Why is the MAGA movement so susceptible to crazy conspiracy theories?

[webfact]

Florida to recount ballots by hand in tight U.S. Senate race

By Letitia Stein

 

FILE PHOTO: Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) smiles in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 3, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

 

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - Florida election officials on Thursday ordered a hand recount of ballots in a closely fought U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson and his Republican challenger, Governor Rick Scott.

 

Nelson trailed Scott by about 12,600 votes, or 0.15 percent of the more than 8 million ballots cast following an electronic recount.

 

Under state law, the Florida Department of State must trigger a manual recount if an electronic recount of ballots finds a margin of victory of less than 0.25 percent.

 

Elections officials were expected to inspect by hand any ballots that were designated undervotes or overvotes, cases where the machine that reviewed the ballot concluded that a voter had skipped a contest or marked more than one selection.

 

If the voter's intentions are clear on review by a person, the ballot could be counted.

 

The order came after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee, Florida, cleared the way to include ballots from as many as 5,000 people across the state who submitted ballots by mail that were rejected by election officials. A Georgia federal judge issued a similar ruling as that state worked to resolve a close governor's race.

 

In Florida, the recount of close races and attendant legal disputes over the validity of votes have stirred memories of the 2000 U.S. presidential election, when the U.S. Supreme Court stopped an ongoing recount in the state and sent George W. Bush to the White House.

 

State election officials said the machine recount of ballots in the governor's race pitting Republican Ron DeSantis against Democrat Andrew Gillum showed DeSantis with an 0.41 percentage point lead, below the threshold to trigger a manual recount.

 

Gillum signalled that he had not yet given up.

 

"A vote denied is justice denied — the State of Florida must count every legally cast vote," Gillum said in a statement after the machine recount concluded. "We plan to do all we can to ensure that every voice is heard in this process."

 

The Scott campaign in a statement called on Nelson to concede.

 

"Last week, Florida voters elected me as their next U.S. Senator and now the ballots have been counted twice," Scott said in a statement.

 

Overall control of the U.S. Senate is not at stake in the Florida race. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans extended their majority in the chamber while Democrats took a majority in the House of Representatives. But both the Senate and governor's races are being closely scrutinized as Florida is traditionally a key swing state in presidential elections.

 

'LAUGHING STOCK'

Walker grew testy during a series of Thursday hearings about lawsuits over the recounts, voicing frustration about how to handle uneven progress in different counties and also the Florida legislature's response to historic election problems.

 

"We have been the laughing stock of the world election after election," Walker said. "But we've still chosen not to fix this."

 

Separately, a federal judge in Georgia ordered state election officials to count some previously rejected ballots in that state's governor's race, where ballots are still being tallied but Republican former Secretary of State Brian Kemp has declared victory over Democrat Stacey Abrams.

 

This year's campaigns went down as the most expensive midterm elections in U.S. history, with some $5.25 billion spent on advertising, up 78 percent from the last midterm elections in 2014, according to a Kantar Media analysis released on Thursday. Spending was 20 percent higher than the 2016 presidential election.

 

(Reporting by Letitia Stein, writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-16

[bluesofa]

24 minutes ago, webfact said:

election officials on Thursday ordered a hand recount of ballots

Crikey, whatever next? Going back to reading books made from wood?

[pgrahmm]

The US is long ovedue for election reform.....

When felons, dead people, illegals, 10-20% over the actual registered voter tally takes place.....Ballot boxes misplaced/lost/found/ discovered....

Machines videoed changing votes.....

The will of the people is eclipsed.....

[stevenl]

18 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

The US is long ovedue for election reform.....

When felons, dead people, illegals, 10-20% over the actual registered voter tally takes place.....Ballot boxes misplaced/lost/found/ discovered....

Machines videoed changing votes.....

The will of the people is eclipsed.....

Time to check your facts.

[1337markus]

 

"We have been the laughing stock of the world election after election," Walker said. "But we've still chosen not to fix this."

 

So true, it started before the election, ????

[pgrahmm]

[Tug]

Some posters are unincumbered by facts much like our president lol

[mikebike]

4 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

Nice try but that number was debunked 2 months BEFORE the election. There are 3,704 registered voters in that precinct.

 

https://nowhabersham.com/county-election-supervisor-says-typo-misrepresented-number-of-voters/

[bristolboy]

6 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

This so-called item from msn news is fake. It's a lie. And you just swallowed it without even bothering to fact check it.

Here's the real story:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/georgia-election-ballot-error-dan-gasaway-district-legislature-habersham-county/index.html

And by the way, it the Republican who just won the governorship who has consistently opposed paper backups and anti vote hacking measures.

[pgrahmm]

15 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

This so-called item from msn news is fake. It's a lie. And you just swallowed it without even bothering to fact check it.

Here's the real story:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/georgia-election-ballot-error-dan-gasaway-district-legislature-habersham-county/index.html

And by the way, it the Republican who just won the governorship who has consistently opposed paper backups and anti vote hacking measures.

Hey if msm says it, it must be correct - right =sarcasm....

 

Thanks for the info - regardless of who wins or loses it's pretty clear that many irregularities are taking place & tainting the results throughout the nation.....

 

Georgia seems to be only one example of a much larger picture.....Lot's of manipulations going on out there....

[bristolboy]

7 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

Hey if msm says it, it must be correct - right =sarcasm....

 

Thanks for the info - regardless of who wins or loses it's pretty clear that many irregularities are taking place & tainting the results throughout the nation.....

 

Georgia seems to be only one example of a much larger picture.....Lot's of manipulations going on out there....

Don't you get it? Msn.com never made such a post. It was fabricated. But instead of mistrusting the fake news source that you got it from, somehow in your twisted reasoning you blame the MSM. Sad

[pgrahmm]

8 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Don't you get it? Msn.com never made such a post. It was fabricated. But instead of mistrusting the fake news source that you got it from, somehow in your twisted reasoning you blame the MSM. Sad

Listen - I thanked you for the correct information....This did show up as an MSM story - but it was my error not to double check it.....I made the MSM remark jokingly.....

 

You got that much?

 

 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Crikey, whatever next? Going back to reading books made from wood?

Manual recount - It's mandated by law.

[Nigel Garvie]

Looking in on this electoral circus from afar, I understand that the Democrats managed to elect 6 scientists, the Republicans replied with 3 Felons and a dead pimp, Says it all really!

????????????

 

How on earth does any country claiming to be a Democracy have a state (Georgia) where the man overseeing the election is also standing for election, that's a joke Democracy. Maybe felons should be allowed to judge themselves. 

[Suradit69]

2 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

 

Georgia seems to be only one example of a much larger picture.....Lot's of manipulations going on out there....

So your sole source for making this assertion was based on a fake news item, but you're still claiming in some vague way this fabricated sort of voter fraud is rampant ... based on what? Fox News?

 

Yes there are undoubtedly  screw ups at polling places and there are attempts at manipulating the minds of voters ... such as by producing fake news items that the gullible swallow whole ... but the notion that massive numbers of people are voting more than once or who vote by using fake ID or who sneak across the border into the US to vote  has so far failed to be proved.

 

On the other hand gerrymandering of districts and barriers to voter registration have been part of the political swamp since voting became a thing in the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Suradit69

[Suradit69]

1 hour ago, Nigel Garvie said:

How on earth does any country claiming to be a Democracy have a state (Georgia) where the man overseeing the election is also standing for election, that's a joke Democracy. Maybe felons should be allowed to judge themselves.

"Maybe felons should be allowed to judge themselves."

 

Well in one sense they do. It isn't a coincidence that billionaire bankers and company CEO's steal millions and are judged blameless while others further down the food chain go directly to jail for minor offences.

 

One judge was taking kickbacks from a privately run juvenile detention center because they wanted him to keep their jail cells filled.

 

Quote

Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, sent kids to juvenile detention for crimes such as possession of drug paraphernalia, stealing a jar of nutmeg and posting web page spoofs about an assistant principal (3 months of hard time). 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2011/08/12/pennsylvania-judge-gets-life-sentence-for-prison-kickback-scheme/#39b720ad4aef

 

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2018 by Suradit69

[Nigel Garvie]

46 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

"Maybe felons should be allowed to judge themselves."

 

Well in one sense they do. It isn't a coincidence that billionaire bankers and company CEO's steal millions and are judged blameless while others further down the food chain go directly to jail for minor offences.

 

One judge was taking kickbacks from a privately run juvenile detention center because they wanted him to keep their jail cells filled.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2011/08/12/pennsylvania-judge-gets-life-sentence-for-prison-kickback-scheme/#39b720ad4aef

 

 

 

 

In the UK we have managed to follow the US's shining example. The notorious G4S, the world's largest security contractor, was "temporarily relieved of responsibility for running HMP Birmingham amongst many other scandals to hit the company". Why on earth do we have to privatize prisons and the health service? Surely there has to be some point, at which we realize, that there are things like these that any decent society does not attempt to make a profit from.

[heybruce]

7 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

 

7 hours ago, bristolboy said:

This so-called item from msn news is fake. It's a lie. And you just swallowed it without even bothering to fact check it.

Here's the real story:

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/georgia-election-ballot-error-dan-gasaway-district-legislature-habersham-county/index.html

And by the way, it the Republican who just won the governorship who has consistently opposed paper backups and anti vote hacking measures.

A fine example of why Facebook should not be used as a news source.

[pgrahmm]

18 minutes ago, heybruce said:

 

A fine example of why Facebook should not be used as a news source.

It wasn't - Google search....

[mikebike]

8 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

It wasn't - Google search....

What is scary is that when I search msn.com for the article you posted... it's not there. Something weird going on. Unless I'm an idiot, which is a possibility!!

[lannarebirth]

6 hours ago, Nigel Garvie said:

Looking in on this electoral circus from afar, I understand that the Democrats managed to elect 6 scientists, the Republicans replied with 3 Felons and a dead pimp, Says it all really!

????????????

 

How on earth does any country claiming to be a Democracy have a state (Georgia) where the man overseeing the election is also standing for election, that's a joke Democracy. Maybe felons should be allowed to judge themselves. 

Every time a Secretary of State runs for re-election they oversee the election. That's their job description.

[mikebike]

9 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

Every time a Secretary of State runs for re-election they oversee the election. That's their job description.

I have no idea about this, yet would think that the ethical ones would recuse themselves from that duty for the course of their own re-election if there was no law requiring them to do so.

 

[lannarebirth]

4 minutes ago, mikebike said:

I have no idea about this, yet would think that the ethical ones would recuse themselves from that duty for the course of their own re-election if there was no law requiring them to do so.

 

 

Quote

The duties of the position are generally administrative in nature, and no two states have identical responsibilities delegated to the secretary of state. Many are tasked with keeping state records, from registering businesses to recording the official acts of the governor. The officeholder also often serves as the chief election official in their state, administering state elections and maintaining official election results. 

https://ballotpedia.org/Secretary_of_State_(state_executive_office)

 

[mikebike]

5 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

https://ballotpedia.org/Secretary_of_State_(state_executive_office)

 

Yes I understand the position. What does that have to do with ethics?

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, mikebike said:

Yes I understand the position. What does that have to do with ethics?

 

You seem to have a misunderstanding of ethics in this case, You seem to think that having ethics implies a SOS should recuse themselves from overseeing their own election. IMO, ethical behaviour implies that an SOS should show the same non favoritism to their own political race as they do every other.

 

Having ethics is like being virtuous. It is measured by the things you don't do, that you could do, but you know you shouldn't do.