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Election Day

The New Neo Posted on by

Not much to add at this point.

I’m trying to decide how to handle this evening: when to start watching, and how to maintain some sort of equanimity in the face of the tension. I don’t know whether we’ll know the outcome tonight.

Very nervous; caught between hope and fear.

How about you?

Comments

Election Day — 44 Comments

  1. Color me gobsmacked if we know the outcome tonight, or even tomorrow. Or even before Thanksgiving. And I wouldn’t quite rule out before January 6, 2025.

    (Should Trump appear to be ascendant, would he still be alive by January 6, 2025?)

  2. I will monitor the news lightly, because there’s no point in watching the Democrats steal votes in real time.
    We dropped our ballots in the CO ballot box yesterday.
    I no longer trust the USPS with the documents for our elections.
    That is very sad.

  3. I’ve been swinging between hope and dread all day. It’s weird, I actually hate that I find myself latching on to any scrap of postitive news and allowing it to boost my hopes. After the disappointment of the 2022 Red Trickle and of course the bitter feeling of something being stolen in 2020, I always feel the need to temper any positive news I hear about with cynicism and pessimism. At this point I just want it to be over with. I find that not knowing leads to anxiety.

  4. @ M J R > repeating your comment on the open thread> “In a certain sense, it may never be decided at all, although some faction will eventually be able to claim a “victory”.”

    That’s still the case with 2020, IMO.

  5. AesopFan (3:53 pm) said: “I no longer trust the USPS with the documents for our elections. That is very sad.”

    I used USPS because I live in a true-blue area*. Living where I do, they won’t fail me.

    * as I have for all of my life. It gets old [like M J R is now].

  7. Re: Hope and fear

    I’m confident Trump has the votes.

    I’m not sure if that translates into his inauguration in January and how much crazy happens between now and then.

    The bigger the win, the less the crazy.

    I think.

  8. I will watch very little, which will create tension in the house. As I told my bride of 66 years, I care deeply about the outcome; I care nothing for the breathless blather that will fill the airways all evening, and beyond. I expect that she will be glued to the TV.

    I alternate between being resigned and hopeful. Not a happy state.

    I remember 2000. We sat up until long past midnight in hopes of getting a decision. To no avail.

  9. A brother voted today—said it was first time in decades that a line was out the door. He never had to wait before, in Sparr, FL.

    He told me that my two 20 yo Great nephews (twins) registered REP right after Trump was shot in ear.

  10. Oldflyer:

    I remember 1960. I stayed up past midnight watching the results, and I was a child.

  11. Professor Turley sounds a note of optimism in his post today.
    https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/05/the-best-of-us-in-the-midst-of-a-roid-rage-election-a-reason-to-have-hope/

    His most recent ones are more about the quagmire that we are calling an election.
    Barry linked one of them on the Open Thread yesterday; they are all worth reading.

    https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/05/ha-ha-thump-why-the-last-minute-snl-pitch-for-harris-is-no-laughing-matter/
    Yes, the Democrats are trying to cheat, anyway they can.

    https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/04/something-wicked-this-way-comes-both-parties-deploy-legions-of-lawyers-for-election-challenges/
    The RNC is much better prepared for this year than ever before.
    IMO that is due to the less-than-useless Chairs we have had for many, many years, although the Covid-rules fiasco was what brought the situation to most of the conservative voters’ attention.

    https://jonathanturley.org/2024/11/03/were-not-going-to-allow-them-to-steal-it-raskin-repeats-trump-like-reservation-on-accepting-election-results/
    Another case of leftist double standards, where a Democrat is applauded for saying the exact same thing as Trump, who is excoriated.
    However, I think that was true of Democrats even before they went off the deep end in 2008.

  12. Not for good. I fear but all eyes should be on Pa. I am confident again for the third time Trump will carry the state yet we saw in 2020 how they stole it with the 10pm stop count with Trump ahead and 2am Biden is way ahead.
    Keep seeing politicians say don’t expect a verdict for days, that can only mean trouble.

  14. Re: Election fraud

    It’s not going to be a complete walkover this time.
    ___________________________________________

    James O’Keefe Recruits Election Workers to Secretly Record at the Polls

    Mr. O’Keefe has sought volunteers willing to wear hidden cameras and hunt for voting problems. Dozens of election judges and poll monitors responded, records show.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/03/us/politics/2024-election-james-okeefe-voting.html
    ___________________________________________

    James O’Keefe is dangerous to Dems! Another reason for my optimism.

    Will it be enough? Fingers crossed.

  15. I have been “comforting” myself, in a way, with the thought that no matter what happens it’s going to be awful. I don’t have to explain to this crowd what the awfulness will be if Harris wins. It’s too bleak to try to explain.

    But if Trump wins– can you imagine the TDS that will engulf half the country? The “Resistance,” the name-calling, the lawfare, the riots in Democratic cities . . . it was so bad in his first term but if he gets in again, I believe the left will truly lose what’s left of its collective mind, not to mention its soul. They will be arguing, and truly believing, that any means are justified to stop him. They are no longer capable, even if they ever were, of trying to calm down and give him a chance. Not after lo these many years in which academia, the media and the Democratic party have ginned up so much hate and fear.

    I’m not sure the country can survive it, either way.

  16. About 24 years ago I was down in Crawford at my friend Larry B’s farm trying to shoot deer on election eve. We were one mile West of the new, at the time, Bush Ranch and as evening came on and it started to get dark I found that I had locked my keys in my little RAV/4 when Larry and I set out on the deer stands. Then as the sun went down I had to break a small side window as it started raining and it was time to head back in. At the farm house I patched up the broken window with plastic wrapped cardboard and we went in to watch the 2000, we stayed up long enough to see the election get locked up, we had planned to join others in Crawford to see Bush announce that he had won which, of course did not happen that evening. With no winner we went to bed and I went back out early the next morning to see if I could shoot a deer and I got mud all over my little SUV using 4 wheel drive to get back out, and then I got lots of mud on my in my muddy camo hunting clothes and boots. No deer seen that morning and I had to get back to work that day so I headed back to town to gas up at the Coffee Shop/Station and head back to Dallas.

    Right there at the Crawford gas station there was an attractive woman reporter with her camera crew and she wanted to interview me about the election since I looked like one of the back country, goofy, dirty, local good old boys. She kind of chased me around the gas pump until she realized that I was not going to be the ‘hill-billy’ sound bite guy and I was glad I knew enough to keep my head down and my mouth shut since I was a muddy mess in my filthy, mud covered little SUV right there in Crawford, Texas, USA. I still have a strong North West Texas, Plains, accent that they would have loved to have on video, we sound ever so funny saying our little bit that can end up on TV. A few weeks later I did go back to Larry’s Farm and once more on his farm, I managed to shoot a nice deer, so there’s that.

  17. I’m not sure the country can survive it, either way.

    Mrs+Whatsit:

    I am a person of faith, but this is a dangerous time.

  18. OldTexan:

    I love regional accents. Glad you’ve kept yours.

    I’ve been informed I speak California Mushmouth. 🙂

  19. I voted in person and it was fast. Oklahoma had 4 days of early voting but there was only two sites in OK County, which is the largest county in the state. The lines out of the north site were extensive and several hours long. That problem will be resolved for the next major election. Mail-in ballots are a pain since you have to get the ballot envelope notarized, so there is voter id requirement for every method of voting.

    So, I went to my precinct and there were only two people in front of me, at about 11:30am. There is another precinct that votes in the same church and they were busier.

    Part of the reason for the fast line is that OK County has 257 precincts and there are about 2,150 voters in my precinct. By the time I put my ballot in the reader, I was the 466th person to vote in person. The poll worker told me that when they opened up at 7 am, there was a line with the first person getting there around 5 am. I’m sure the lines will increase around 4pm as people get out of work.

    When I was there, a young man was having issues with voting – he wasn’t listed in the book. While he had photo id, he didn’t have his voter card. So, they were working with him on a provisional ballot. The crazy thing is that the poll workers did not have access to the online voter portal to check to see if he was registered and may have been in the wrong place.

    I know that Trump will win in OK, however, I am nervous about the results for the US House. OK and Tulsa Counties are starting to trend more D. And, there were some state and local questions that will impact pocketbooks.

    The other issue was retention voting for three state supreme court justices. There was a campaign to vote them out of office since they were all put in office by a democratic governor. I ended up voting no for two of them since they were 87 and 79 years old and I think they need to retire from active work. The third one was 71 years old, but she had been nominated for various positions by governors of both parties – so I viewed her as more neutral. I used to know a judge and I valued his opinions on these retention issues.

  21. I am, bizarrely, feeling at peace. It’s counterintuitive, and I can’t explain it, nor am I foolish enough to try. But I just think that everything is going to be okay, at least for a little while. I’ve been neck deep in the state polls for months, and I really believe that Trump has this one in the bag.

  22. PTSD from the 2024 election fiasco is real, and justified.

    It’s probably too much to hope for this election to be like the election of 1980, but I am hoping for Trump to win 312 electoral votes as well as the popular vote. And maybe that can happen.

    In any case, we are looking at a preference cascade. Many people in high places now have their eyes open, and we have Elon Musk to thank for that.

  23. In 2016 I very much wanted a Trump win and HRC defeat, but did not expect that outcome. On election night I went about my usual nightly routine but added in checking on the progress of the election. Went to bed around 10pm with the knowledge that the momentum was in HRC’s direction – as predicted – and resigned to that being the result. Woke up the next day at my usual 5:30am, or so, only to discover that Trump had won.

    I’m a very superstitious guy so will probably do the same tonight and pray for the same result. 🙂

  25. Michael Towns:

    “I am, bizarrely, feeling at peace. It’s counterintuitive, and I can’t explain it, nor am I foolish enough to try. But I just think that everything is going to be okay, at least for a little while. I’ve been neck deep in the state polls for months, and I really believe that Trump has this one in the bag.”

    I have a similar feeling.

  27. John Hinderaker, with a thoughtful, and I think, optimistic analysis:
    “IS THE FUTURE OF OUR DEMOCRACY AT STAKE?”—
    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/11/is-the-future-of-our-democracy-at-stake.php
    Concluding grafs:

    …This year’s election is a critical point at which voters can try to stop the juggernaut of left-wing policies that they never chose…. It may be that 2024 is the people’s last, best hope to stop the tide of ever more powerful and intrusive unelected government.

    And so, in a way completely different from what the Democrats propose, our democracy really is on the ballot this year.

  28. I am not going to torture myself and watch the news. I can find out soon enough tomorrow. I think I’m going to watch funny silly old TV shows such as the Beverly Hillbillies, Hogan’s Heroes, and the Andy Griffith Show on MeTV.

  29. Enjoy the Selections. I know I will. Evryone will get what they desrve. Yall cannot stop divinity.

  30. Today, I happily voted for Trump and other Republicans. I’m sure there must be some good Democrats somewhere, but if they’re actually running for office as Democrats, then they suffer from very bad judgement, and saying so is a kindness that they don’t deserve. In other words, I can’t vote for a Democrat, any more than I can give up my lifelong disgust for Marxists. They’ve become one and the same.

    Having said all that, I think that voting has become an exercise in nostalgia. My first serious high-school girlfriend was an apolitical Jewish cheerleader, which was a combination I found appealing. Those were lucky days, and I think of her fondly, but I don’t expect to see her again, walking down the street, in a school-colored uniform of sweater and pleated skirt. Hoping for cure-by-election would now be just as crazy. It’s old man’s nostalgia.

    We’re in the early stages of a Marxist surveillance state, in which politics is criminalized and crime politicized. Trump will not be allowed to take office. If I were a betting man, I’d bet the farm. For the last couple of years, I’ve said that Trump can’t win, unless it’s a landslide. Of course, if we reject all the polls and the invevitability of Marxist chicanery, then a landslide could suddenly appear, but don’t color me hopeful. If I’m wrong, then you can have the farm, and I’ll wander the earth, feeling chastened by my knees’ bursitis.

  32. Hello, all. I went and voted as the closing act of my day, after work and my weekly brain-tenderizing session. One thing I like about my local polling place at the firehouse is that it’s pretty quiet. Clean, too.

    The only thing I was really stuck on was proposition #2 about changing the statutory duration of certain local officials’ terms of office. That one I had given next to no thought before showing up there.

    I’m choosing to imagine that we won’t really know anything solid until at least Friday as far as the big prize is concerned. I’m sure Prop. 1 here will pass quite comfortably and Gillibrand will be granted another six years, but I suppose it’s possible that the Ds might perhaps fail to run the table here this time.

    I agree with those of you who have that feeling of amiable resignation – it’s not such a bad place to be in mentally.

  33. VIRGINIA could flip to Trump.

    After the bottom of the hour, that’s my take as results come in. Kamala’s margin for Loudon Co in NOVA is only 1%. I see leas than 2% in VA. And 0.7% on FNC.

    Personally, I have Fox News on my TV with volume off, but I’m streaming rumble.com/bongino
    for Dan Bongino’s rapid commentary. Louder with Steve Crowder (big podcaster) has already been a guest, Mike Benz earlier, too. Plus, Julie Kelly, Evita, Savannah. Stimulating.

    The Mass Propaganda media messaging is being rejected. Thus, is Kamala over performing ANYWHERE? No sign of it yet.

  34. Ted Cruz called for Texas Senator!

    I’m watching Fox while practicing scales.

    Everyone should play guitar…

  35. It was raining heavily when I voted. I tried to throw some trash in the receptacle outside the door and a couple pieces blew out. A nice lady gave me some literature and said she would pick up my trash.

    After I filled out the ballot (there were a couple referenda I wasn’t aware of and tried to figure them out; should have checked the sample ballot earlier) I took the ballot to the tabulator. The lady there said she just needed to see the election judge’s initials on the corner, which showed her.

    I checked the ballot count, put my ballot in, and waited till it showed the count +1. Before I put it in, it seemed like the lady was looking at my ballot. But she seemed well intentioned, and I doubt she could do anything, even if she wanted to. They used to give privacy sleeves for the ballots; I should ask for one next time, and/or be more discreet holding the ballot.

    After I left, I looked at the literature and it was from the Democrat party.

  38. Steve:

    I never watched “The Odd Couple” but that was great as Roy Clark is great and for those who don’t know Roy Clark is in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

    There are so many effin’ great guitarists out there. I’ll never be able to touch the hems of their garments, but it’s a pleasure just to have some inkling of what they are up to.

  40. huxley, I have thought about the lute from time to time.

    Philip Sells:

    If so, I say go for it.

    Even though I can only sorta play scales, guitar is giving me great joy. I feel like my pulse drops five beats per minutes when I strap it on,

    I’m 72. I have no illusions that I’m ever going to amaze anybody. But I’m sure I can reach a level which I appreciate, though I know it will take years.

    French gave me the courage to take on this project.

  41. @ Cap’n Rusty > “Something big is happening and, regardless of the winner of the election, it isn’t going away.”

    Thanks for the link.

    I haven’t listened to Bill Whittle in a long time (can’t read/watch everything on the internet!!), but I was reminded of why I used to: he does a great job of analyzing why the election of Trump in 2016 was a repudiation of the Insider Aristocracy that reigned for nearly 40 years, and why a Harris win this year (I can’t even say “today” if some states are still counting!) will not stop the momentum of the Outsiders.
    He did as much as possible in 15 minutes, and a lot more could have been added to support his thesis.

  42. Looks like our pessimism was misplaced — but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to see how many vans of ballots were brought in overnight.

    It may not be enough, this time.
    https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/2024/General/President/

    I think I’ll just shift to “cautiously optimistic” – the numbers look pretty solid.

    NOTE: until ALL the “votes” are “counted,” the Decision Desk HQ is just projecting a Trump victory. The Democrats could still contest Trump’s wins in some states — wanna bet that it suddenly becomes patriotic to notice irregularities at the polls?

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