House will not seat a North Carolina Republican amid questions about integrity of election

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: DexterRiley

Christ.

Why bother even voting any more.

SMGDH

Politics is basically a power game. Both sides try to pursue every avenue of victory, regardless of the ethics. The party in power will use every trick in the book to stay in power and further expand its control.

It appears to me that there are good arguments for, and against, ballot harvesting. If the ballot harvesters worked across party lines and canvassed everyone, regardless of political affiliation, that would be a step in the right direction. Having volunteer teams consisting of both Republicans and Democrats would allow the two sides to provide checks and balances for one another.

I think our election system is still mostly functional. But as the political operatives employ more technology and more efficient data mining, as well as unethical or illegal practices, that system's integrity will suffer. And, I believe that the integrity of our election system is an issue that transcends partisanship. Our elections are the cornerstone of our democracy.

-dex

a reply to: TheRedneck

I personally have a bit of a prejudice against anyone who dares claim they oppose seating an official duly elected by the people;

One of the only things you and I have agreed on in a long time.

The thing is, in this case, the word 'DULY' is doing all the work. Was he 'duly' elected or not - we just don't know.

And the REPUBLICANS who have been screaming about "in person voter fraud", and inventing stupid stories about busing illegal voters across state lines, are now demanding that we ignore actual outright, obvious, Election Fraud. The NC GOP is insisting that the benefactor of that fraud be certified and seated regardless.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: DexterRiley

Christ.

Why bother even voting any more.

SMGDH

Sadly, too many voters don't care if the Democrat view of Justice is: Guilty Until Proven Innocent, if you're a REPUBLICAN.

But for DEMOCRATS - In Minnesota, the state legislature is seating Keith Ellison as the elected Attorney General, even though he assaulted (cut and bruised) his girlfriend this year.

originally posted by: network dude

www.wsoctv.com...

Check out that article. There was some shady stuff found and it's not clear what the truth is yet. It's a close race, like 900 votes, and with allegations of voter fraud, it should be investigated before finalized. Even though this is a republican being accused of the fraud.

This area is very rural, largest industry is hogs and chickens.

It's also the next county over from me, so a little embarrassing.

This is NOT voter fraud. It isn't a guy who knows he isn't eligible voting anyway, or voting for his dead grandmother.

This is ELECTION FRAUD. This is an organized crime organization seeking to change the outcome of the election, an organization that has used the exact same methodology in several elections and whose services and methodology was well known to the candidates that employed them as 'consultants' or whatever.

They payed accomplices to perform illegal acts such as stealing unmarked ballots and marking them for their candidate, and destroying ballots already marked against their candidate, and getting access to preliminary results before the polls close so they know exactly how many votes they need to turn.

And these guys (or their partners in crime) have probably been operating in your county as well. If I were you, I wouldn't be embarrassed by these jerks, I'd be infuriated.

a reply to: rnaa

One of the only things you and I have agreed on in a long time.

Well, except for the fact that I agree with the above as well.

The thing is, in this case, the word 'DULY' is doing all the work. Was he 'duly' elected or not - we just don't know.

That is indeed the issue, and the issue that the election boards are there to protect against. As long as the election board of North Carolina does not certify the election results, he has legally not won.

Now, I have no idea whether or not the dude is guilty, but I also am pretty sure that election fraud, voter fraud, etc. exist on both sides of the political spectrum. In Alabama we just got rid of a corrupt Republican Governor (Robert Bentley) and replaced him with a Republican Governor that so far appears to be much less corrupt (Kay Ivey). It's not the party; it's the people in the party that are the problem.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

"Much less corrupt."

Heh.

Baby steps.


Believe me, I know whereof you speak.

a reply to: dawnstar

then the election board was disbanded, not sure why,

Court dissolves North Carolina elections board with election fraud scandal still under investigation

The court case that killed the board has nothing to do with the Ninth District controversy. Read Bitzer’s blog post for a fuller history, but the short version is this: Republicans, having lost the governorship to Democrat Roy Cooper in 2016, passed legislation in a lame-duck session that, among other things, changed the make-up of the elections board (from one that gave the governor a partisan advantage to one that is evenly divided) in a bid to curb Cooper’s power.

A series of court challenges has found the board, and subsequent versions of it, unconstitutional, though the current board was still allowed in place to oversee the 2018 midterms. But the state court found it unconstitutional again, even as professional staff continue the inquiry into the Ninth District election, and ruled Friday that it must disband.

The GOP-controlled legislature has approved a new version of the board, over Cooper’s veto, but it’s not supposed to assume its duties until January 31. Cooper has said he would appoint an interim board; Republican legislative leaders are saying he can’t.

It seems safe to say this is an unprecedented situation. For now, it appears unlikely Harris will be seated in the House on January 3, and the state investigation is ongoing.

North Carolina will, at some point, get a new elections board — one that, under state law, has broad discretion to call a new Ninth District election if there is enough evidence to cast doubt on the basic fairness of the November election.

Personally, I'm for putting restrictions on just what lame duck sessions can do. What with Wisconsin and Michigan and North Carolina lame duck Assemblies thumbing their noses at the people and going out burning everything behind them, I think we need to reintroduce a little bit of Parliamentary wisdom.

In Parliamentary systems, for example, Australia, when an election is called, a "Caretaker Government" with reduced powers runs the business of the Government until the election is over and the new Government is installed. I expect the conventions differ from country to country, but in Australia

The conventions broadly include the following:

• The Government will cease taking major policy decisions except on urgent matters and then only after formal consultation with the Opposition. The conventions apply to the making of decisions, not to their announcement. Accordingly, the conventions are not infringed if decisions made before dissolution are announced during the caretaker period. However, when possible, decisions would normally be announced ahead of dissolution.
  
• The Government will cease making major appointments of public officials but may make acting or short-term appointments.
  
• The Government will avoid entering major contracts or undertakings during the caretaker period. If it is not possible to defer the commitment until after the caretaker period for legal, commercial or other reasons, a minister could consult the Opposition, or agencies could deal with the contractor and ensure that contracts include clauses providing for termination in the event of an incoming government not wishing to proceed. Similar provisions cover tendering.
  
• The Government ordinarily seeks to defer such major international negotiations, or adopts observer status until the end of the caretaker period.
  
• The Australian Public Service adopts a neutral stance while continuing to advise the Government. There are several cases, notably the pricing of Opposition election promises, in which the APS conducts an investigation and report for the benefit of the electorate at large.
  

It goes with out saying (no it doesn't because I'm going to say it) that calling an election in a Parliamentary system dissolves the Parliament, so they can't pass new laws during Caretaker mode either.

Obviously this doesn't translate directly to the American system, but the idea of limiting lame-duck Assemblies from radically changing the political conditions or committing the State to contracts or regulations that the incoming Assembly was elected to oppose has got to have some merit.

Why doesn't the state just hold another election since there seems to be so much fraud there. I am sure there was fraud on both sides. Both sides lie so much in politics it is almost impossible to know who is telling the truth. Maybe we should rethink our countries policy of sending the best liars to DC.

a reply to: rnaa

thanks, I had heard just part of the story but didn't catch the explanation as to why it was disbanded. maybe they should put an exception to their law that doesn't require that the board is disbanded till all the elections results are finalized and any questions resolved, I don't know. but, it seems that their law has probably caused the state to go without representation longer.

a reply to: Phage

Actually, I edited myself there. I originally typed "not corrupt," then realized there was a time early in his tenure when I would have said the same about Bentley. Dude flew right under my radar.

Probably wasn't that hard to do. I supported Bush 43... that turned out to be a mistake. I used to think the sun rose and sat with Senator Shelby... not so much now; I'd love to see his butt get primaried. I was a huge supporter of Jeff Sessions... not very happy with him ATM. I really don't think I'm a bad judge of character, more like character just doesn't go as far as it used to. I'm far from alone with all of these examples. Anyway...

So far, Ivey has been a good governor. I just hope she stays that way.

TheRedneck

a reply to: rnaa

Personally, I'm for putting restrictions on just what lame duck sessions can do.

Definitely something to think about....

TheRedneck

a reply to: links234




here we go again... the Dems accusing the other Party of the misconduct the Dems are Guilty of in reality


then after a haff-assed investigation by the accuser Party (without uncovering the blatent Fraud by the covert-DNC cabal that actually harvested votes) the next election will be riddled with fraud that has been judged to be legal in the 2018-2019 investigation farce.... the criminals thus will have 'institutionalized' their fraud activities as being Legal-Legit