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The other ppl at the Volokh Conspiracy really need to rid their blog of Steven Calabresi. I'm sure they're very sad about what happened to him and remember him from better times, but for real this is some deranged, tinpot dictatorship horseshit polluting their excellent legal blog.
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They do also publish Josh Blackman, who's legal analysis is entirely dedicated to justifying whatever it is the Republican party happens to want at any moment. Otherwise I agree with you though, as much as I disagree with most of them.
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This actually strikes me as evidence of sanity enduring quite well despite his extreme ideological views. Sasha Volokh has a weird-ass set of ideological moral principles but is trying to do his best and has made some very useful contributions. Calabresi is worshipping power and power alone.
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See his most recent post? Mail-in ballots are unconstitutional and compromise ballot secrecy because family members can peek over shoulders to see who votes for whom!
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Yeah, that recent post by Calabresi is exactly what we're all mocking rn.
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Trump would just change the asteroid's projected path with a Sharpie, and his supporters would declare it all a hoax.
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(btw, I love that the classic volokh.com is finally accessible again, with its full comment sections. That was nearly peak blog-ness. True insanity: the comment section of literally any reason.com volokh post)
Move to Reason site - The Volokh Conspiracyvolokh.com We’ve moved to the Reason site — at http://reason.com/volokh — as part of a new joint venture; if you aren’t redirected automatically, please click here.
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I didn't learn until recently it was Orin who took on the task of moderating the old comments, because no one else wanted the job. He did a masterful job. Half of what made VC great in the day was the comment section.
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this paragraph is, for want of a better word, just nonsense
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literally no two voters have ever voted with the same state of the nation and world in mind in any election, from a school electing a class president through to papal elections through to formal ballots. It is not a thing. It has never been a thing. It is not a goal of elections. It has never been.
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The question of private votes is at least /real/, tho, of course, Calabresi doesn't even bother to assert, let alone defend, that it was material.
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One could argue quite convincingly that this particular effect benefitted Trump. Suspect a nonzero number of wives reluctantly voted for Trump under the supervision of their MAGA husbands. Or weren't allowed to fill out thier ballots. (I have no evidence for this)
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Adult children in those households as well.
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Citizen of Oregon here, where we have had vote by mail since 1998. Co-sign this.
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This also cuts both ways. The 'October Surprise' phenomenon is a news drop that hits too close to the election to be properly evaluated and validated, influencing voting decisions based on momentary emotional impact that would dissipate with time. Early voting makes those tactics far less effective.
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There's no reason for that to be the goal, either, which perhaps he knows, since he doesn't even present one. If anything you could argue that a longer voting period helps dampen the effects of spurious day-to-day changes in voter mood
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but he needs you to make decision based on ephemeral emotions!
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Well put. And whatever it is, it isn’t originalism.
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100%. If nothing else, ballots were for a very long time explicitly not secret.
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It makes perfect sense under the rubric of Dear Leader worship, however.
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So many confused words when he could've just said "I AM FOR DEAR LEADER DONALD TRUMP AND HIS CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT FOR LIFE AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO PLEASE HIS EMINENCE."
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“Mail-in voting neuters our October Surprise ratfuckery”
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also, in-person day-of voting is only convenient for seniors, the rich, and folks in low-density areas. no points for guessing which way those three groups lean.
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On the contrary, mail-in voting is now weakly positively correlated with Trump support, because it makes voting more convenient and Trump relies more heavily on low-trust low-reliability voters than Biden does.
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You all may laugh but what if, just after you mail your ballot, there is news that radically changes your view of Biden or Trump?
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In many jurisdictions you can cancel your mail-in vote by voting in person. They'll check your name when you identify yourself at the voting booth, then check for it among mail votes
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Wow! Good to see a system so supportive of voters who change their minds. While other systems put up so many barriers to citizens voting in the name of 'preventing voter fraud'.
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Good question. Has Trump's 34 convictions of falsifying business records changed your opinion? Or have your views long been set?
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there is no earthly event that could happen to make me switch from Biden to Trump. But that’s me.
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No, it’s a conserviative attempt at vote suppression. They know that progressive voters are more likely to use mail-in ballots which increases the progressive voter ‘turn out’. Conservative voters are much more likely to bote in person.
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Lol: “the opinions of the voters and the material reality Chan get so drastically, week-to-week. That is why it is essential that we pick our civic leaders for he next four years based on *exactly this one day*”
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“Some states permitted soldiers to name a proxy to vote for them back home while others created polling sites in the camps themselves. Approximately 150,000 out of one million soldiers voted in the election, and Lincoln carried a whopping 78 percent of the military vote.”
Vote-by-Mail Programs Date Back to the Civil War | HISTORYwww.history.com U.S. armed forces have long used the mail to cast their ballots from the front lines.
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He's on MarkLevinShow tonight. I'm only going to hate watch because my ConLaw Prof at Northwestern had us spend most of the semester trying to figure how he could get standing to stop the Vietnam War. #TimesChange
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You know, people voting by mail can go into a secret place (called a bedroom, a bathroom, whatever), write down their choices, put it in an envelope and seal it, without any family members or pets being aware of who the voted for. Maybe the Calibresi family doesn't allow themselves any privacy?
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Yet another pathetic Republican argument contrived to fit an agenda, not logic.
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I can’t even recall the last time I voted in person. I know who I’m voting for. If you’re still undecided a month out, feel free to hold on to your ballot until Election Day and drop it in a box! Problem solved.
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Even Texas supports early voting; has done so for a long time. And as for people being influenced by people around them, surely that rules out proxy votes, or assistance to disabled voters, or, oh, so many other things. This guy's just pissed his guy didn't win, and wants to change rules.
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Oh for the love of Odin, what nonsense falls freely from his brain.
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Extended voting period/multiple voting days have been a thing for more than a decade. Vote-by-mail for longer than that. Some states only have vote-by-mail. Why did it SUDDENLY become a problem in 2020 but not before? I call bullshit.
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"Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? Look it up. I know some of you are going to say: I did look it up, & that’s not true. That’s ’cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut. My gut tells me that’s how our nervous system works.”
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Ah yes, casting your vote in the privacy of your own home is definitely less private than casting your vote in a public space where everyone has congregated to also cast their votes.
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