- it's the bare, bare minimum.
Look at Georgia, at Florida, at Tennessee, at Indiana, at Texas. Democrats have lost hugely consequential races up and down the ballot in these states. It's absolutely pathetic. I'm frankly embarrassed to call myself a Democrat tonight. On a night when the party should have put Trump and his cronies on their heels, we're cheering a handful of contests that never should have slipped into Republican hands to begin with!
Wake me up in 2028, please.
18
@Michael
You're one of the few Democrats that can see things clearly. The rest of the Democrats will party because they actually won one.
They don't realize they have no chance of winning 2020.
1
Exactly how I am feeling. I don't see much to rejoice about with the results tonight (starting with my own state, Florida) and this attempt to spin this disappointing election as somehow a victory feels very hollow. Can I refuse to wake up tomorrow?
1
c'mon now did you really expect anything different from Florida? Only the cities voted Democrats since those people have some sort of pride in their community.
non aligned voters are to blame in my county. most of the aligned voters voted for their side. 100k voters didn't show, 30k less than number of independent voters
1
It's genuinely surprising that Democrats have managed to win the House. Unfortunately they chose to run strong candidates in Texas, Florida and Georgia. These races along with the Senate were written off months ago, but just the fact that they were competitive enables Trump to declare victory. Trump killed the Republican majority in Congress during his first midterm, an achievement that Bush wasn't able to accomplish. This is Trump's first significant defeat. He should have expanded the senate majority by six seats. He should have held the house. He shouldn't have had to worry about solidly Republican strongholds like Texas and Georgia. If he'd achieved more, if he'd campaigned smarter, Republicans would still control Congress, maybe holding a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. But here he stands with half of Congress. What other victories are in Trump's future? An expanded, revitalized nuclear arms push in North Korea. The sudden resurgence of ISIS. The final American defeat and withdrawal in Afghanistan. Nuclear weapons in Iran. China shrugging off the loss of trade with America and continuing to catch up with us economically as they cement their strategic dominance over Asia. Trump will spin all of these things as victories.
5
What I don't comprehend is this: 50% of voters sat this out! I want to know what demography! What would it take to get them out? And if voter suppression has anything to do with it.
When are we going to make consistent voter participation improvement the goal of state secretaries?
14
Aaaand DELETE all news apps and give up.
Emigrated from EU last year. America you are walking into longterm minority rule and oligarchy.
This isn’t hyperbole. The pattern is exactly Eastern Europe late 90s / early 00s and we watched in apathy in Europe.
Sad times America. You were once great.
25
It's difficult for the democratic party to win because they are mostly the party of city people. There are more city people than anything else in this country but gerrymandering, and more broadly, our bicameral congress is set up to give more representation to rural areas. Off the top of my head I can't precisely remember the stat but every wyoming vote is equivalent to approximately three votes in California. This disproportionate power is one of clearest examples of why the federal government cannot properly represent big city and big state voters.
17
Senate races in Indiana, Tennessee & Texas very tough loses for the Dems but we knew these were difficult states going in....but Florida?? what is happening there? A Fox News created, Tea Party, Sean Hannity lackey is elected governor over the brilliant and charasmatic Andrew Gillum and they also throw Bill Nelson overboard for moneybags Rick Scott? After Parkland and the Trump disaster, they reward the Republicans....very disappointing.
30
I now see what USA stands for racism , sexism and lies ... it is a shame and an indictment on the richest country.
34
Another big night for Donald Trump and the Republican party.
9
I don’t see how you conclude that. House likely Democratic. Senate maybe 2 R, when Dems defending 25 seats. Significant Dem pickups for state governors. A pretty weak performance for Republicans and Trump, when the economy should have made for much bigger wins for them.
6
@Stephen Flip back and forth between Fox and MSNBC. The expressions will tell you all you need to know. Not quite a debacle for Dems, but close.
1
How T. Cruz gets elected is beyond my comprehension.
46
@Ian Schiller
Truly.
14
"Senator Robert Menendez, was elected to a third term...That’s a relief for Democrats" -- is it? Democrats will now have a hard time criticizing any government corruption. That's a very high price to pay.
7
Hi Dems,
Don't despair. We only had a 20% chance of taking the Senate back anyway.
Our best chance is flipping the House ... which will give us a check on Trump ... and if we can flip some governorships, it will help us immensely in 2020.
14
The road back to sanity is going to be a long and difficult one. But this country has to take the first step if it wants to go back.
10
As an Australian citizen who follows the politics of the US far too closely, today It would seem to me this a extremely disappointing day for those who rally against the vile rhetoric that the world has been exposed to since Trump came onto the political scene.
It would seem that the majority of Americans are either ignorant or in fact endorse the tone and style of the likes of Trump and his ilk.
All the energy, money and media hours spent on lambasting the Republicans just to achieve the possibility of maybe regaining the House, very troubling.
Trump is going to win the next election easily it would seem. It would appear all the celebrity tweets and late night jokes in the world do not matter. Trump's America is now the norm. How depressing is that.
Thank heavens I live in Australia.
25
There should be in the Democratic Party who can lead and inspire people with the philosophy of American pragmatism. Due to the impractical ideologies of old-fashioned leftists such as Chomsky and Sanders, the Democratic Party lost contact with real people and agendas. Just look how irresponsible and wrong Chomsky was about Chavez. Even now he is too dogmatic to acknowledge the falsity of his ideas. Sanders is also too old-fashioned and wrong. What's the point of talking about socialism in the 21s century? Only in the U.S. does it happen, because Americans have not experienced the disastrous consequences of socialism. That kind of false elistest leftism should be gone. What the Democratic Party needs is the real innovation backed up by pragmatic policies and ideas. It is time that the Democratic Party recovered the philosophy of American pragmatism.
9
I would suggest to the Democrats in Congress that they remove their tired leadership and bring in some new blood.
You could have done better in this election but you did not.
If you don't make the changes it may be a very long night
in 2020.
10
No landslide in the Senate means that Pelosi is as incompetent as ever.
Healthcare is boring unless you sell it with fear and hatred, “the Republicans are going to take away your Healthcare!”
That's how you win.
But the sclerotic Democratic Leadership does not know how to win elections.
This was a referendum on Pelosi not Trump. Trump and the Republicans have not actually won Any elections - Pelosi has lost them all.
2
Blue Tsunotmi. No big high Democrat wave. Trump can spin it as a win. Republican majority Senate will stymie constant House controlled investigations. But. No legislation will be done. In the end. The country loses.
4
Dear NYT, please keep updating us on the caravan and how it is handled by Trump AFTER this election.
Because Trump is claiming a big victory tonight despite losing the House.
And he is crowing that his focus on the caravan and stranger danger was decisive in gaining Senate seats.
3
Upside here - chances are the coffin nails are in for Pelosi's and Schumer's leadership. If the Dems won't clean out their own deadwood, looks like it's left to the voters.
7
Well a Blue Ripple, rather than a Blue Wave.
What the Democrats must do is speak about
Rural America with respect.
9
And rural America must be respectful also. Respect is a two-way street and rural America needs to learn to drive down it, too. I’m sick of trying to placate rural America while they constantly shoot themselves and everyone else in the foot.
9
@Lindsay K
When the election is over look at the number of
votes for the House of Representatives.
Then project that out in terms of Electoral Votes.
2
I am disappointed to see early dem frontrunners in Ohio turn red...maybe this IS who we are, a nation of uninformed, hateful people who vote based on fear and lies told by the GOP. So discouraging. This is really the first time that I do fear trump winning in 2020.
12
Excellent news about the Senate, we'll have fine judges for years to come. I guess that anti-Trump wave wasn't so massive after all.
3
The problem with the Democratic Party ( and sometimes the NYTimes as well) is that they live in the past. In particular, those who express the leftist ideas of the NYtimes are too old-fashioned leftists, i.e., those who have vague yearnings for old-fashioned socialism. But that's a hypocrisy, and the general public knows that. For example, those old-fashioned leftists such as Chomsky do not live up to their words; many elite Sanders supporters enjoy all the benefits of capitalism. It is time that the leftists of the U.S. recognized that selling socialism does not go anywhere. It is a failed idea. Find some real agenda and working philosophy. The Democratic Party and some of their old-fashioned supporters live in their phantom world. Wake up. Think about why the ignorant real estate speculator Trump is supported by the general public.
3
We going to keep on winning and winning and winning until we become sick of winning!
Can’t wait for 6 more years of Trump and full support from Congress!
1
meanwhile, the rest of the world is worried about US
2
Well, the videos of absurdly long lines of people standing patiently in pouring rain to exercise their right to vote are very sad for the entire world to see. The pictures certainly give truth to the view, held by many, that our American democracy is in grave peril.
In the age of rapid and efficient communication, US Citizens don't need to register every couple of years to pay taxes, bills, run finances, hold passports and organize much else online. Not as far as voting is concerned - our despicable politicians do everything they possibly can to make it as difficult as possible for us to vote at election time. This while these same politicians, starting with the President himself, spend most of their time proclaiming their patriotism and love of country. What an utter disgrace.....
220
@Mincepies How is it sad to show that people are waiting in the rain to vote? We should be PROUD that people are going to vote!
19
We’ve made it impossible for people to vote. It’s an embarrassment.
10
@Steve I walked in, handed my drivers license, and was out the door in just a few minutes. It wasn't impossible at all.
2
My takeaway from today - we all lose. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on tv ads, mailers, robo calls and a never ending amount on campaigning. That is money not spent on providing health care for all, fixing our decaying roads and bridges, building up our infrastructure, investing in being leaders in tech infrastructure and making sure every child attends a clean, safe, high quality school and goes to bed with a fully belly. We are a very sick nation. Get the money out of politics and put it into our people. That will be a great step in the right direction.
364
@Dana
Right you are. This has to be the first time i've ever recommended one of your comments.
4
@Dana This doesn’t make any sense. You know the money for campaigning is not tax dollars, right? You know all the things aren’t going to happen by themselves, right? They aren’t going to going to happen because you wish it or pray for it.
You are casually denigrating people who are fighting for those things.
5
@citybumpkin
No, it isn't tax money squandered, but money from big pocket donors, whose interests rarely coincide with those of average citizens.
3
Once again, an election is called before California's polls are even closed. Why should we even bother?
8
@DMS this is blatantly untrue. Each Congressional district is a stand alone election, unlike electing the POTUS.
2
@DMS
It is blatantly TRUE. 35 minutes before California's polls closed, we were told the Dems had won the house and Republicans had won the senate. THESE are the specific races that motivated voters in ALL states, and before the polls were closed, the motivation for MANY VOTERS in California was GONE.
1
@DMS, but again, you and I are voting for different sets of individuals to fill Congressional seats and represent our local interests. That overall party direction that Congress skews shouldn't influence which individuals you're voting for; that should be determined by their views on there issues.
Now we can look forward to the MSM 24/7 whining about 2020 as early as tomorrow way too soon.
Take a break Media it’s just the midterms and looks like Trump did pretty well overall.
The Senate is much more important than the house.
2
I'm sitting here watching the Texas race, and while i hope for Beto O'Rourke to win, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lose. It's ok , if the trumpies win they all get what they deserve for the country. I plan to protest with my spending habits and possibly would like to see if the Netherlands will repatriate me as my ancestors immigrated here in the 1700's, I may start walking there (and swimming) ;-p I can't believe our country has turned to the dark side like this... One thing I will promise though is that they will have to sit and gloat/ argue all by themselves, I won't participate anymore and my money will go to businesses and causes I believe in, I'm done with it all. They will have to peel my rights from my cold, live fingers :-)
14
Democrats - Celebrate, part. There was no “blue wave,” but you’ve won the House. But you lost the Senate, and the GOP has gained seats. Thinking about impeachment? Mr. Democratic Congress - please meet Mr. Republican Senate.
4
Democratic to obtain majority in Senate is not only narrower after Indiana defeat, but hopeless now! You should not make up stories to hinder Kevanaugh nomination at all.
3
While it hasn't gotten much attention in the national media, way out here in the Northwest, Washington State could break a midterm voter participation record of 72% set back in 1970, at the height of the Vietnam War.
Of course, we make voting pretty easy, with prepaid postage, mail-in ballots. Some think its the free stamp, a first in 2018. I think its the guy in the White House.
Of course, he is rarely in the White House, spending a third of his Presidency on the golf course, a third at campaign rallies for himself and some of the rest visiting with his favorite autocrats around the world.
Happy to see young people voting, since its their world and everything.
423
@LookAhead
My husband and I proudly dropped our ballots in a Seattle drop box today, voting in WA for the first time. Compared to the old-school California system and the draconian voting methods in other states, the Washington system should be a model for the rest of the nation.
28
Impressive fight Beto O'Rourke has going on. Draft this man and sign him up for 2020.
17
What's unbelievable is this new narrative of "we're better than this and this isn't who we are." It's said after horrible shootings of Jews for being Jewish, racist Halloween costumes, allegations of sexual assault, etc., etc. The thing is, we aren't better than this. It is who we are. There will be no blue wave. Journalists and pollsters need to realize that it isn't just the president who lies. It's his supporters too. They say that's not who they are; but their votes tell the true story.
27
Yes, you are 100% correct.
3
To all you liberals out there! Hope you enjoy when your 401Ks blow up.
Y’all have become a histrionic mob. Get some backbone and hold the line. I’m looking at you moderate Republicans!
Hold the line!!!
18
You do realize most people voted already.
58
@Citizen X
Their 401k's blew up when the Republican crash occurred in 2007-9 and the Dow went to 6300!! When Obama left office it was around 22,000
82
Wall Street makes more money on your 401k then you do. Dems prefer pensions rather than the Casino known as the Stock Market.
44
Disappointing but unsurprising. The systemic advantage conservatives have in the Senate is real and intentional.
11
But Kobach loss in Kansas almost makes everything else worth it.
28
Can we just succeed and call it a day?
2
Just seeing the needle on the homepage was triggering. I really am disturbed that the New York Times decided to use that needle again, even if Nate Cohen is some kind of brain child. It was amazingly off in 2016 and I wouldn't be surprised if its algorithms were going to mess us up emotionally again.
4
Said the Trump supporter (paraphrased) of Trump, "I know he doesn't tell the truth all of the time, but I trust him."
How in the world is reality and truth supposed to have any effect on that position? How did this happen to our country?
God help us all.
20
More Democratic Male baiting using Hollywood money and outspending Republicans 3 to 1.
Very mediocre results in a predicted "wave" election.
9
America was built on racism, violence and fear. It will always thrive in America. Stop apologizing. America's true face is finally showing.
20
@V I don't understand this comment at all. You must be trolling. This is not a Utopian society but, where else in the world is there a better economic and political system? China, Russia, Cent America, Central Arrica?? Europe has very progressive societies but if memory serves, they were kind all in on the colonial expansion themselves. The beautiful thing about the US is you are free to leave anytime if you dislike it here, and Snowden is living proof that you can be a harsh critic living safely abroad without fear of being radioactively poisoned or dissmembered at a consulate, which sadly many expats are not so fortunate in that regard.
3
If the Dems can’t win the House or only win by a whisker, could someone please tell Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the leadership to take a slow boat to China?
13
First and fore, THANK YOU, Rowan County, for chucking that disgusting faux-Christian bigoted county clerk Kim Davis![1]
All in all though, I'm not as impressed as I probably should be. McGrath lost in Kentucky. Jealous lost in Maryland. Braun has taken an Indiana Senate seat. Gym Jordan was REWARDED for his role in sweeping wrestler sexual abuse under the rug and for his covfefean attacks on Rosenstein. Florida appears to have severely Monkeyed This Up on two fronts, as Gillum increasingly looks like he lost while it seems disenfranchiser and Medicare fraud Rick Scott will be REWARDED for his hideousness with a Senate seat!
Tom Marino still got ANY votes, despite his key role in starting the DOA that has murdered numerous Americans with opioids. Rafael "Ted" Cruz still got ANY votes, despite betraying both Americans and Republicans and facing the far saner Beto.
I don't see the Blue Wave, or the Sane-ami, taking hold yet— nor that it will. I see the >=5% handicap of the "covfefe" GOP alive and well. But that Democrats can win ANYTHING AT ALL, as the "covfefe" GOP's party-cult of aspiring miniputins now strangles every branch of government, is cause for optimism.
But if xi and the not-Communist Party of China only needed 5 years to take full control, we cannot allow the GOP 3 more.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/live-updates/midterms/midterm-election-updates/kim-davis-who-refused-to-issue-marriage-licenses-to-same-sex-couples-loses-reelection/
4
I wonder how many people remember what the Chicago Tribune said about Dewey on election night?
6
@BTO
Very few, as that was 1948.
What would Georgians say if Stacy Abrams was Secretary of State and in charge of the election?
7
He was a rightist anyway. He didn't do anything good for the dems.
@Alex But a center-right Democrat is still better than extreme-right. He didn't vote for ACA repeal. Manchin would have voted no on Kavanaugh, if Collins had done the same, so as to prevent Pence from deciding on that appointment.
2
Actually it's not just future generations that would suffer from Republicans. It's also the future of life on this planet. After what the Republicans have done, I don't understand how anyone would vote for them, unless these hordes of Trump people are degraded to the point of no return and just suicidal.
11
I voted at 1 pm today, no lines at all, easy peasy.
Would like to see more blue wins. This is scary.
7
I guess I should give up and throw out my science books since that’s the next thing our country will be giving up on. Might as well drink polluted water. I give up, the cult wins. I’m rolling up the carpet and quietly hoping for a massive asteroid to hit us. If it doesn’t I hope millennials and generation idiot social media vote out that guy in Washington.
If I sound bitter it’s the only way I can cheer myself up in this failing democracy.
17
@Anthony
You don't sound bitter. You're not the only one quietly hopingthat a massive asteroid will hit us, or that something else will come along and put us out of our misery.
1
While filling out my ballot, I made a mistake. I filled in two bubbles in a section that only allowed one. The nice lady nearby was kind enough to give me a replacement.
1
Democrats made the mistake in my opinion on running on health care.
As I said in some of my past comments, Democrats should have made this election a referendum on Mr. Trump.
2
They did. Many people are not that interested in voting against Trump. They might be interested in voting FOR something if the Democrats could articulate what that is
7
@JerseyGirl
A vote against Trump is a vote FOR the democracy that the United States is supposed to be.
4
@Chaks
The real mistake they made was not capping the entire Democratic Leadership years ago. That's why we are where we are.
Democrats are exactly like Trump - blaming everyone but themselves.
1
The writing is on the wall. We are cooked and something does not smell right.
5
I'm afraid the sky has fallen here in Florida. I didn't have a winning candidate on my ballot. Dumbfounded and depressed....
16
If the Dems blow this it is over. If we can’t win this, then when.
9
@Prometheus
There may have been some funny business with the voting machines. Not that it matters when you have a Democrat leadership that are all secret Republicans.
Usually when your team loses you don't blame the other side for winning, you blame your side for not winning. Then you made changes.
The Senate should have been an easy win.
@Fourteen
Your MA senator had an easy win.
If the Democrats win both the House and the Senate by a cats whiska, I bet Trump will say the Chinese government paid their Communist party members to vote for the Democrats.
5
@CK
Don't worry. Unfortunately, they won't. I'm not even sure they'll win the House. They need to reach the middle of the country.
1
I have a terrible deja vue...
Will flyover country mess it up again? On FiveThirtyEight dems have a 50% chance of winning the house!
We need a new constitutional convention.
11
@Aghast right now!
Constitutional convention!! The Dems would only get rolled by the GOP again.
2
@Aghast right now! Maybe if you stopped being so derogatory to the middle of this country with your name calling, you might have a place at the table for conversation which could lead to understanding. Your rhetoric is just as bad as the twitter rages and adds nothing useful to solving our problems. If Dems could stop being just as bad as Trump in their own language and silliness, maybe they could move the needle....
4
@Aghast right now!
We need a new Democratic Party.
College (and beyond) educated, six-figure registered woman here. Voted for DeSantis and Scott in Florida. We won. Don’t tell me how to vote as a woman. I wasn’t interested in a progressive candidate (Gillum) who uses the race card every time he’s criticized. As for Bill Nelson - he’s has had 30 years to fix our toxic algae problems and failed.
15
No one told you how to vote. You were going to vote that way anyway. Have another glass of Chardonnay and calm down.
4
@AVR 6 figure of what ?
where is the blue wave? did I miss?
13
Run for the hills
Deportables will win
3
Never before have I showed any particular interest in a foreign election cycle - until now. I am on tender hooks. The world is on edge waiting to see if the scare mongering of your President defeats the idea of free thought and speech in its most fundamental form. That form is the right of its citizens to choose how they appear on a world stage, not just a domestic one.
As much as many would argue that the USA has over the years had many of its teeth pulled by other countries/continents (Asia, the old eastern bloc European countries to name but a few), what America does, does indeed resonate around the world. It has had that singular focus ever since troops from the USA joined the other nations fighting the bloodiest war of 1914-1918, and they have (whether others choose to recognise it or not), been a stalwart partner in most other conflicts in the 20th-21st century.
Watching from the sidelines seeing America try to self-immolate along factional lines instead of asking one simple question has been excruciating to watch.
That question is...
What is best for the country, not partisan interests, but what makes a country a progressive beacon rather than an insular muddy backwater?
If I knew, as an Australian, the answer to that question, I would bottle the answer and give it away for free!
11
@Annie Best for America is not Trump, who is guilty of terorrist acts.
1
So, same scenario as 2016.
12
Schumer and Pelosi continue the disasterous losing streak!
The Demppublican party blew it again! They never presented their vision for America and why racism and anti-immigration is a losing value and policy for the US people and the nation.
Schumer is a disaster. Pelosi is too old.
6
I guess Florida really is as racist as I always thought.
20
No. Florida is that squirrelly relative who says and does weird stuff at the family dinner table at Thanksgiving.
So I just saw that Marsha Blackburn got elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. Results like this have me wondering: Is it at all possible to prohibit residents of certain states from serving in the U.S. armed forces?
I'm asking this question because I'm pretty sure Blackburn is a belligerent warmonger who dreams of dropping two dozen hydrogen bombs on Tehran and Pyongyang. And a comfortable majority of voters in Tennessee supported her anyway.
14
Getting stomach sick seeing the red. This means that there are whole swaths of the United States that believe in white nationalism and white supremacy. Terrified.
99
@C that is fear talking. Please keep in mind there are more issues in play than just race. International trade, foreign policy, the economy are all on people's minds as well. We need to get beyond race and understand that income inequality, the erosion of the middle class, and the wholesale exporting of American manufacturing/wealth/intellectual expertise are 'color blind' issues.
9
@Mike S
None of that means anything at all.
2
You watch too much TV. There is more extremism in Brooklyn than n all the red states put together.
1
What with mail-in voting in my state I returned to where I was raised to help drive folks to the polls : GEORGIA.
While I don’t know how the results will end up, I can confirm black women stepped up to get their votes cast today. 4 of them with the help of this white guy from Seattle. The energy, optimism and hope these women had today was the stuff to bring you to tears:
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A handicapped woman in Dacula, Ga whose poll was 45 minutes away (she couldn’t update her address amongst having to move in with her sister due to her health issues).
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A young entrepreneur in Atlanta who had to make the decision between her car or rent but did not choose to stay home.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A young woman in Covington who lost her state ID recently fighting for her life in a medical emergency, pulled together her latest Medicare statement and work ID to push for casting a provisional ballot.
I will never forget today and helping these women vote amidst a system that is designed to break them.
40
You’re a hero! Big kudos to you for helping out in Georgia!
24
@e Coli Thank you for posting this...and a huge thank you to these extraordinary black women who continue to show up again and again.
11
BETO, baby!
Cautiously optimistic that Texas may soon join the civilized world.
Thanks for all you support across the world and let’s not overlook voter suppression underway in the Texas Hill Country and Georgia!
31
@Vive la Resistance
I fear there’s no light in the darkness of Texas.
3
Give us some live coverage NYT! I cut the cable on the TV a decade ago, but I’m pretty addicted to your app. Nights like tonight though, I miss flipping on the tube for the state by state play by play. Would love to press play on a NYT live feed and sit back and enjoy your real time analysis, with newsroom bustle, glowing maps and frantic minute by minute updates.
17
This ain't election - 'Tis Civil War.
16
Hi! I'm pleased to read about the voter turn-out. My polling site ran out of "I Voted Today" stickers a few hours ago. I don't recall this happening before.
17
We used to have only FOUR TV channels, now we have hundreds. Why only TWO ruling parties? Libertarians, Greens, the Constitution Party and other "alternative" parties and candidates like Ralph Nader are given almost NO air time or respect by the corporate-owned news media or the two ruling-class corporate-owned political parties. Libertarians and Greens BOTH support Peace, basic human rights and freedoms, and legalizing marijuana.
It was an honor to meet and shake hands with Jimmy Kimmel at First Friday in the Arts District! Congratulations to Clark County, Nevada Registrar Joe Gloria for setting up so MANY voting places and for making early voting convenient. Our forefathers, our brave soldiers, and civil rights and labor leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and Cesar Chavez sacrificed and died for our right to vote. We should all read our local newspaper, learn about the candidates and issues, and VOTE, even if we don't like the limited, hand-picked "Chinese Menu" ("One from column A, One from column B") choices hand-fed to us "Little People" by party bosses, special-interest lobbyists, power brokers, corporate media, plutocrats, oligarchs and rich families who currently own and operate the USA.
7
@Gary James Minter
We have hundreds of channels but about 4 or 5 media companies controlling them—and they all like the status quo
8
Yep, go out and vote for either a republican or a Democratic you have two choices, I choice neither and stayed home.
3
@Independent voter, but there are independent/unaffiliated candidates on the ballot for many offices? Why would you skip voting just b/c you are an independent? I still voted despite being an independent; I feel you should still participate.
25
@Independent voter
Not voting because it's just the lesser of two evils is the same as voting for the most evil.
7
Democracy in action... this is what it is about.
9
The entire world is watching and following closely to this election. VOTE!
9
First time I voted frightened.
21
I voted this morning. All Democrats but I gave Gillibrand the WFP nod. A yes vote on one of the NYC charter revisions, campaign finance. No on the mayoral voter assistance commission and community board term limits.
My vote is not only anti Trump and all of the awfulness he has engendered not only as president and as a New Yorker also anti Trump's offspring and his hangers on.
A parade of grifters, mountebanks and conspiracy mongers.
When the presidents sons have White Nationalists plus Neo and not so Neo Nazis on their Twitter feed, yeah it's an issue.
39
Is there a way of correlating election results with areas where Fox news is the most viewed media or only (fake news) available? or as Hannah Arendt writes The abyss of freedom and the novus ordo seclorum.
19
If the Dems take Congress (or even just the House) they should pass a renewal of the Voting Rights Act. Even if it fails in the Senate, even if the current Republican president vetoes it (which he certainly would), they will be making a statement.
I'm sick and tired of the Democrats whining and saying that they can't do anything because of the big bad Republicans. Keep trying, and each attempt will make more voters aware of the issue. Remember: it took 70 years to obtain women's suffrage in the U.S., and it happened because advocates kept trying. If they had waited till the country was "ready," voting might still be for men only.
56
However the election goes, whether I like the result or hate it, the one good thing is the high voter turn out. People are showing up and exercising the right that so many have given their lives to bestow and protect.
43
I just wanted to highlight Latinx’s comment as it was buried in a lively discussion:
“First time voter and I just voted. I did it for my dad, who came here from rural Mexico more than 30 years ago, but who half the country consider a rapist and a thief. He just wanted a better life and I sincerely believe he has made the country a better place. He’s a hard worker and just wanted his kids to have a better future. What’s the crime in that???”
We need more men like your father. God bless you and thank you!
87
Go Bluewave; investigate Trump and his corrupt Republican cronies nationwide. Max jail sentences for the guilty. Ray Sipe
46
Trump and the Republicans have degraded our American values and debased our government. Their actions have been vile and disgusting.
45
It is only a referendum if Trump loss. If Trump wins, the media will "report" it is because of uneducated angry white men who came out in droves.
10
Here's an interesting article from New Zealand news.
www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/11/live-us-midterms-2018-key-results-as-they-come-in.html
4
Let’s keeps the energy going! Tonight is one victory, but we have a long road ahead of us!
Eyes on the Supreme Court! And loan forgiveness on a more personal note.
25
Yup, we’re about a decade away from being Venezuela! Glad to know you got off the couch to vote.
8
Yeah sure. Let’s not invest in the health and education of our citizens! Instead, let’s spend another trillion years on the military! Let’s poison our air and water! Tax breaks for the rich! Cut social security! MAGA! Lol.
4
@Zejee
Really? Are you serious?
Regarding the nine regional voting centers in Mariposa County, AZ, that had significant delays, the article states :"In four of them, registered minorities — Latinos, African-Americans and Native Americans — outnumbered white voters by roughly 15,700 to 2,800.". Readers need context: what was the ratio in the other five centers? How many centers are there in the county? I am confident the 15,700 to 2,800 figure will be shared (verbally and electronically) by thousands of incensed progressives across the country tonight. And they MAY have good reason to be upset. But there are a lot of conservatives who have misled by carefully selected factoids similar to the above. Thinking citizens need to be careful before accepting facts and figures that support their pre-existing conclusions.
4
All these voting problems are unacceptable and solvable. In Oregon we vote by mail. No lines, no weather issues, safe and secure with paper trail. We celebrate voting. Get rest of country to vote by mail!!
27
@Dave
Hear Hear ! AS well, I think voting should be mandatory (and a national holiday for voting)
24
@Dave Oatman
Colorado votes by mail as well! How lucky we are. I agree the rest of the country should as well.
8
@Dave Oatman: The voting problems are a direct result of the GOP strategy to disenfranchise minority and probable-Democratic voters. Of course the problems are solvable, but the GOP has no interest in solving them. The only way they can win is by lying and cheating.
18
Kemp's fixation on election hacking announced days ago got me thinking.
While Putin's IRA sure is effective at hacking? While the argument that Fox loves is 'Well, no votes were changed'?
After learning about Kemp's purging of over 52,000 voter registrations in Georgia through loopholes? as Rachel Maddow pointed out even if an extra space was in the address it was purged?
Maybe Russia in 2016? AND 2018 ? hacked and removed voter registrations?
I mean, if one is open to Gerrymandering ? One is probably open to having an outside source also 'tilt' the election.
It was very painful today to see news that over 100 engineers were working 'hard' in South Carolina because the voting machines were changing straight Democrat ticket votes to Republican - I won't get into whether there was intent there but that is very depressing to learn, I mean? had that NOT been caught?
But my point here is - JUST as Kemp tried to manipulate the voting by purging voter registrations? Perhaps THIS is what Russia HAS been up to. It may even be how we HAVE Trump as an alleged President.
More disturbing is Trump has said publicly that he thinks Putin is smarter than any US President.
Something tells me Trump and his crew of grifters are laughing all the way lie after lie- knowing they have rigged the elections, and no doubt he usually accuses others of what he's doing himself. Also known in psychology as projection.
7
With such huge turnouts, where will I park? Nobody seemed to remember such trivial details. Remembering the arthritis stricken senior volunteers working the last election, am I really going to want to wait all night for them to slowly and painfully find through their thick glasses and underline all those fine print names and addresses for those waiting in the long line before me? Time for me to plunge out into the early darkness and heavy traffic to find out.
1
@John Doe
Sympathies with your plight, but who else is going to show up and tend our voting machines for 13 to 15 hours? Hats off to the hardworking and sometimes beleaguered poll workers. If your state permits it, you might avoid this dreaded encounter by voting by mail or earlier in the day.
16
I voted in Ohio, and was impresssed at the newly introduced tech that made check-in faster (even if the signature screen was still hopelessly klutzy, although my major signature swipes were things I can say are mine). No dissing the polling place volunteers, please!
5
@John Doe:
You’ll find a place to park.
After you do that, and of course once you finish suffering through the time it takes for a senior poll volunteer to find your name on a list - I’m sure the people waiting hours to vote in, say, Atlanta, or dealing with malfunctioning voting machines in NYC would gladly have an elderly poll volunteer as their biggest obstacle right about now - then you need to get in that voting booth and vote for America’s best interests. Your manufactured grievances regarding your long and winding road to the voting booth are nothing compared to what some people in this country are facing. And quit throwing shade at the poll volunteers. They’re trying to do their best during a very long day, and don’t need you to be such a pill.
7
Until we have no partisan gerrymandering, no knocking African Americans, latinos and there off voter rolls, no anonymous money for adds, and "truth" laws for FoxNews and Sinclair Group, we will not have Democracy. We have 2 yeas and 1/4 day until presidential elections. Let's vote our the Republican Senators in 2020. The economy will tank within 2 years, and fear mongers will have power.
7
@4Average Joe - you forgot to mention the Black Panthers intimidating voter should in Philly, 2008. Eric Holder decided not to prosecute, what a shock.
How and why this Midterm Election became/becomes
a Referendum on Trump was decided by whom precisely ?
If, somehow, the Republicans hang onto both Houses
then will Progressives and Liberals who hate Trump
and anyone who voted for Trump be silenced ?
And if the Democrats take the Senate and the House of
Representatives will this end all talk of Hillary in 2020
as she must be the most direct cause of Trump winning in
2016 ?
And if there is a split of the Houses - what will the
self-anointed Pundits say ?
3
The lines at the polls are a disgrace to our country. Washington and Oregon have moved to 100% mail-in and drop-off ballots. No need to miss work or school, drive/walk or stand outside in bad weather for hours, worry about how care for young kids and/or elderly family while voting. The whole country should move in this direction.
Also, there'd be no concerns about how to *get* to remote polling places if you a lack a car.
22
@Rose, without these live vote counts, what will Steve Kornacki and his counterparts do with themselves?
@Rose
It is a disgrace! We are so fortunate in Colorado to have mail in and drop off as well!
5
@Rose Yeah, but one thing about vote-by-mail: ballots are mailed only to legally registered voters, which reduces the risk of the GOP's much-ballyhooed "voter fraud" to roughly zero. Which would make complaints about said "voter fraud" even more transparently preposterous than they already are.
Which is why vote-by-mail will NEVER be implemented in GOP-run states.
1
I just want to take a moment, that I feel privileged to be a part of Democracy and the freedoms thereof. I often tell me daughters that they were born (3) times lucky.
They were born healthy, of a family of means, and in a western Democracy. (and all of the privileges and responsibilities that entails - which is to take the sacred privilege of voting seriously)
I also tell them that I brought them into this world, and I can take them out, if they don't vote.
Works both ways.
11
Whilst I understand trumpets economic prowess is, placing his name on golf courses/building/billboards et al plus, he has little grasp on reality (other than the television version) just how does government function in America if the fundamental reason for voting is to stifle a presidents agenda?
Imaging if everyone started rowing together, in the same direction albeit, with a coxswain with intelligence?
1
@Philip: If the president's agenda is pernicious, then voting against it is the first step in setting things right. I have no desire to see Democratic politicians cooperating with the destruction of the environment, abuse of asylum seekers, open expressions of bigotry, or open financial corruption.
11
Voted early in between downpours, but then drove a senior citizen couple to the polls, hauling their walkers into the car and accompanying them to the polls - at a place where my son got a wonderful public education in elementary school, and then later drove and accompanied another woman in her late 80s to her polling place - which incidentally was a Unitarian Church where our children grew up. The pride these folks took in voting and the concern they had about where our country was going under Trump was palpable. And I agreed to drive them not knowing their preferences, but relieved to know we all agreed. There's so much to call into question these days about what our country stands for - but to see these elders going out in the rain and with walkers to cast their votes was inspiring.
40
Every single Democrat and everyone who cares about a functioning democratic republic please stand with Stacey Abrams against Kemp. He has already discarded thousands of democratic voter registrations AND there are technical voting issues today in Gwinnett County, which is 62% NONWHITE. And voters are reporting that lines in nonwhite voting districts are as long as waiting at Six Flags to get in!
44
Yes, let’s have 1000s of mindless people vote with no indication of the issues. This is why the founders despised direct democracy. Honestly, I don’t care if less than 10% of the population votes as long as the ones who do are informed about the issues and don’t vote based on superficial trifles (such as race!).
10
@Citizen X, so less get this straight. You think that people who vote against those who actively try to prevent certain racial and economic groups are being “mindless”? More mindless are those who turn a blind eye to the kind of corruption and manipulation evidenced by years of attempts to disenfranchise groups of people feared as traditionally liberal.
12
@Citizen X - nonwhite voters I know are far better informed on the issues than the hordes of white people at Trump rallies screaming their praise of assault weapons and Trump The Nationalist immediately after a white Nationalist terrorist attacked a place of worship and murdered eleven people. If you don't believe that Trump supporters are ignorant, I have tons of rotting soybeans, sky high red state pregnancy rates, and a below-poverty-level Trump-locked minimum wage that prove you wrong.
8
Dear White People, tonight Mexicans and other Latinos will save the country. Please don’t forget it! Immigration reform 2019!
28
@Latinx
The new Democrat Congress can take the bill that was fashioned in 2013 (bipartisan as well) that dealt with all immigration reforms and border security and simply vote on it again. It's already done.
OF course the President will veto, and it will probably not get through the Senate (republicans), but it can be a reminder to voters for 2020.
We will get there.
8
@Latinx why is it always about race? People vote for policies and not racism. It’s comments like yours that drive people to Trump!
10
@Latinx I am a 'white' person but firstly I am a human being; please don't judge me on my color but on my words and actions. You might actually be surprised if you got to know me better.
10
Could this country do things just a little less ‘dramatic’ for once? I realize that this in practice is like asking for the moon and the stars in the Trump years. Nevertheless.
8
Any Democratic victories are especially significant, given Republican efforts to subvert democracy by suppressing voting rights for minorities; gerrymandering safe districts for Republicans; pandering to fears and bigotry; relying on lies rather than truth; possibly manipulating voting machines; etc.
33
Today's the day we make our way out of the cave and rejoin the rest of the world. Our new Independence Day.
16
5pm ----
An encouraging report here from the Town of Poughkeepsie along the Hudson River in RED Dutchess County:
The Democrats and Indivisible have been hard at work for the past year, and it's paying off. The Total town voting numbers are WAY UP!!
At 5pm, the total tally is 81% of the total vote in the 2016 Presidential Election, and 167% of the total for last years', 2017, local Elections. And.... there are FOUR more hours of evening voting to go.
Hallelujah!
22
Kemp oversees elections in Georgia - and had had thousands of democratic ballots thrown out because of minute changes like hyphens. Today there are technical difficulties and much longer delays than normal? The Times needs to detail whether those precincts are largely democratic or republican as soon as possible.
18
@csa
Indeed. There is going to be so much republican suppression, but even with all of that, I think the vote for Abrams is going to be so overwhelming to overcome all obstacles.
Just a hunch.
9
Democrats must be prepared for the long fight. republicans have been preparing for this day for decades with gerrymandering, voter suppression through state governments. using rules that favor rural areas and lies and more lies.
There will be a blue wave in total votes, but a more difficult task overcoming what republicans have done to our election system. Gains in the House will happen, but this election cycle favors republicans in the Senate In our enthusiasm we must not lose sight of realities.
But this will be a great beginning and Trump will be lying to himself if he thinks any favorable outcomes for Republicans today will protect him from an awakened Democratic Party.
13
@just Robert
As soon as Democrats have control of any state house, they should enact a law for nonpartisan committees to set up district boundaries.
Once Democrats have control of the Senate and the White House, there needs to be a renewal of the Voting Rights Act federally.
- just to even the playing field.
9
My late brother-in-law was a life-long Republican. Very nearly the last thing he said was, "Go kick Trump's ass".
54
@Richard Schumacher: I am so sorry for your family's loss.
1
@Richard Schumacher He will be missed.
Its a good start. Be proud that people are out to exercise their most fundamental precious right.
14
I pray that we do not have a reprise of 2016!
Please go out and vote! Get your friends and neighbors to the polls. My son and husband are canvassing our neighbors right now!
They’ve gone to churches, synagogues and mosques. Every vote matters.
Please let us end this nightmare tonight!
31
Thanks for sharing. I voted for a different part for the first time in over 50 years. Too much is too much. Lincoln is rolling in his grave. Time for a new GOP that harkens back to real values and not the tired, racist dog whistlez
27
I was sold snake oil. I just want to apologize to the rest of America.
I hope I can make it right today with my actions. To all the educated liberals out there, do not despise us we were lied to and I am confident that today we will make it right.
The blue walls rises again!
62
@SoCal Mom
I appreciate your family’s effort in helping people vote!
Here in Georgia our elected officials would rather not let certain people come out in vote!
Please @ Nytimes cover the post election process in GA. I fear it will be stolen. Decency has completely evaded some of our leaders!
They will do anything for power.
24
Somewhat obscured by all the chatter about divisiveness and who's an American and who's not is the extra bonus our President has given us: More Americans eligibility/percentage-wise will get out to vote than possibly any time in history, thus offering the smug, self-entitled overclass a chance to rub elbows with us deplorables. Good thing we'll all have our phones to bury our faces in while we wait in line, huh?
3
It figures Kemp and his backwoods followers in GA would pull something so irregularities were to be expected from the Trumpites who manages their elections.
14
I won't be able to smile tonight unless I know that Putin has plenty to frown about.
11
Markets close in 45 minutes ... if you think the Dems will win, SELL NOW!!!
@Robert James It is always wrong to sell stocks in a three-exclamation-mark panic. Try some decaf.
11
I'm going to an election night party tonight. I'm bringing a bottle of champagne and a bottle of cyanide in preparation for either outcome.
14
Vote for basic human decency. Vote against tyranny. Vote against fascism.
22
It’s an election between maintaining traditional American values versus trashing American values in favour of demagoguery.
8
@DSS
As a fellow Scot so succinctly declared : ''Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom ! ''
1
Everyone better vote now because if trump declares himself king there will be no more voting!
8
I BEG you America. Do not let this greed define the USA. This is not who we are. Please put a check on the GOP.
12
Alright folks
For all your drama, tears, anxiety, fears, anger or plain curiosity, it’s time to put action to your endless words.
Go out and vote, red blue, green, whatever, it matters not, so long as you vote.
And nag your friends to go do the same. Do not tell them who to vote for, just send them to vote.
And can we all make a deal that tomorrow we will accept the results, without a parade down 5th Ave screaming ‘not my president! My body my choice!’ and asking for and armed revolution?
We all have a chance to make our voice count today.
Let’s live with the result tomorrow, without the drama because your horse lost their race. Please
2
@AutumLeaff
Sorry. Civility left the building a little over two years ago. You want to hide in the closet, have at it. The rest of us will celebrate a step back toward normalcy.
6
It's a choice of descent into Donald Trump's dystopia where insults are the norm, while troops are sent to the border as a likely election ploy.
And we think about an op-ed in the NY Times where a staffer worried the president could be a danger to our national security.
The media is his enemy. Women are demeaned on looks and intelligence. The daily language is appalling. Racism is front and center.
In a span of a week we had radicalized 2 home-grown terrorists. A journalist was met by a mobile assassination mob, whose death the president couldn't compassionately address.
We saw Barack Obama again and missed him so much.
We voted on a rainy morning, our spirits high.
10
Brian Kemp should not only lose, he should go to jail. Kemp has been clearly tampering with a US election. Shame on him and all who support him. This is our democracy.
13
Democrats; I voted for you today, conditionally!
If you cooperate with Trump in your infinite ways of appearing dignified in a fight, I will not support, nor vote for you in 2020 when it really counts.
Do you understand that?
4
Great photograph Holly Pickett, what diversity in one photo..young old every ethnic backgrounds and a cute kid with a brown hat.. I mail in my ballot here in california, next year to the polling booth i go...
1
Trump’s visceral instinct for what the people want will prove rights when exit polls show that Immigration was a huge issue
House goes Dem but not by much
Gotta admit, it's nice to see NY Times commenters so excited and optimistic. For the past two years it's been filled with as much hope and merriment as the cancer ward at Sloan Kettering.
1
"Jammed machines and long lines frustrate New York City voters"
This sub headline and the linked article says it all.
Progressives rant and rave about voter suppression and disenfranchisement - yet here in NYC we still can't get people in and out to cast their vote timely, efficiently and accurately.
Yet, many of the sheeple of NYC and NYS will continue to support elected leaders like Cuomo, DiNapoli and others hacks, Dems and Reps both, in the NYS Legislator who have done nothing, NOTHING, to make NYS a paragon of voter rights. For shame!
BWT - my voting scanner and poll workers in elite, white Park Slope had it all under control - smoothly and efficiently directing the operations. I was done in 10 minutes or less. Oh, the joy to live in a privileged enclave!
3
We voted early, and although I generally do not vote for candidates I know little-to-nothing about, I voted blue, Blue, BLUE across the board, in protest of the wrong direction the red voters seem compelled to drag our nation.
If the Republicans lose the Senate tonight, will Mitch McConnell (full disclosure: no relation, thank God) finally reveal himself as the Antichrist? It has to happen sooner or later.
10
We are such an advanced nation!!
I voted at 7:30 this morning. While I didn't encounter a line, the parking lot of my polling place was getting full and it was quite busy inside - I got one of the last open booths/plastic privacy dividers. When I cast my ballot and was preparing to leave, a noticed a young woman in a headscarf posing for a photo wearing her "I voted" sticker. She was smiling broadly.
In these troubled and divisive times, I hope that every single American capable of doing so goes out to vote today. Our country needs you. We need to vote with pride, as that young woman at my polling place did today. We need to vote for people of conscience, character, worth, and kindness. We need to vote for people who will work for the rights of women, LGBTQ people, children, the poor, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. We need to vote for people who value healthcare, the environment, education, international discourse, religious tolerance, jobs, truth, and justice. We need to vote not for fear but for our best selves. We need to vote for the America of our hearts' collective desires, and not the America of Donald Trump.
16
What are the democrats going to do better if they take the house? They had all the branches of government ( Roberts) ten years ago with their star Obama at the helm and then eight years later we have Trump and all the branches are GOP. The left did something wrong but I dont see any sign they are fixing that. They are running against Trump and the perceived notion that we all hate him. Okay he isnt a likable guy but my boss isn’t either. But my boss is doing a fine job. He has been able to keep me working and pay me well. So far that has been what I have with Trump. Personally I don’t see any fall down in race relations or social issues. On the street everybody seems to be getting along great. It’s when you open the paper is when you read stuff that I just dont see in everyday life.
1
That’s exactly what’s at issue in this election. Some people act as though not capable of looking beyond what they can perceive first hand. Climate change, trade agreements, international relations, race relations. We have an incredible amount of expertise in all these areas of study. Why must we insist on only believing in a reality which we experience first-hand. Do you not fly on airplanes without being able to calculate the lift needed to maintain that steal can’s flight with you in it? What about the weather in other places? If you see a weather report for Alaska showing above average temperatures without being able to stick your face out a window to feel it? Do you believe in thermometers even if it’s right outside your door.
The major benefit of media is that reporting shows you a world you would not otherwise see. I am not disputing there is fake news in the world, but when we equate the opinions or studies of lifelong scholars with talking heads who read coordinated talking points off index cards we’ve lost sight of what it means to verify information.
8
My voting experience in rural Alaska this morning. Ten degrees below zero, drove 4 miles to polling place. Was the only voter at the time. Proudly voted 'blue' for Begich, Galvin, and yes on 1- save our salmon! Got a yummy cookie.
13
@Run Wild
You are what this is all about! I love it!
3
I suggest that everyone who has already voted, whether by mail or in person, turn off the news and go do something else. Go outside, go for a walk, hit the gym, have dinner with your family, put down your phones, put away the tickers, and just live your life until tomorrow morning.
The results will be the same whether you bite your nails for the rest of the day or not. And now I shall take my own advice and close this NYTimes browser.
7
If Democrats retake the House (and Senate?) with record mid-term voter turnout, it's a rebuke for all things Trump.
Sadly Trump would likely recycle his LIE that "millions voted illegally" when in fact a person is more likely to be hit by lightning than to vote in-person illegally.
8
“The truth ain’t in him,” said Carl Blevins, 60, a retired coal miner who said he voted for Senator Joe Manchin, the Democratic incumbent. Well said, Mr. Blevins.
On another note, I am so, so hopeful for Beto O'Rourke in Texas. That man is like a bright light of hope - people are drawn to him in a way that I've never seen elsewhere in my lifetime. I feel confident that there are great things ahead for him regardless of today's outcome.
6
Voted today in my new town. Always voted in the Presidential elections, but never cared about politics at the local level until after the 2016 election. We have a very intense city council race and every vote matters. Even the school board and community college board races are intense.
6
We shall overcome the divisive speech and policies of Trump and his Republican supporters.
I do believe they will be voted out by we the people who want a more caring and just America.
6
Voting today at my suburban Washington D.C. voting place took at least four times longer than usual because only one scanner was available to scan paper ballots. The other was broken. Elderly people unwilling, or unable, to stand for two hours were leaving without voting. So were young people trying to vote on their lunch hours, along with some self-employed who said they had to get back to work and couldn't wait. Is anyone checking to see if equipment failures reported at only "select" sites, like, perhaps predominantly in traditional blue states? After two hours, a second scanner was operating. Really? Only two scanners at a polling place? Two?
7
If you are in a long line during an election, somebody needs to be removed from office so they can be replaced with someone who wants to encourage voting.
5
The photos of long winding lines fill me with dismay.
For the life of me I can't understand why these states and localities can't get their act together so people can easily vote.
I admit to being old-fashioned and love going to the polling place and completing a paper ballot. Maybe other Californians have a different experience, but in 45 years I have never waited behind more than 3 people no matter where I lived in this great state.
10
Today I honor my fallen husband, a Vietnam combat vet who succumbed three years ago to in-country, service-related toxic exposures -- at the much too early age of 64. I miss him dearly. He loved our country, he loved our U.S Army in which he served 21 years. He loved his family. He loved his American life. Today I honor him by voting for the values he honored. He swore his allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and he honored the founding principles, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for all Americas...and ultimately for all people. We are the beacon on the hill. Tolerance, civility, aspiration, the American Way. Thank you, my love.
500
Thank you, arla - and your late husband - both great American patriots of 'tolerance, civility, aspiration, the American Way.'
67
@arla - From the bottom of my heart thank you.
44
@arla I am so sorry for your loss and I thank you for your husband's service to our country. Our nation is in trouble and I pray that the values your husband fought for will be restored.
God Bless You.
51
I got up early, went out to the polls before work and voted all blue as did everyone I know! We are in our early 20s and desperately hoping for and trying to create the future we wish to have, one where everyone is respected, there are opportunities for more than just the 1%, and the white house is not filled with hate. This election is personal to so many and I'm really hoping for a blue wave.
90
Vote for sanity, decency, and skepticism. Vote for science and education. Vote for the ideal of public service. Vote for an independent judiciary. Vote for proper Congressional oversight. Vote for the separation of church and state. Vote for voting rights. Vote for civil rights. Vote for good and affordable health care for all Americans. Vote for ethical government. Vote for the wellbeing of our democracy. Vote for truth, love, and courage. Vote because Trump is on every line of every ballot.
123
I’ve heard far to much commentary about we need more women in politics . Surely we need the best people representing us and yes it can be a women.
Please take you time to vote
6
I agreed with this statement wholeheartedly right up until Kavanaugh got confirmed.
2
We vote by mail in Oregon. The ballot is sent in the mail, completed at home, and then dropped in any number of ballot boxes (even drive-through ones), or the ballot can be mailed back in. No waiting, no lines, no obstacles!
22
I’m a bit worried that there will be corruption in the elections. Isn’t it a bit strange that there’s so many issues with the election process this year? Maybe I wasn’t paying attention to the past years, but there seems to be a lot of reports of technical issues this year. Also people are doing paper ballots which could be discarded, or become invalid. Wasn’t Russia interfering with the election process a thing during the presidential election? Which would mean it’s possible for other groups to interfere with this election. This may not be as big as the presidential, but the end of this election could result in an upset of power. I may be to paranoid but I’m genuinely afraid for this country as it is.
11
@Erika
There is no one who is interfering more with their own election process than americans. The last ten years or so republicans have been able to gerrymandering elections, duly by american "democratic rules".
So you are right to be paranoid, but maybe the paranioa should come from someone closer to home than the usual suspects?
Hope this day is the real working rally to restore sanity, I realize I'm not from this country but the consequenses not just for your country but for everyone else is too big to ignore.
And I'm a conservative, but not one to say the whites are better than everyone else, which seems true about normally sane republicans these day. We used to be about bringing walls down etc.
Not today, it's all about hatred and who can use said hatred the best.
1
Joyous day. I feel my country is finally coming back to its senses.
6
@centares
OK, will you say the same tomorrow if your Democrat has lost?
Long lines....what century are we living in again? Vote by mail!
Make it easy on people and instant paper record. A couple states have figured it out, sounds like we need the Feds to mandate this.
20
@Hmmm but they don't want to make it easy!!! That's the point.
2
Guess you haven't heard about how mail boxes in northeast Queens are being robbed?
I love Oregon's systerm. I don't understand why don't all states don't implement vote-by-mail? No long lines. You have time to sit down with coffee and a voter's resource guide to inform yourself about issues and measures and candidates. There is a paper trail. And it's easy for elderly people and people who may have mobility issues or other disabilities that make it challenging to stand in a line.
21
When I saw the Times map which shows that the polls in small corners of northwest and southwest Indiana close at 7 p.m. EST tonight, one hour later than the rest of the state, I had a flashback to Election Night 2000 and the single dumbest, most inexcusable and quite possibly history-altering gaffe in at least the modern history of election news coverage: all of the major networks calling Florida for Gore, even though the polls in the Panhandle part of the state (which are in the Central time zone) hadn't closed yet. (!) I will always wonder if at least 538 people in the Panhandle who would have otherwise voted for Gore decided that they didn't need to after hearing that Gore had "already won."
I mention this, of course, because of the Senate race in Indiana that is widely considered to be the single closest Senate race in the country this year. In particular, Donnelly figures to benefit big-time from the vote in northwest Indiana (basically a part of greater Chicago) which will not end until an hour later. Hopefully the networks have learned their lesson from 2000.
20
Oh, no. The arrow graphic again. I still have nightmares about that.
15
@SarahK I hear you! Me too!
I voted around 11 am in a blue collar town. The polling place was busy, but there were no lines. While I was waiting outside a booth, a senior citizen stuck her head out from behind the curtain and asked the attendant, "Where's Trump? I want to vote for Trump." The attendant told her politely that he was not running this time. I now appreciate the problems that pollsters have and understand what "within the margin of error" means. It covers the clueless.
55
@GinaK
Funny, I had a similar experience today in LA. There were two young women ahead of me on line. When I asked them if this was their first time voting, they both said yes. I told them I thought it was great that they were voting, and hoped that their classmates were voting as well. They replied that they thought they would, especially since their school let students out for half day to vote.
Then they said something that made me fear for the future of the republic. One of the girls said, "We really wanted to come out to vote for Beto; we thought it was important to support a hispanic candidate."
When I explained how Beto was running for Senate in Texas, and that we, as Californians, don't get to vote for Senators in Texas, they were crestfallen. I felt like I was telling them that there was no Santa Claus. I didn't have the heart to tell them that Beto wasn't hispanic, but his opponent was.
41
@GMooG
Just because Cruz is Hispanic doesn't mean he cares for the Hispanics of Texas. Cruz cares for oil and for white power. He was completely opposed to helping the immigrant caravan a few months ago, opposes the current one and endorsed, yes endorsed, immigrant children being taken from the families. Beto is Irish American, a product of west Texas, knows Spanish, and speaks for all Texans who want to change this state for the better, embrace our ethnicity, yet still be proud to be Americans. As a Hispanic American, I am proud to have voted for Beto.
12
@GMooG
Goes to show you how many Democrats vote for race, not substance.
Many times they end up voting against their own interest ,,like now,, where Trumps economy put many of them back to work.
They just don't know.
Sad.
3
Remember: If you and everyone you care about will never be old, or sick, or poor, then vote Republican. Cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as the Republican Party says it will do, could save hundreds of dollars on your taxes.
28
I am old, and sick. and poor. And I am not voting democratic.
In a sane world for Democrats - perhaps one we have been driven to by necessity - moderates can support progressives and progressives can support moderates.
The time for purity tests is through! I will support a good candidate without their agreeing with me 100%.
Without looking backwards, I say: if you can find yourself in a position to vote for good candidates, do it proudly. We are all but frail mortals, and we should support those good folk on the left, with all their imperfections, strong enough to stand up and run for office against Trump and the Republicans.
If you have not voted yet today: vote Democratic every office you can. If you have already voted, thanks! Now, please find a way to help one person vote, who might not otherwise be able to do so.
18
I just had a friend, who is stationed in Europe, tell me that Absentee ballots are up even over the 2016 Presidential Election.
I hope that is a good sign that there will be huge changes in both the House and the Senate in favor of the Democrats.
16
Proof?
The fate of America rests with a handful of Mid-West battleground states.
1
How is it possible that in what we always hear is the "greatest democracy" the world has ever seen, we have the Georgia Secretary of State serving as the referee and arbiter of fairness and justice with respect to the Governor's race in which he is a candidate, with the courts already confirming unethical and illegal procedures that have suppressed voter rights? What a farce, an outrage and a tainted election!
52
How is it acceptable in 2018 to have so many broken scanners at our polling booths?!
25
@RDG Well in NYC we have to deal with a GOP controlled state senate which has created these rules.
3
Ah, a fellow NYer. Blame the Democrats who control the Board of Elections. I had to create a disturbance to have the poll worker who was trying to fix the binding on her book long enough to sign me in to vote (Paul Krugman please note, in NYC you must use the official BOE pen; talk about ink shades!).
Let's all take a minute to remind ourselves of this: Dems are the MAJORITY! Trump lost by 3M. Republicans took over congress in 2012 with 1.4M fewer total votes. MOST Americans want healthcare, gun reform, women's reproductive rights, civil rights and immigrant rights and environmental protection. We should NOT be in a position where all these things are getting taken away from us. VOTE.
33
Nice that Kemp could breeze into his polling place and be in and out in nine minutes. Must be nice to have a job where you can run for office at the same time, oversee your own election, and step out to vote in the middle of the day when most working stiffs are getting up early and waiting in line for two hours. On top of that you can accuse the other party of hacking an election with absolutely no evidence and then deny that anyone is having any problems voting when there are clearly issues.
Hopefully his short wait in line will be the only good thing that happens to him today.
42
If this were heaven, I would watch and listen to PBS tonight as Judy Woodruff would announce (and Gwen Ifill would still be there with her), that, throughout the entire nation, not a single vote was cast for ANY Republican candidate at the State or Federal level.
Those two Genuine Journalists would announce that Democrats have taken the House and the Senate, and that We The People of the USA have repudiated the illness epitomized by President Trump.
31
@Scott F.
So, in your heaven, there is one party, with no opposition?
I think that says a lot about "Progressive" politics.
4
Thank you Colorado for making voting easy with vote-by-mail and texting to tell you when the ballot was sent and when it was received and counted. While I've always found voting in person oddly moving and enjoyable, and a celebration of community, mailing it in sure is convenient - and gets it done early. Same-day registration also means no one gets off the hook. Go vote!!
15
My mother, now almost 99 years old and in extremely frail end-of-live condition, was born just before women gained the vote in the United States, and cast her last ballot for Barack Obama in 2008. I was thinking of her today, as I walked into a wide-open polling place in Albany, N.Y. just before 7 a.m. I think there is a determination among people who know what this country can be, should be, and has been to defeat the dark vision of Donald Trump.
34
It's great that many people are voting. But, why in 2018 are people having to wait in line or give up part of their workday to vote? Because politicians (overwhelmingly Republicans) want to make voting hard, that's why. Voting online or by mail including early voting, easy and clear registration rules are needed. Or make it a national holiday so everyone can vote.
33
So explain why in Democrat NY these things are so. And don't try to blame the ersatz republican Senate, since Prince Andrew can get anything he sets his mind to.
@Stephen Feldman These issues of making voting easier are the next step I think. People who have just been elected need to address these voting issues and we all / each need to pressure them to get the job done.
My friends across the Atlantic: Today, the world is watching you! GO AND VOTE!
14
@Konstantin We are painfully aware of how much what we do here today affects all the world not just this country. We are working as hard as we can to right this terrible wrong. Thanks for your support!!
1
As reported elsewhere in today's NY Times: "Russians Meddling in the Midterms? … They haven’t stopped trying to influence our elections. Indeed, they may be busier than ever."
The Russians want the Trump Republicans to win. Mr. Trump has done nothing to stop Russian interference in our elections. Vote to protect our democracy! Vote to tell Trump that a president must protect our democracy and our democratic elections! Vote and tell the world that an American president will not be permitted to conspire with foreign adversaries in order to steal our democratic elections!
7
So Kemp thinks things are going smoothly. No illegal voting. No hacking of voting machines. Let’s see how his attitude holds up through the night.
9
I’m happy to live in a state with paper ballots we can mail or drop off. Ridiculous how hard we make voting. Should be a paid national holiday until its made easy for all.
9
Longest lines l have experienced in 31 years of Bergen County NJ voting. They ran out of I Voted stickers in first three hours.
14
Unless I missed it, I would love to see the NYTimes do a rundown comparison of voting and election procedures by state. I've lived in states that have mail-in-only voting (awesome, egalitarian, no stamp required, and a few weeks to mull over the ballot), as well as states that, with the exception of absentee, hold only stand-in-line at the polling station voting (a PTO day, if you're lucky).
It would be eye-opening for NYT readers to see the full picture of voting processes used around the country - how fundamentally flawed and cynical, not to mention corrupt, many systems currently are, as seen in this article, and how better voting systems actually respect its voters and their fundamental right to participate in their community and democracy.
Until we change voting day from Tuesday to a weekend, there are many options available for states that choose not to disenfranchise its voters.
17
I voted new New Paltz, NY, today. There were no problems, but the polling station was busier than I've ever seen it in the 3 years I have lived here. And there seemed to be a lot of younger people voting.
8
It is awesome that there are so many citizens getting out to vote! I do strongly object to all voter suppression and one item on this list that has so many solutions is the standing in line/the time it takes to do so. Early voting, permanent absentee, vote by mail, more polling locations, etc. are all fairly straight forward solutions. They have all been proven effective and safe:)
9
I was out canvassing today to make sure people know where to vote, what they need to vote, and to talk about the Democrats running in my district and state-wide. I am very grateful to live in a community where local government prioritizes making sure that every person eligible can vote, and that their vote is counted. I am hoping that this election meets the #s of voters that came out in 2016. I think county-wide there was a 75% turnout in 2016. Having had all municipal libraries be early voting sites, having same-day registration, and having polling places within walking distance for most folks who are able has made a big difference. I understand that voting processes are left to states and municipalities but I think there should be federal standards to ensure accessibility so that there are not communities where you need to drive outside of town to vote (Dodge City, e.g.) or severely restricted early voting, or insufficient numbers of polling places.
14
I voted 6:45am and there was one elderly person in front of me. I heard a volunteer say there have been 24 votes since the polls open. It's raining heavily here which may impede turnout. I'm a loner in my district which is heavily Republican so I selfishly did NOT remind people to get out and vote. My 'I Voted' sticker also remained hidden.
7
So, you did your little part to suppress the vote.
4
Do you really believe that wearing an I Voted sticker would nudge others to vote? It's like wearing an I Gave Blood Today sticker. It's a badge proclaiming how righteous you are. Not going to motivate people one way of or the other. But, you are satisfied (NYT will censor what the real verb would be), that ooooh, I prevented someone from voting by not reminding them it's election day. So juvenile, especially if they might side with you.
If my town is any indication of election results, it's going to be a huge night for the Democrats (but that doesn't mean you shouldn't vote if you haven't already!)
I live in a deeply Republican, small, semi-rural town of mostly older people. When I went to vote I saw something I had never seen there: young people. (Lots of young people.) Also, some of the poll workers were young (they're always folks over 70.)
Turnout was high. It looked more like turnout for a presidential race.
As for the rain, it didn't seem to be keeping voters home. Go Democrats!
48
What I don't understand is why voters in most states tolerate standing in lines and waiting to vote every election. In California we sign up for automatic absentee ballots one time and then it's just a matter of filling it out at your leisure and mailing it in on or before every Election Day. The right to vote belongs to the people -- not the politicians -- and the people should demand that the politicians make it easy and convenient.
67
I mail in my vote from Germany, where I live. But for the Germans, the voting is always on Sundays, from 08:00 until 18:00 or later, giving everyone time to vote on a day when only very few people need to work.
Why cannot the U.S. simply copy this logical, voter-friendly system?
10
Agree. Oregon has vote by mail and it has worked fabulously.
7
@james haynes Unfortunately there is no other option in some of these states (New York included), as they restrict mail ballots to only certain people and generally understaff polling places.
5
With all the obstacles being thrown by Trump and the GOP to keep blacks, Latinos, Asians, Muslims, Millennials and others from voting, we have to do whatever to not let them succeed. If they succeed in stopping that part of America from voting, they will have won and America will not be the same.
Vote and help others get to the polling places, the seniors, the disabled, those without a vehicle, and just anyone that needs help. Let's not let them hijack our elections.
35
The vote to watch is in Georgia. Brian Kemp has no intention of losing to a black woman. I expect the vote to be questioned unless there is an overwhelming majority. Kemp has very openly been using every tactic he can think of to suppress the vote. And paper ballots may get 'lost' or counted by who? Brain Kemp?
Plus he has AG Sessions all ready and willing to come to his aid should the need arise.
Hang in there Stacey!
76
@Elizabeth This is a very interesting race and there are people all over this country who have donated to help Stacey and encouraged others to vote. Not only to defeat Kemp but to bring attention to the type of corruption he has used to win this race. We will continue watching
15
Georgia Secretary of State and Gubernatorial candidate, Brian Kemp, can't wait to begin counting his votes.
6
@Blue in Green: As various people have noted on various occasions: “The people who cast the votes decide nothing; the people who count the votes decide everything”.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stalin-vote-count-quote/
1
Just an FYI - the Massachusetts Question 3 is not the first time that overturning a transgender rights law has been on a ballot - it happened in Anchorage, Alaska in April of this year.
https://ballotpedia.org/Anchorage,_Alaska,_Proposition_1,_Access_to_Public_Bathrooms_and_Locker_Rooms_Based_on_Sex_at_Birth_(April_2018)
2
The one thing missing from this election is the musings of the talking heads about the wisdom of the American voter.
1
Wow, look at that picture. I walked into my little burg (my home is west of Albany, place you've never heard of) just before 7 AM, a handful of people there, walked right up, got my ballot, filled it out, and the machine that read it told me it was the 48th ballot of the day.
6
Captain “Sully” Sullenberger saved 155 American lives when he landed that airplane in the Hudson river.
‘I don’t think Trump’s capable or willing to change. I think that he’s remarkably incurious and doesn’t value learning. Instead of talking to the current occupant of that office, I am talking to the American people. I’m saying, you are the ultimate check and balance. It is up to us... we cannot wait for someone to rescue us, we must do it ourselves. Everyone, everywhere, must vote in massive numbers.’
That’s how Captain Sullenberger, a Republican for almost his entire life, responded when asked over the weekend what he would say to President Donald Trump if he had a chance to talk to him.
“This is not normal,” he said. “I’m as concerned about the state of this nation as I have been in a half century.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/capt-sully-sullenberger-ive-never-been-this-concerned-with-the-future-of-the-us-2018-11-05
VOTE in historic numbers !
186
@Socrates
I hope everyone in the nation gets to see this interview. Very powerful.
Post it on Facebook so Russian Propaganda passed on by your crazy Uncle Fester in Kansas can bump against truth!
Many thanks to everyone who posted messages of hope and encouragement. It's not often I get to feel proud these days but you make me feel pride and hope and determination.
Special thanks to everyone who volunteered and to those service members and their families who gave so much to make it possible for me to cast my vote today.
48
@DR Hear, hear, DR. Hear, hear. . .
4
I vote in Arlington County, a democratic stronghold in Northern VA. When I arrived at 7:15 am there was only one person ahead of me who had not been checked in. It took just five minutes from the time I parked my car until I got back in to the car after voting. By far, the lowest turnout I have seen in more than 25 years at the same voting place. Not sure what to make of it.
7
@Because Facts Matter I live in Arlington County as well. When I got to my polling place at 10:00, every booth was full and people were coming and going, in and out. Usually I'm the only one in the room.
8
Did you have early voting? That reduced the lines in our polling stations considerably, this morning.
2
Nothing
Today is such an exciting day! I have voted by mail for many years. But back in the day when I lived in a small(!) town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, I used to go to the Vets Hall (literally) to be checked in by older women voter registrars, whom I knew of course, because as anyone who has ever lived in a small town will tell you- everyone knows everyone- to stand in line for my moment behind the cardboard voting "booth". Great memories.
11
20 years ago today, just a few days after Republicans had a surprisingly poor showing in the '98 midterms, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, facing an internal revolt against his leadership of the House Republican caucus, announced that he was quitting as Speaker and resigning from Congress.
If the Democrats underperform expectations today and fail to re-take the House majority, then I predict that Nancy Pelosi will follow the same path (i.e. quit as House Minority Leader and resign from Congress), and I would not be surprised to see minority whip Steny Hoyer do the same. At least her, and probably also his, poltiical career is on the line tonight. Their continued leadership of House Democrats would be tenuous at best even if the party does re-take the House majority; many Democratic candidates have put themselves in position to win tonight, at least in part by promising NOT to support Pelosi's leadership going forward. But if the Democrats fall short, then their continued leadership will be untenable, and I think they both know it.
2
Whatever the outcome of today's ballots, I'd like to thank the Parkland students for their strength, resilience, inspiration and activism. In all the haze of chaos, hate and senseless bloodshed, you all have set, such a unifying and driven example for the future of our country. My heartfelt love and gratitude to everyone of you!
243
@merchantofchaos - Good reminder. Thank you.
8
Double check the location of your polling station before you drive and stand in line. I found mine by googling " where do I vote?" and then entering my address. I did a 4 hr shift at a local polling place this AM and about half the voters were told, after waiting in line, that they were at the wrong location. And most of all thanks for voting!
16
@4Katydid
Worrisome, especially after so much coverage of republican dirty tricks of changing polling stations at the last minute.
9
@4Katy did
Worse, she went on Colbert and smugly predicted victory.
1
My husband is voting today and I am so proud. He hasn't voted since 1991. He is a very intelligent man, only not very interested in politics. Now the stories I tell him about what Trump is doing has him worried. Afraid. Back in 2016 it was he who explained to me what a fascist is when the news first fit Trump with that lable. I suppose he didn't vote back then because he assumed Clinton would win. Today his Democrat vote will be a signal directly against Trump.
He told me that fascism comes from a Roman word for a bundle of sticks. One stick alone would break very easily. But if the sticks are all placed parallel to one another in a bundle they will be hard to break. Thus the attractive idea that fascism represents strength, all the same, all strong.
However, the problem with facism is that individuality, for example the stick which wishes to go in another direction, off to the side, it won't be tolerated by the "all in the same direction" majority. The transgender minority is a stick that goes off in another direction, as are gay people, or to hit close to home, so are those of my own religious minority. My husband and I are Pagan. I read the tarot. I am definately the stick who goes off in a different direction.
The concept of free will and self determination is one of the foundation ideas that governs my tarot practice. I want to live in a country that supports the spiritual law of free will, not fasicm. My vote today was a vote for democracy.
34
I voted by mail in my state, to which I recently moved. It’s a great system, but I miss getting a lump in my throat upon entering the voting booth.
And another personal note: I vote in honor of my deceased father, firstborn son of peasant immigrants, who fought the Nazis and stayed in the Army to serve for 30 years. He would have had no use for Trump.
66
Why can't every state use mail-in ballots? WA state has all mail-in ballots AND we don't even need postage to mail them. Easy.
39
@Sam Colorado is so accomodating. I travel overseas a great deal and have voted from India, Viet Nam and Uganda. We register when we get our drivers license or other times. We have our ballots mailed to us, plenty of time to get over Judges and ammenments. Mail it back or drop it off. Just couldn't ask for a better system, nice isn't it?
Everything about Trump is tumultuous. I am voting in hopes that a new generation of thoughtful, sane leaders emerge. Both parties.
24
Love him or hate him, this president has broken the record for voter turn out, sending Americans back to doing their duty to vote.
13
@AutumLeaff
Nobody hates him. With his lies, demonization and fear, Mr. Trump is the hater. The majority of Americans merely find him unacceptably indecently deplorably unfit.
AutumLeaff
Manhattan43m ago
Love him or hate him, this president has broken the record for voter turn out, sending Americans back to doing their duty to vote.
13
I beg to differ. My wife most decidedly hates Mr. Trump. I try to counsel her by saying he too is a child of God and therefore deserving of tolerance, but she is not having any of that. Maybe someone else would like to step into that cage with the tiger, but I've learned my lesson!
4
Just finished voting and I'm certain of only one thing. No matter which side prevails, nothing will change.
So everyone, get out there and vote! - for one of the two parties who implement the agendas of their corporate benefactors and keep Americans beholden to the duopoly by dividing us with wedge issues and race-baiting via the mainstream media!
If all goes as planned the blue wave will come in and wash away all the red, pinning the political pendulum to the left with enough momentum to guarantee another extreme swing back to the right a few years down the line, so we can do it all over again.
If our forefathers were alive today they'd be in tears, then the right would call them snowflakes and the left would chase them from restaurants for being racists.
3
@Gary Taustine
Elections do have consequences, here in Virginia we got Medicaid extended finally when we got a Democratic governor. This gave healthcare to thousands and thousands of Virginians including my family. Before that we had nothing.
15
@Gary Taustine
Things will change if Democrats take the House. Things will change even more if Democrats somehow take the Senate. We will be able to block the insanity of Trump and perhaps put him in prison where he belongs. The only side that has gone to extremes are the right wing extremist Republicans. The "left" in this country is what normal conservatives look like. If we could realign our politics Republicans would no longer exist, Democrats would be the right of center conservatives and we would have a socialist party.
6
@Max Deitenbeck
So interesting how perceptions differ. I see our country's policies as largely centrist, but our culture as far, far left, and since politics are downstream from culture, I fear that giving too much power to either side leads to an inevitable backlash that prevents any chance at unity and progress.
As for socialism, feh.
1
Mr. Blevins, from Chapmanville, WV, your comments about the insanity of the average person voting for the Republican Morrisey for Senate mirror what my husband and I have been saying as West Virginians for years regarding voting Republican. It is entirely against our interest to vote in Republicans who are out to destroy affordable health care coverage. Republicans in this state recently implemented right to work, jeopardizing the ability of the average person to seek a fair wage. Why would any coal miner vote for Morrisey? What are they putting in the water here, as you asked?
42
@kimw
My aunt in Wheeling,WV says the same thing!
Now in her 80's, she lives on a mountain and has huge trucks carrying coal roaring by her house daily, coming I guess from another nearby mountain. Even in the Appalachians, there are a limited number of mountaintops to destroy. Let's stop this insanity and let her and all of us live in peace and good health.
8
As a citizen of your closest neighbour, ally, and friend, I sincerely hope Americans will rescue themselves today.
Your spirit has been torn asunder by the propaganda of fear and hatred. And it has been an incredibly difficult thing to watch. Like seeing a family member ripped apart by the tyranny of a devastating addiction. It's been terribly heartbreaking because your country is so beautiful, so strong, so intelligent. But when you look at the truth, the real truth of your humanity beneath the cloaks of your partisanship, all the rhetoric doesn't matter. You have nothing to fear. There's no need to hate. No matter what values you hold, make your love of humanity the thing that drives you to the booth today. Rekindle your love of each other, your respect, your civility, your obsession with the truth.
And take solace in this: no matter what happens today, no matter who controls the House and Senate when you wake up tomorrow morning, your country will survive and it will regain its dignity as a world leader in civil rights and freedoms, as a bastion of truth and fairness. It will. You're simply too strong to be defeated, whether you're a Democrat, a Republican, or independent. But there's only one thing you can do to ensure that the lifeblood of your country runs strong...
Vote.
33
@Kevin
Thank you! I'm inspired to return the compliment.
I've found the comments from Canadians on this site to generally embody the intelligent, civil discourse that we could use much more of here. They demonstrate that even when being sharply critical, it is not necessary to resort to the contagious verbal mud slinging weaponry of the radical fringes. I'm hoping that whatever the outcomes today, more of us can refrain from stooping to the level of schoolyard bullies and bring back thoughtful, reasoned, fact-based expressions of even the most extreme differences of opinion. We've seen what ratcheting up the emotions yeilds - loss of the compromises necessary to govern and encouragement to dangerously imbalanced individuals. Buying into questionable news sources aids our enemies, domestic or otherwise.
A little more attention to spelling and grammar wouldn't hurt, either, huh?
What a wonderful world that could be.
3
I wonder how many desperate calls trump has made to Moscow: "where are you Vlad!? Help!" We should ask the Chinese; they're listening to all of the dolt's phone calls.
16
To update your report, there are also now "technical difficulties" in Fulton County, Georgia, home of Atlanta and a major concentration of Democratic votes.
Brian Kemp is trying very hard to fix this election in any way possible.
50
@Shar Heart broken, hope we manage to prevail
My stomach is in my throat. I'm tense and worried. Maybe I live in my state's Blue Bubble that causes this angst, and it is not reality. Maybe it's the result of two long horrible, horrible years of blatant racism and bigotry and nativism. Can it, will it end? Maybe I can't help but think back in 2008 when our nation took that one giant step in electing our first, marvelous African-American president. Can we do it again, that courage and hope, or have we lost those attributes? But maybe - no - instead I still have that hope that we can do anything together if we roll up our sleeves and fight for justice and equality. And...I have to say if we get the House once again, if we get our first African-American governor who is a woman from the Deep South, I will take it with enthusiasm, with joy, with gratitude that our nation can indeed do it!
24
@Kathy Lollock A great posting, Kathy. It is a prayer for the nation.
1
This analysis probably goes beyond the understanding of our dear leader. His disdain for the 14th amendment is completely consistent with both his racism and his disregard of women. Susan B. Anthony and others took the birthright citizenship of the 14th to mean that women born in the US, white or black, also had voting rights, something that would be made explicit in the 19th amendment. The history of denying voting rights in the US is a pretty disgusting record, strange that anyone would want to go there.
10
To quote a Facebook post. “This is like Christmas Eve and the night before a colonoscopy combined”
46
I really don't understand this comment. Christmas Eve is a night of joyous anticipation. The night before a colonoscopy is one of discomfort and anxiety. If you've ever had polyps removed, you understand.
1
I just heard on NZ radio that 31 million citizens have cast an early vote and that's 50% more than in other elections. Time will tell whether they were motivated by Trump and his policies and whether or not they voted Republican or Democrat. If Trump has brainwashed lots of healthy young people to vote for him then he'll probably win; and if struggling families and the sick and elderly who are affected by Trumps policies, have been motivated to vote, then the Democrats will win.
3
With all of the concern of foreign meddling, interference, and mischief in elections (and domestic mischief as well), I cannot understand how anyone could advocate that we open up voting to on-line vote submissions.
Everyone seems to find it necessary to protect their on-line activity from viruses, moles, and all kinds of other digital corruption. I could easily imagine a virus that changes your vote to a different candidate without your knowledge. And to get around this, for auditing purposes, you would have to lose the secret ballot to keep a record somewhere of how you voted.
I can imagine the outrage in the first on-line voting experience when it turns out the process has been corrupted.
5
I know each state controls how elections are conducted. What I would like to know is why some states have early voting, but other states do not.
In a county few people could find on a map, Collin County TX had 271, 048 voters other than myself cast ballots before today. There was exactly one person in line ahead of me when I showed up and there were plenty of voting machines available once I verified my identity.
How many of those people would have bothered if they approached the polling place today and saw lines out the door?
7
I have always studied every issue on the ballot. It was important to understood every possible issue that my state presented to me. Not this year. Straight blue 100%.
36
We use paper ballots in our small Vermont town. We have about 360 registered voters. As an elected Justice of the Peace (I am on the ballot this year for re-election) among my duties is to assist in the counting of the votes. Polls close at 7 pm, I don't expect to be out of there until 9 pm. We have a full plate with statewide and local races.
In addition, I help by being a poll worker from 5 pm to polls closing at 7 pm. So at about 4:30pm, I go in, vote, and then start my shift.
Everyone voting has to orally declare their name, twice, once upon getting their ballots, and again on submitting their paper ballots in the box. This is so we can keep a check list of how many and who came in, and to make sure they submitted ballots and left. I guess this is to prevent anyone getting a mail in ballot, photocopying it, and attempting to submit more than one ballot.
I think we have been doing it this way since the 1800s.
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Please note the erroneous reasoning in the following sentence regarding Democrats' chances in the House:
"... early voting and likely turnout appear high, which Democrats see in their favor — but the same was true in some states in 2016, and Mr. Trump crushed Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College."
The key difference is that elections for House seats are decided one district at a time, while Electoral College votes in most states (except Maine and Nebraska) are awarded on a statewide, winner-takes-all basis.
The 2016 Electoral College outcome has no bearing on the current battle for control of the House of Representatives. Indeed, the stark dichotomy between the two illustrates how the Electoral College has given us a non-representative executive branch of government.
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@Joel Geier So true!
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Westfield NJ voting volunteers manning the desks said they've never seen a turnout like this in all the years they've been there.
Crowds waiting up to an hour inside the school gym, pouring outside.
America works when you work it.
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It will be a great year if (a) Dems win the House and, just as important, (b) Pelosi loses her Speaker spot. She MUST go!
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Not exactly a unifying message on Election Day.
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@KMW
I'm looking for progress and she doesn't represent progress.
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@KMW
OK, fine. Then keep Pelosi, run Hillary again, and continue down the road to irrelevance
2
It is a real shame that Ms Love is a Republican. On the other hand, we need more Republicans like her. I am an Independent and now realize that being Independent simply means you give up your say in the primaries. I plan to register Republican before 2020 so that I can cast my vote for moderates in the primaries and at least cancel out one vote for a Trump acolyte. I will probably vote Democratic in the actual election.
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@Alexandra Hamilton I am an independent in NH and can vote in all primaries, but perhaps this option is not available everywhere. It requires changing one's independent status on day of primary election to whatever party desired, then voting, then before leaving polling place changing status back to independent.
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@Kate It varies by state. Some have closed primaries, where you must be a member of the party in question. Some states have open primaries. I live in a state with both non-party registration, and open primaries.
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@Alexandra Hamilton Agree with your plan. The Republican party is unrecognizable. The only way to get it back is to vote all the Trump enablers out. To do that, you can't reward them by re-electing them. Good luck!
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Dismantling Obamacare and Social Security will be the Republicans downfall. It's just greed to not look after people with no talents and who are sick and vulnerable. The majority of people aren't well off and have bills to pay and they need a welfare state to subsidise unliveable wages to pay all their bills and live a dignified life. No everyone has a wealthy parent they can inherit from.
I like Trumps border control but he is too harsh on his own people who don't inherit like he did and has no compassion for his own vulnerable citizens. Lots of his policies affect the elderly and his greed could be his downfall. How much wealth is enough greedy guts!
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No. Dismantling the health care that citizens have through their Unions and Employers through the socialist "Medicare for All" will be the downfall of the Democratic Party. Go read the Bernie Bros website. It will never fly with Union members as written.
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For the love of heaven. Paper ballots should be used everywhere. There is no excuse for not having hard copy votes to settle any questions.
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@Richard Schumacher We used them here until about 20 years ago. It takes a little longer to count, but there's a paper trail. It's also easier to write in candidates. (South Carolinians love write-in campaigns.)
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@Susanna: Sense-mark (fill in the oval with a pen) ballots and automatic on-site counting machines have existed for at least that long. There is no excuse not to use them, and no reasons not to use them except foolishness and chicanery.
Amazing turnout at my precinct in small-town South Carolina. More than 1,000 people had voted by 10:30 a.m., and poll workers said the average is about 300. The line was just as long when we left as when we arrived. About an hour's wait but an energetic and diverse crowd, fired up to be there exercising our hard-won right to vote. I'm 72, and I remember how thrilled I was when at 21 I was able to register to vote for the first time. I've never lost that feeling of exhilaration, even in times like these when my liberal leanings may be out of step with the majority in my state. But it has not always been this way, and voting is the only way to assure that our voices and our values are represented. Please vote!
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I voted just now. The rain was pouring down pretty heavily where I live in Pennsylvania. It was damp outside, but the weather did not dampen the turnout in my ward, which was up I was told dramatically since the last mid-term election.
I admit that I got a bit emotional as I stepped into the voting booth and the curtain closed behind me. I was about to do something that before this day is out will be replicated by millions of Americans. I always considered myself a patriot, and while I love my country and have voted in every election since 1969, this one was different to me. My country was calling. I had to do my duty as an American citizen. Somehow, the phrase "we the people" has a weighted resonance for me today.
There was a woman standing near me in line who commented to no one in particular that she was glad to see the long line at the poll, saying she was afraid the bad weather would make it difficult for people to vote.
I thought about what she said. Difficult is storming the beaches at Normandy. Difficult is being afraid when you are running toward the gunfire of an active shooter but finding the courage to act anyway. For me personally, difficult was serving in Vietnam in 1968.
But casting my vote today - even in a torrential downpour - that was easy.
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#metoo Len, #metoo
@Len
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Len, today, you and tens of millions of patriotic Americans will do what you did....VOTE...in record, historic numbers to Make Democracy Great Again.
And Republicans can't stand it and hate it.
Power to the people !
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@Len, Awesome!! And thanks so much for your service!
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I'm in Claudia "The School Shooters Are All Democrats" Tenney's district in NY22. In 2014, a total of 290 people voted in my ward. Today I was the 101st person in my ward to vote... at 9:15 AM.
BLUE. WAVE.
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@MR
I hope you are right!
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“I don’t know what’s wrong with these people. They’ll fight you over Trump. I can’t understand it. I think they put something in the water.” precisely
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Dear Red Bubble ("Rubble") States: You are about to experience "Big D" democracy at work without Russian CyberAttacks/Wikileaks, Trump Campaign Collusion, The 11th Hour Comey Letter, and a flawed Hillary Clinton as candidate. Welcome to the real, fact-based USA.
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Today is Deepavali, the Festival of Lights. Today we light lamps to dispel the demons of fear, ignorance and hate. Let us vote the republicans out and bring America back into the light of all things good. Vote for the Democrats!
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@Meena I had the same message in my Facebook account. Our votes are the arrow to slay the multi headed monster that is the current GOP.
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@Meena Deepavali is tomorrow - Wednesday. Also, light for you is darkness for other Hindu Americans and vice versa. I have voted Republican and hope that the darkness of socialism is forever vanished from the cradle of liberty.
"The American civil war didn't end. And Trump is a Confederate president"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/04/the-american-civil-war-didnt-end-and-trump-is-a-confederate-president
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I voted the first day of early voting and took two first time voters with me. We all voted straight blue.
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@Patty O I'm sorry.
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@Patty O
Thank you!
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@Robert Yes, yes you are...
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Get out and vote for jobs and the economy. Don't listen to all the noise.
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@Landlord: The economy is just one of many issues to consider. These are not just noise, they're important. Health care, election security, international affairs, govt debt, and infrastructure, to name just a few.
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@Landlord - I did. I voted for Democrats.
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@Landlord - If you're only voting for jobs and the economy, what happens when they both spiral downward. You should never vote on just one or two issues. You look at the totality of what someone stands for and base your decision on multiple issues.
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The late great Dr Hunter S Thompson summed it all up in three words: "FEAR AND LOATHING".
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@Bob I have no fear, but oh the loathing!
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"Tumultuous"? As if the tumult were equal on both sides, equally the result of doings by both sides? Well, using that phrase while failing to remind your readers of the long history of the shenanigans committed overwhelmingly (exclusively) by which side is certainly one way to hang on to your self-conceived identity as even-handed, objective (as if that should be a criterion for the press), which anyway as you and everyone else knows perfectly well is, with respect to certain issues, not the case. If the House stays in the hands of the GOP, the Times will have a lot to answer for. The Times has a moral duty to do everything in its power, while maintaining decorum, to speak out against Trump and his despicable behavior, for example by reporting as news on the front page every lie that he tells. Better now than when it's too late, when you wring your hands and say "Gosh, I wish we had known where this was going." You already know now the dangers that Trump and his m.o. pose for this country and for the world (you know, that climate change stuff, more aptly known as climate disaster, not to mention the stability of the international political order.
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@MF
I meant to include a question mark after "(exclusively)," thus: "(exclusively?)."
And I should have closed the parentheses that began with "(you know, that climate change stuff…"), thus, "(you know, that climate change stuff, more aptly known as climate disaster)…" And instead of "disaster" I should have said "catastrophe."
Thank you for approving my comment, which I must confess a little surprised me.
2
This year we find out once and for all if Nate Silver has any sort of a sustainable polling setup, or if he was just lucky that one time with Obama and can be safely ignored from now on.
Today we also find out if patriotic voters are still bothered by the shambles of a confirmation process we have in the U.S. Senate now, thanks to the Democrats and Dianne Fienstein.
The biggest discovery remains whethe there ever WAS a Blue Wave or if that was all just partisan cheerleading.
3
Yes, I am still bothered by the shambles of the Kavanaugh confirmation process. Very bothered. And have voted Democratic.
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Nate Silver is a statitician who aggregates polls. He is not a pollster.
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My voting place in the bluest of blue areas of Brooklyn and with no real competitive races ,was packed. The crowd rivaled that of 2008, Obama's first win.
So does Hate Trump Love?
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@Neighbor2 I hope love trumps hate!
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@Neighbor2
Glad to hear your precinct was packed. So was mine in a small North Florida beach town.
But it's more like Trump Loves Hate!
Let's hope for an overwhelming Blue Victory.
1
I'm feeling very uneasy right now. The parents of my two patients got into a verbal altercation in my medical office hallway today, over politics (one was wearing anti-Trump gear and the other was a supporter)
The child of the Trump supporter is severely disabled, and saw me today thanks to state Medicaid. She receives her education in a private school for the disabled, funded by her local public school district.
And this woman is voting for Trump. The irony is that the hospital I work for is, as we speak, actively lobbying to try to keep Medicaid funds from being cut, which would decimate the services we are able to provide for the most disabled and ill of children.
This is exactly what I experienced prior to the 2016 election. If people who depend so intensely on the social safety net vote against their self-interests, there is no hope for us.
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A bankrupt government can help no one. Trump should continue to cut and include the military.
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@Anjou
And do you think if this disconnect was pointed out to the parent of the Medicaid dependent child, it would make a difference? Don't know if that was the altercation was about but I doubt one parent knew about the Trump's parent use of Medicaid so I assume it and argument more general in nature. How does one counter this hypocrisy--a person wants Medicaid when they need it for themselves but seek to deny it to everyone else. Mind-boggling. Reminiscent of those Republicans who wanted "to keep government out of their Medicare." Can you fix stupid?
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@Chris, so your solution is letting people die?
I hope you don't need any Medicaid ever!!
Also, make sure you have enough money to retire since the GOP wants to cut SS and tell your grandchildren if you have them, their environment will be polluted because of you.
The government should increase taxes to the 1%, not cut them and yes, agree, reduce military spending.
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Thanks to all the first-time voters and those who overcame republican gerrymandering to vote.
No matter what happens when the results come in OUR United States of America has reached a new stage in OUR growth where average people are figuring out that one can't "ignore' politics. Politics is what shapes OUR lives every minute of every day.
Time to wrest control from the Harvard/Yale frat boys and their Robber Baron brethren and write OUR story of inclusion and social/economic justice for ALL Americans.
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Sing it, Seattle sister njglea !
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@njglea
Please get your facts strait. Harvard Collage is 87% blue, while the faculty of the Kennedy School donations are running 92% blue this election.
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Reality, the reality is that for many graduates of "elite" universities their first concern is the wealth they can accumulate and keep.
Political parties have nothing to do with it.
10
"Let fear and loathing, the gerrymander, voter file purges, and voter suppression RING !!"
.....I mean "let freedom RING !"
It's going to take a lot of voters to reject the rigged Russian-Republican party from crooked office, Americans.
VOTE !
VOTE !
VOTE !
D for democracy; R for a rigged vote.
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How many people believed Trump’s lies is on the ballot today. The results will be announced tonight.
9
Those who laugh at the possibility of a blue wave laugh at your determination to vote.
Vote. Vote them out. Then the jokes on them.
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If Abrams, Gillum and O'Rourke win their races...and the blue wave crashes on the House, it will indicate that sanity and respect for all people may return to this country.
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@Bob Bruce Anderson And there will go the economy down the drain that we tried so hard to repair from the last adminstrations bumblings and fumblings.
4
@Robert Repair? Did you just wake up or something. The last administration saved this country from ruin. A little research and reading will help you understand. Alas, I think you already know the truth and are just motivated by the animus Donald Trump has created. Too bad.
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@Robert - Wrong. G.W. brought us the great recession, President Obama pulled us out of it.
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I love voting. I can't imagine being motivated to vote by anger, fear, or nativist animus though, that just seems like such a dumpy attitude to go an elect representation by.
18
All the best wishes for a healthy Democracy in the USA.
Discourse and Balance of Interest shall reign.
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@Roland
Thank you!
17
Demonstrate goodwill. Resist hate. Make your voices heard, get out and vote!
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There will be more television sets and social media devices in Canada tuned in to the mid-terms tonight, than there would be if the Toronto Maple Leafs were playing the Montreal Canadians in the Stanley Cup finals...best of luck to the Democrats.
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@doug mac Donald :-) you are right Doug!
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@doug mac donald
I have been making sure all my friends have voted. I voted a week ago by absentee ballot. - Blue
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@doug mac donald
Well, the population of Canada may on the upswing very soon. We apologize in advance.
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Gwinnett County, Ga:
Voting machine glitches. Hundreds standing in lines wrapping around schools; switching to test-scan papers.... Brian Kemp? Who could have imagined voting problems in Georgia?
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I live in this county! This county prides itself on being upwardly mobile and an example to other counties in Metro-Atlanta...until today. I might also add this county was blue last election. Looking at you...Brian Kemp.
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@Candlewick
in 2013, as the court overturned the Voters Rights Act,
Justice Roberts spoke:
“Our country has changed,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.”
Roberts was the swing vote for the overturn, and this was his agenda from day one.
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@Candlewick If you can't win the honest way, you do it Kemp's way. I pray enough voters in GA will send the message your crooked tactics will not work, Brian Kemp. You don't deserve public office!
25
Democrat, Republican, Independent or other...go vote!
I'm a firm believer that the more people get involved and learn about the issues, and educate themselves on what matters to all sides, the better our government will actually represent us.
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The lines to vote in Kansas City MO are very long -lengthier than the lines I observed during the 2007 and 2012 Presidential Elections. The procedure seemed to be running well,as of 930AM, in the Midtown District where I live.
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America won't get real answers until we end the gerrymander and pull life support on the Electoral College.
There are what have allowed the GOP to keep our nation in a chokehold, despite being in a distinct minority, election after election.
That is what will truly make America great, in ways it never has been.
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@R Mandl I'd add getting campaign finance reform- getting rid of Citizens United, too.
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@R Mandl
You forget that, as opposed to all othernations, OUR national gov't was installed by the States! They decided that he Electoral College would preserve small-state priorities.
Of course, Democrats LOVED the E.C. as long as it helped them. As with gerrymandering, it ONLY became a crisis when the opposition benefitted from it.
Before you squee for less campaign money, remember that Democrats ALWAYS have the most money to spend.
6
Democrats never gerrymander. The electoral college doesn't protect smaller populations from the dictatorship of the majority. America was never great. Got it!
3
I voted a few days ago in Sacramento California. Here we have three avenues to vote after we received our ballot in the mail. We can mail it in, drop it off or go to the poll and vote. I have never experienced a long line. Many of my friends simply mail their ballots in and we can check online to see if the mail in ballots or the drop off ballots were accepted.
This may mean that the final vote count might not occur until next week. Depending on how Congressional races go, this could mean the make up of the House will not be settled tonight.
40