this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
119 points (96.1% liked)

politics

19336 readers
2628 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

A grassroots pro-democracy group led by a Republican former state senator is trying to build trust in elections by hosting forums in small towns throughout Wisconsin

Kim Pytleski could barely sleep the night before. She replayed the PowerPoint slides in her head, packed her notebook and took a deep breath.

The clerk from a rural Wisconsin county north of Green Bay was preparing for a public meeting to explain the election process to residents. She didn’t know who she would encounter. Would some deny the results of the last presidential election? Would the conversation get combative? Most importantly, would she get through to anyone?

They were questions Pytleski never expected to ask herself when she started the job in Oconto County more than 14 years ago. But since then, election conspiracy theories have taken root in the rural, heavily Republican county in northeastern Wisconsin. It's among large swaths of the country where distrust of voting and ballot-counting, fanned by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, maintains a stubborn grasp.

top 23 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] snekerpimp 50 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Hmmmm. Watching 24/7 “news” about how the election was stolen has degraded trust in the election process? Who knew?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

They also believe that they shouldn’t have to change tactics to more popular ideas despite being the minority. They think democracy is unfair whenever they don’t win.

[–] Sparlock 15 points 1 year ago

If they don't trust elections I wish they would stop taking the time to vote.

[–] NocturnalMorning 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, I saw the same things and I didn't once think the election was stolen.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Probably because you didn't want to believe hard enough in that lie.

[–] snekerpimp 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nice, did you watch it morning, noon and night?

[–] NocturnalMorning 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I tried, but the ending was already ruined for me so I stopped after the first 5 minutes.

[–] snekerpimp 2 points 1 year ago

You’re talking about the video, I’m talking about media in general

[–] hansl -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s never been about “who knew”. Everyone who was following knew.

But now what? Does hindsight give some deprogramming super power? Or are you here simply to feel snarkily superior to those rural area?

[–] snekerpimp 4 points 1 year ago

There is a whole bunch of assuming and projecting in this comment. This is a systemic problem, that affects everyone. And I would rather be snarky and sarcastic than bitter and angry.

[–] MyPornViewingAccount 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  • Be told repeatedly youre the "silent majority"

  • Somehow you never seems to win elections by majority

  • Only conclusion is its totally rigged against me!

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Republicans don't have any good policy ideas. They just run on hate of the "others" and tax cuts for the wealthy.

They can't win on that. They don't want a democracy if they can't win. So they want to rule us from a minority of people.

They are working hard to put laws and people into place to stop certain people from voting. Hope young people vote these Republican out before voting doesn't matter anymore.

I am old and vote every election for progressive and democratic people. We have already seen women's rights rolled back and the rights of the LGBTQ community. But I will be dead in 10 or 20 years. Hope I don't die in a Christian Nation.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Connie Streckenback, from Howard, a town of about 20,000 just outside Suamico, said she “saw cheating” while serving as a poll observer in the Green Bay area. For example, she said she saw over a dozen women register to vote with the same address. When she later drove by the building, she saw a single-family home.

You know what it's not your job to do as a poll observer? Driving by the addresses people register under.

Local officials offered possible explanations, such as that the women could have been roommates, but Streckenback, 59, remained convinced they could not have all lived in the same home.

“It was fraud,” she said. “Everyone was very nice, but people were acting like I was making a big deal out of nothing. ... I don’t believe the explanations.”

It is entirely possible that twelve people all have residence in the same single family home, depending on how many square feet the home is and how it is partitioned inside. It's also entirely possible that she was looking at the wrong building.

If you are a poll observer, it is your job to observe. If you see something that raises a concern, you should absolutely report that to someone who can arrange a proper investigation, where (if your concerns are shown to be valid) appropriate consequences can be applied.

Fucking idiots.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's also possible she is just lying. I'd say it It is likely that she is lying. I highly doubt twelve women registered to vote with the same address at the same time for this poll worker to observe.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

You can register to vote at the polling place on election day in Wisconsin. You must always provide a Proof of Residence document when registering to vote.

If there was actual voter fraud going on here, in a way for an individual poll observer to notice, the perpetrators would each have had to present their own fraudulent Proof of Residence document at the same polling place, on election day. Which means that someone would have to be both savvy enough to arrange for at least eleven people to commit voter fraud, while at the same time being so stupid as to have them all use the same single family home address, and all commit this fraud at the same place on the same day in front of the same poll observer, to the end of casting only eleven or twelve fraudulent votes.

I was clearly being far too generous in my first comment. It is far more likely that this poll observer is mistaken, insane, or lying - to the point of completely excluding the possibility of any actual voter fraud.

[–] Spacebar 13 points 1 year ago

She's exaggerating and lying.

[–] dragonflyteaparty 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is the exact same story that's been told for years about immigrants to justify racism. "These twelve kids list the same address as their house and the teacher drove by the address to find that no house existed. These kids are brown and must be illegal immigrants and are taking away from my children!"

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

The party that worked hard to sow distrust in elections is now wondering why its constituents don’t trust elections.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy."

-David Frum

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Conservative voters: *Reject participating in democratic elections.*

Conservative activists: Wait, no. Not like that.

[–] CADmonkey 4 points 1 year ago

And why should republicans have any faith in the election system? The CJ5 Jeep State will use their Druish Space Lasers to change the ballot as you slide it into the machine to show you've voted for the AOC/George Soros Forced Transition party. Might as well stay home, your vote won't matter.

[–] CharlesDarwin 2 points 1 year ago

Maybe if Republicans started changing their platform to one that actually appealed to majorities, instead of relying on dark money, voter suppression, gerrymandering and other dirty tricks, maybe they might have more confidence in elections?

Hey, just a thought.