The midterms are going to be a shit show. Fascists ain't gonna let America vote their way out of this. They know they're getting destroyed at the ballot box so they'll be doing everything possible. I have a deep pit in my stomach that it's going to be... very bad. I'll just say that.
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism; they will abandon democracy."
-
David Frum
~ Michael Scott
Wouldn’t be shocked if we were at war with Iran by then.
Do you mean Venezuela? They're trying hard to provoke Maduro to respond militarily. If he doesn't, they'll just "Operation Northwoods" it to justify going to "war" so he can cancel elections "temporarily". Fuck this is such a dark timeline.
I have a house in the woods if anyone wants to come hang out for fifty years.
I saw this movie...they never make it out of the dungeon. I'm all good thanks
I don't think the "don't change horse mid-stream" argument would help much with Trump. Pretty sure only his base believes he has a spine enough to lead through a significant conflict.
Now that's just cynical.
They'll just invalidate the ones from the places that vote democrat.
It could happen stochastically even, you just need Postmasters who are right leaning in purple districts to sit on mail in ballots or plant managers to temporarily loose (set aside) ballots from whatever zip codes they don't like.
I don't think they even have to invalidate anything. Just report different totals to get the results they want.
States regulate election laws. States with good election laws will change them to nullify this. The other states will continue to do what they do
If the postmark only exists as the “delayed” date, what can the state laws do to nullify this fuckery?
If states write laws to say “ballots can be up to X days late” Team Pedophile is going to tie that up in the courts using that language as a lever.
The USPS response to criticism that people and agencies rely on the post mark was "we'll focus on trying to teach you to stop using it wrong then."
In Washington State the response has been to encourage the use of official drop boxes instead. Some counties put signs near postal boxes telling people not to use it and telling where the nearest drop box is once election day approaches.
But it will absolutely result in more late ballots.
There have been attempts by the alt right to put up official looking drop boxes in, let's say, urban areas.
Let's stop pretending this is about drop boxes and postmarks and call this what it is: voter suppression.
I think it's absolutely going to disenfranchise some people, and for some that's a welcome side effect, but I've seen these trends with the post office long enough to believe that's just a secondary effect.
There's been an effort for years to make the post office more profitable by centralizing things more and more and that means downsizing local offices and centralizing processing. That means nothing gets processed until it gets to a regional facility.
I think the issue is not that they are doing this specifically to disenfranchise voters so much as they don't care that it does.
the whole "make the postal service profitable" is such a bonkers way of thinking about it too. its a service that i fund by paying taxes and i get cheap mail service. who would get the profit anyway?
There is a stupid conservative line of thinking that government services should fund themselves and turn a profit so that taxes don't have to be used.
Perfectly acceptable when you suggest the post office but you suggest the Army hold bake sales to fund their tanks and everyone loses their fucking minds.
Did nobody consider taxes and voting? Of course they did. Someone in that organization knew exactly what would happen.
Then you're just going to see signs directing people to unofficial drop boxes...
Walk into the post office and ask them to postmark your ballot by hand.
This. I had to mail off a bunch of business registration stuff yesterday. I asked the post office guy about this and that is exactly what he told me. He pulled out his stamp and dated it.
I thought this change is that the date is marked by a regional processing machine, instead of at the local post office?
Yes, but no. Previously mail was postmarked locally because it was processed locally. Now they have gotten rid of local processing and it all gets first processed at a regional hub. However you could always have it postmarked at the desk to be absolutely sure it happens on the day you mailed it.
So you can still ask for a manual postmark at the office you drop it off at and it will override whatever date it gets regionally processed.
Hope this still abides come November...
Is this any different from dropping a ballot off at your election office, i.e. handing to a clerk or an office drop box?
Only in that you can mail you ballot months ahead of election day. I don't believe most polling sites are open and accepting ballots quite as far in advance.
How is that different than voting in-person?
Well, a lot of ways. You do it at the post office rather than at a polling place - this may be a critical difference for populations routinely underserved by few polling places with long lines. You can also submit a ballot that you carefully filled out at home with all your research materials next to you.
It’s pretty obviously different. But I think what you are really saying is “I don’t want to have to go anywhere further than my own mailbox to vote.” And I’ll grant you it is less convenient than that. I know convenience always makes a difference, and for some people is actually more like accessibility. But if voting takes a little effort… just do it. I always drop mine off at my polling place rather than mail it. I like the ritual.
When you get to rural areas where traveling is an issue for voters, you tend to have more voting locations than post offices.
I live in a more rural area, and I've got 8 places in my county I can vote (2 city halls, 3 churches, 2 volunteer fire stations, and a social club). We have 2 post offices in the same area.
Are you allowed to vote in any of those locations? I'm only allowed to vote by mail or at a single designated location (the local high school). Other voting locations exist for people in other voting zones.
I can vote anywhere in the county. Ballots for all elections within the county are available at all polling locations, and I'm given the appropriate one for where I live when I show up to vote.
Different than the person you responded to - as an adult I’ve lived in 3 states, in metropolitan areas, and the rule has always been that you must show up to exactly the polling location assigned to you. People at that location and that location only have your name on a list that they use to verify your voter registration.
In one of the cities, you could go to the election clerk’s office to receive a provisional ballot that would be counted only if they verified that a ballot was not cast in your name at your assigned polling location.
Oh, and the assigned polling place moves almost every election.
Editing to add: You often have to know what ward you represent, because the ballots can differ by ward and they combine several wards into one polling location. If you don’t know your ward (and the election folks aren’t nice), you have to wait in line for each ward until you accidentally find the person with your name in their book. (Each book represents a ward.)
If you don’t know your ward (and the election folks aren’t nice), you have to wait in line for each ward until you accidentally find the person with your name in their book. (Each book represents a ward.)
Ooof. Here, they have posters with listings of street names, saying something like
- Leaf Street. Odd Numbers. district 2
- Leaf Street. Even Numbers. district 1
- Main Street. 1-250. district 1
Yes, that's literally why they're doing this
Vote in person if possible.
This is exactly what they want. Oh if you are so worried about it, just vote in person. The stats are clear on what happens here. Your comment on the internet doesn't make up for the huge decline in voter turnout if you take away mail in voting and in person voting leans strongly in favor of the American fascist party.
A fuck it, I'll just vote in person attitude will never generalize beyond the strong statistical favor of the fascists. It's not the right answer. The answer is fight, fight fight. Protest outside your post office. Write your local representatives about your concerns. Be a polite asshole in the post office and demand your mail gets marked. Not just your mail in ballot. Do it with a letter to your grandmother or a vulgar postcard to your landlord.
Don't roll over on this.
Yeah nah go vote in person. Who cares what they want. Get up and go do it, and go do better than 60% for once in your elections.
You know you did it for sure then.
You wanna talk about turning up in numbers? Turn up to vote. If you’d done that from the outset for primaries and general elections, every election that requires voting including local boards, you wouldn’t be here.
This is a guaranteed failure strategy. The number of people that will go and vote in person due to losing the postmark <<<<<< the number of democratic votes lost due to losing reliable postmarking.
Doing the right thing is about understanding statistics and fighting the right fights. It's a huge loss to further weaken mail in votes. A turn your nose up, screw you guys I'll just go vote in person doesn't move the needle. Republicans understand that systemic nudges are far more powerful than pitches for passionate action.
the number of…
If so, and I’ll take your word for it here, that just reflects how lazy the population is.
Are you seriously trying to tell me mail in voting is a more reliable way of turning out to vote than in person? Well, maybe I guess, if you factor in the case the US uses voting machines owned py private individuals.
The United States deserves this president, for their greed, apathy and laziness in neglecting to vote. Get off your fuckin arses, if you can, and get to the polling booth.
Twenty years you’ve been warned and you still can’t listen. You truly deserve this government.
Are you seriously trying to tell me mail in voting is a more reliable way of turning out to vote than in person?
Yes, Overwhelmingly.
If that’s truly the case, they really have problems and it’s no surprise that they have the president and government they do.
What is this based on? That more people in that country vote by mail than in person? Those lazy motherfuckers.
What a fuckin shit show. They deserve tge president and government they have. For this, their apathy and their privately owned voting machines.
He’ll be president next term too, if he lives that long. Those clowns can’t stop him. They can’t even get up to vote.
I'm not trying to tell you that. There is clear data that shows this.
Also get off your arse and vote is as effective as telling meth addicts to stop doing meth or telling teens to practice abstinence to avoid teen pregnancy. The results of this method are also already known.
Shows what? That you’re all too lazy to get up and vote?
Like I said, you deserve this president. Get off your arses and do something.
60% turnout, ay? I don’t think it matters, you’re all too lazy and apathetic to do it.
or you can just drop off the completed ballot to a verified official polling station, they are all over the place blue states. might be more difficult in red states.
We don’t have voting in person in my area anymore . Also I think mail in ballots are more accurate because those machines owned by facists aren’t trustworthy
thats why the machine dominated red counties as the sole source of the way they vote.
¡Siempre!