Still counting votes?




The presidential election took place on November 6th and it is November 18th and we are still counting votes. This is really embarrassing to be still counting votes almost two weeks later. It is not only the presidental election that has ramifications in this election either, it is also the House and the Senate. We already know who won the presidential election because luckily it was not close and didn't come down to the state of Arizona where they were counting votes a week late. It makes the system less trustworthy and the American bureaucracies are already losing more and more trust by the day. "As of April 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (21%). Last year, 16% said they trusted the government just about always or most of the time, which was among the lowest measures in nearly seven decades of polling." (Pew Research). This does not help the cause or increase trust in our systems. Trump was leading the popular vote by a much larger margin and the House seats have yet to be called. I ofcourse want every vote counted, but it is unacceptable to have it drag on like this.  The states are the ones to blame for this of course, but it should be a federal mandate to have votes counted on time. Florida, one of the biggest states by population in the country had their votes counted two or three hours after the polls closed. "In the 2020 presidential election, Florida reported the results within a few hours of poll close of more than 99% of ballots cast. In California, almost one-third of ballots were uncounted after election night. The state was making almost daily updates to its count through Dec. 3, a full month after Election Day." (AP) It is mind blowing to see a state like Arizona take their sweet time in tabulation, while Florida can efficiently count at a much higher per-capita rate. We will see if their is any change on how election day is done and whether the House, if it ever gets in session, does to tackle the issue. 


https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/

https://apnews.com/article/election-california-wait-times-vote-count-florida-170cb591062f8fad8f619b2cc02ff3e7

Comments

  1. Aislinn PendergastNovember 21, 2024 at 1:40 PM

    Hey! You bring up some really valid frustrations when it comes to the extended vote-counting process and its impact on public trust in the system. It's true that states like Florida have proved efficiency in vote tabulation, which raises questions about why other states like Arizona take longer. However, I do think it's important to consider that different states have unique election laws and procedures that can affect the speed of counting, especially with things like mail-in ballots. While a federal mandate might help standardize the process, it could also create concerns about states' rights. Accuracy should also be the priority, even if it takes extra time.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the media hide Biden's mental decline?

Image
As we all all know now in September 2024, President Biden has dropped out of the race. However, was it a shock or was it expected? Some would say it was a shock because of what the media outlets, (Joe Scarborough) were saying about Biden.  "No, I just always told people that he's — the president is very sharp. If you say something or write something, there have been times he’s called and he’s refuted it very sharply. I’ve talked to foreign leaders that have had conversations with him that said that he was on top of every issue," ( Scarborough Says Biden ‘Is So Sharp’). If one would have listened to Joe Scarborough's analysis on President Biden, maybe it was a shock to see the president in such decline on the debate stage. However, it wasn't just Scarborough pushing Biden's excelling mental fitness, it was also Kamala Harris. Harris had this to say when Special Counsel Robert Hur's reporting broke about Biden's mental fitness " gratuitous, inaccur...
Read more

Supreme Court Chaos

Image
  With the election lose looming over the democrats heads, they have decided to pursue one more piece of progress before Biden leaves The White House. There have been grumblings of 70 year old Sonya Sotomayor leaving her position on the Supreme Court bench, so they can replace her with a younger democrat. Justice Sotomayor says she is not willing to step down, however, leaving panic within the democratic coalition. Technically it is not right to bully a Scotus judge off the bench for partisan politics, but it is being tried. They are comparing the potential seat swap to Trump's appointment of Amy Coney Barret, but she was replaced because of an actual vacancy. It can be argued that the process was rushed and possibly not right, but not comparable to the current scenario with no vacancy.  Forcing out Sotomayor, assuming she would agree to go, could be politically risky, and a successful confirmation before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, logistically impossible. Those re...
Read more

Debate week: How has the coverage been for each candidate?

Image
 It is the first debate between Harris and Trump for the 2024 election. Harris has been the candidate for about a month and some change, while Trump has been the expected nominee since before the primary. ABC will be hosting this debate and some interesting research has been conducted on how they treat Harris V Trump. " A new study by the Media Research Center finds that, of the Big Three evening newscasts, ABC’s  World News Tonight  — run by debate moderator David Muir — has been the most positive towards Harris and the most hostile to Trump" (Noyes).   This research comes out 2 days before the debate. David Muir, who hosts the nightly news on ABC will host this debate. His coverage included 25 clearly positive statements for Harris and her campaign, while Trump received 5 clearly positive comments and 66 negative. That is a 100% positivity rate for Harris and a 7% positivity rate for Trump. This does not include no negativity, however, just not from the media mouth...
Read more