Couch 124 - Discussions & more!

I came on pc and keep stepping into old post holes...where are all the current threads?

Knocked down to page 2, I think...it threw me off as well.

OK Election question as you guys vote tomoorrow, mostly. When you say you write someone in, what does that mean? Can you just write a random name on the ballot paper and submit it?

Yes you can write down any name you want. This is meant to allow people to run who didn't meet the deadline for getting on the ballot, or who didn't get enough signatures to get on the ballot. It also allows us to vote for Mickey Mouse and Arya Stark and so forth. Occasionally it is useful but mostly not.

It depends on the state. Most states require that a candidate registers to be a write-in candidate before a vote for him or her can count. Some allow any write in's to count.

That does not keep people from writing in whomever they want (Mickey Mouse appears often as a write in). It just doesn't get counted (unless it's a state that allows that--again, most do not).

eta: It can get even more complicated. For example, in my state it works like this: Write-in votes aren’t immediately counted. The write-in votes for president are collected and only counted if there appear to be enough to potentially change the outcome. State candidates (for state positions, such as legislators, governor, SOS) must register before they can be counted as write-ins, but presidential candidates don’t have to.

What's so hellacious in my state is that the ballot is full of initiatives that are written in ways that make your brain hurt. No one understands them. Example (totally made up): Initiative XYZ is regarding a tax exemption that is set to expire for people who buy pink houses, but repealing the expiration will cost X hundred million dollars to be paid by an increase in taxes on the sale of purple cars. Vote Yes to repeal the expiration of the exemption and raise taxes on purple car buyers. Vote No to maintain the expiration of the exemption. In this case, you have to figure out if the pink house buyers are money grubbing creeps or just regular people who need a break; and then, if they are for regular people who need a break, try to figure out which of the two options is going to help them keep their tax exemption. Usually, they are more complicated, where you have to vote opposite to what you want because of how it's written.

Thats what I thought, a wasted vote. Are these the same people who whinge when the **** hits proverbial? It is over here.

So it has valid political application.

Some people say they don't feel right voting for either major party (or the Green or Libertarian party) candidates. So they write someone in. Which is fine if someone is in a clearly red or blue state. But if you're in a swing state, I see it as a wasted vote. Which is one of the huge problems with the whole electoral college system...that a vote counts more in a swing state than a clear red or blue state. (I live in a pretty solidly blue state, incidentally. So in theory, I could vote for Mickey Mouse, but I choose not to.)

I can't find the article I read online listing them all, but in the Great Minnesota Recount of 2008, they got some great write-in votes, like Lizard People (that was discounted because people are plural and the race was for a single Senator).

Here's pictures of two very funny protest write-ins from that election.

I'm doing a write-in. I don't care if it counts, I'm doing it as a protest. We're all doomed anyway.

Oh, and BCM? The Electoral College does not have to follow the will of the people. They could theoretically elect anyone.

People in swing/safe states are vote swapping. And it's legal.

To me one candidate is clearly more horrible than the mediocre one. Just an opinion. Everyone has one I guess.

I actually can't tell the difference between the candidates. They're both corrupt and have mutable hair.*

* You have to remember the 90s to get that.

That last part is happening in my state where one has gone public, stating that he will not cast his electoral vote for either of the two main candidates.

Yeah, I read about that--unfortunately, after I'd already early voted.

Wow, really? I guess I didn't realize they could do that. I know the delegates can do that at the Democratic and Republican conventions. But didn't know it could happen in the Electoral College too...

Yup, the Founders actually designed it so it wouldn't produce clear winners and the election would be sent to Congress. That didn't work out so well.

The Founders didn't like my favorite new word: ochlocracy! (Mob rule.)

I though that meant the football player Ocho Cinco chooses the next president.

Is that anything like non-performing hair?

It's more like having small hands.

What a weekend I had!! Too much drama and issues to try and think about dealing with! I spent most of it "away" and kind of found myself Sunday.

My time with my counselor tonight was good. I'm not sure I was all there but tomorrow will tell. It was productive from my perspective right now.

Usually when I come home, I'm writing in my journal the thoughts that I have after talking with him. Tonight it seems like they are confused or blocked. I couldn't get to them.

I found my happy place and wanted to share my newest, most favorite one yet!! I hope it's inviting to someone to rest your thoughts.

Just looking at an describing some of the parts stirred up a whole lot of things. I described a swirling just off the boil part, an annoyed part who seemed to want us to stop and an angry part (the shouty one) I was annoyed at the beginning because T wouldn't give me examples of what the parts looked like, then at the end he said that he did not know what the first two parts were whether they were exiles or managers but said the last part was definitely a manager. I have reading to do about the parts.

TR I always love your photos.

The Supreme Court would probably strike that down. Failing that, who has the support of the army?

After brexit I really feel as though anything could happen and it makes me sick to my stomach. Both campaigns have been built on lies and mudslinging and both campaigns had one unsatisfactory choice and one insane choice. And I never ever thought the UK would pick the insane choice but it did. It's very scary.

For some reason i am really taken by or drawn to the little crushed stone paths in these gardens. I guess because i am trying to hew to my path.

Boy i hope i used that right!