ElDiablo wrote:Hilary should make him her running mate.

Macdoc wrote:

http://usuncut.com/politics/5-examples-voter-suppression-arizona-primary/

no better proof of the US abandoning democracy. We vote an entire nation of 32 million in a period of a 18 hours across 5 times zones.

And Australia votes EVERY SINGLE PERSON OF VOTING AGE in about the same time period across 4 time zones( voting is mandatory ).

What the fuck is wrong with you guys

The waits were so long that at least one Halifax couple decided not to cast their ballots.
"I've never, ever seen it this bad," Donald Lawson told CTV Atlantic. "You get fed up."
"We've been standing there waiting for 10 minutes," Lawson's wife, Shirley Lawson, said. "We're in our 80s. It's ridiculous."

I doubt you have more functional illiterates per capita in Canada or Australia

proudfootz wrote:

ElDiablo wrote:Hilary should make him her running mate.

Vice President is pretty much a dead end job.

Nothing in it for Sanders.

Unless Clinton was willing to share the limelight and treat him like a Co-President.

Oldskeptic wrote:

proudfootz wrote:

ElDiablo wrote:Hilary should make him her running mate.

Vice President is pretty much a dead end job.

Nothing in it for Sanders.

Unless Clinton was willing to share the limelight and treat him like a Co-President.

I took ElDiablo to mean Julian Castro, and I would agree with that. There really is no better choice that I'm aware of, other than his twin brother maybe.

FRIDAY, MAR 25, 2016 03:37 AM AEST
What happened in Arizona wasn’t an accident: When states make voting impossible, it’s for a very clear reason
Arizona residents were forced to wait hours on line in order to vote in this week's primary. Some were turned away. VIDEO

Once again, an American election was unnecessarily thwarted by long lines and not enough ballots. To say there’s no excuse for such nonsense, especially in a nation that prides itself on its representative democracy and, yes, its exceptionalism, is understating the problem. This time around, it happened during the Arizona primary where countless voters were forced to stand in lines for hours, while others were told they weren’t registered in the first place.

In Maricopa County alone, election officials infuriatingly reduced the number of polling places by 70 percent. Such a drastic reduction meant there was only one polling place per 21,000 residents of the highly populated Phoenix metroplex. Officials including County Recorder Helen Purcell (a Republican) said the cutbacks were due to budgetary concerns. Uh-huh. Of course, I doubt members of either party who were forced to wait in five-hour lines would’ve minded the additional expense to facilitate our most basic right as Americans. Elsewhere, independent voters who switched their registration to the Democratic Party were allegedly told they hadn’t registered at all, forcing them to sit out the closed primary.

It’s yet another example of why the federal government should take over the election process. Local and state officials are clearly in too far over their heads to handle a task of this magnitude, as evidenced by the reality that every time we hold an election in this country, one numbskull or another flummoxes the whole thing — intentionally or not.

“Intentionally” is an appropriate word here since many of the electoral shenanigans at the state level are, indeed, intentional.

Voter ID laws and punitive voter purges have been the centerpieces of a Republican strategy to rig modern elections. Republicans in nearly half of all states have managed to pass laws that make it more difficult for lower-income Democratic voters to cast ballots, forcing former Attorney General Eric Holder to compare such measures to the poll taxes used in the Jim Crow-era South in order to suppress the Black vote.. This is absolutely by design, even if some Republicans are caught in the meat grinder, too. The lower the turnout, the better Republicans fare in elections, so while voter ID laws tend to disenfranchise Democrats, the intention is more specifically to elect Republicans.

Thirty-three states boast one form of voter ID or another. Texas has perhaps the most ridiculous such law. If you don’t have one of the required forms of identification in the Lone Star State, you’ll have to apply for an Election Identification Certificate (EIC). But in order to get an EIC, you have to present your proof of citizenship and a second form of identification. Yes, that’s right, you’ll need to get an ID in order to get an ID — one of many reasons why this law is so completely absurd. And all of this on top of the normal voter registration process (which only requires a Social Security Number). If you don’t have a mandatory ID issued by the TxDPS (Texas Department of Public Safety), it might be because 70 counties don’t have a TxDPS office.

The GOP excuse for these laws? It’s voter fraud, they say. But how often do voters attempt to scam the system? Among all federal elections between 2002 and 2005, the rate of voter fraud was 0.00000013 percent. This according to a five-year probe by George W. Bush’s Justice Department. Put another way, around 26 people out of 197 million were convicted of attempting to vote illegally during all of those elections.

proudfootz wrote:

Oldskeptic wrote:

proudfootz wrote:

ElDiablo wrote:Hilary should make him her running mate.

Vice President is pretty much a dead end job.

Nothing in it for Sanders.

Unless Clinton was willing to share the limelight and treat him like a Co-President.

I took ElDiablo to mean Julian Castro, and I would agree with that. There really is no better choice that I'm aware of, other than his twin brother maybe.

D'oh!

Yes, the Vice Presidency is considered a good job for a younger person who might want to run for President on their own some day.

It worked for Bush the Elder!

Elsewhere, independent voters who switched their registration to the Democratic Party were allegedly told they hadn’t registered at all, forcing them to sit out the closed primary.

It’s yet another example of why the federal government should take over the election process. Local and state officials are clearly in too far over their heads to handle a task of this magnitude,

ElDiablo wrote:

proudfootz wrote:

Oldskeptic wrote:

proudfootz wrote:

Vice President is pretty much a dead end job.

Nothing in it for Sanders.

Unless Clinton was willing to share the limelight and treat him like a Co-President.

I took ElDiablo to mean Julian Castro, and I would agree with that. There really is no better choice that I'm aware of, other than his twin brother maybe.

D'oh!

Yes, the Vice Presidency is considered a good job for a younger person who might want to run for President on their own some day.

It worked for Bush the Elder!

You were right Proudfootz, I meant Sanders. I'm not looking at how it would benefit Sanders' career, but how this unification may improve the Democratic Party's image and get those who are disheartened by Hilary out to vote in the general election.

laklak wrote:Bernie ain't a pimple on Fidel's arse. Fidel once talked nonstop for 7 hours and 10 minutes, at the Party Congress in 1986. Bernie can't stay awake that long.

Columbus wrote:

Elsewhere, independent voters who switched their registration to the Democratic Party were allegedly told they hadn’t registered at all, forcing them to sit out the closed primary.

It’s yet another example of why the federal government should take over the election process. Local and state officials are clearly in too far over their heads to handle a task of this magnitude,

People seem generally to misunderstand the nature and purpose of the primaries. The political parties are not government agencies. They are private concerns, more like a PAC. They serve several purposes, but exist to get wealth and power for the investors, not "do the right thing".

For one, they are very profitable, mainly for the media. Not just the billions spent on the political ads. Also the exciting news that draws consumers to the other ads, like for investment banking, hamburgers, and cars. And the audience conveniently divide themselves by demographic as a rule.

For another thing, they present big barriers to opposition view points. The Libertarians, Greens, Constitutionalists, Communists, and every other party has to match the funding and ad buying in order to be viable.

For a third, they support the notion that the parties are official agencies and are eternal or something. Like they're in the Constitution or something, instead of private organizations devoted to acquisition of wealth and power. They are not at all democratic.

The bottom line is that disappointed primary voters are like folks in line at a popular restaurant. They have no right to be seated or alter the menu. The owners have the right to do anything that they want. The customers are free to go elsewhere, but that is it.

I'm not saying that this is a good way to do things. I'm just being realistic about the system.

Tom

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GT2211 wrote:Bad news for Bern he is still 200 delegates down and the schedule is about to turn back to HRC after Wisconsin.

Willie71 wrote:

GT2211 wrote:Bad news for Bern he is still 200 delegates down and the schedule is about to turn back to HRC after Wisconsin.

How do you figure?