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United States Presidential (and Down-Ballot) Election, Tuesday, November 8th, 2016, Megathread/AMA (self.legaladvice)

ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor が 投稿 - announcement

Good Afternoon /r/legaladvice,

As previously announced, today we will be holding a megathread/AMA over the election to be held in the United States on November 8th.

THIS IS NOT A PLACE FOR QUESTIONS OF A POLITICAL NATURE. THIS IS A PLACE FOR QUESTIONS REGARDING ELECTION LAW, HOW TO REGISTER, WHERE TO VOTE, ETC. THIS THREAD WILL BE HEAVILY MODERATED, AND YOU WILL BE BANNED WITHOUT PRIOR WARNING FOR TROLLING OR ASKING OVERLY POLITICAL QUESTIONS.

We have a variety of both attorneys, and campaign professionals that will be answering questions. These include supporters of both Sec. Clinton and Mr. Trump. Below is a selected highlight of those that will be answering questions, potentially.

/u/UsuallySunny is a licensed attorney in the state of California. She has worked with a non-partisan group to ensure free and fair elections for numerous years.

/u/ramady is a campaign professional based on the East coast. While he likely will not be answering any questions today, as he is quite busy working for the next three days, he may pop in if he is able to.

/u/Zanctmao is a licensed attorney in the Pacific Northwest. He has volunteered for campaigns in the past.

/u/ExpiresAfterUse is a quant who knows strange things like House delegation control and electoral votes off the top of his head. No one likes or talks to quants.

Welcome, and I encourage all with questions to ask regarding voter ID laws, voter registration, where to vote, what the electoral process looks like, etc.!

EDIT I forgot I had some links I wanted to share.

Check here for Voter ID laws by state

Check here for Voter registration laws by state

Check here to see if you are registered to vote

Check here to see where you can vote

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トップ新着論争中古い順Q&A

[–]UsuallySunnyQuality Contributor[M] [スコア非表示] stickied comment (0子コメント)

I'm also happy to take California-specific questions. I read all 17 ballot measures, so please ask me a question about one of them.

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

You can find the announcement thread here. This thread contains a few questions and answers.

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

/u/Slutty_Squirrel asks:

So, I'm hearing a lot about some southern states, such as South Carolina, where Black voters are being scheduled work shifts of 12-15 hours on Election Day.

Are there really states where employers are NOT required to let people leave to vote?

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

/u/charlottedhouse asks:

(South Carolina) My address on my drivers license is different than what shows up in voters registration. Will I be able to vote at my polling place with just my license? If not, what can I bring with me that will allow me to vote? (My voters registration card got lost.)

[–]ZanctmaoQuality Contributor 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

reposting my answer from over there:

So it depends on when you moved (how close to the election), and whether you stayed in the same precinct, or even the same county. here is the South Carolina elections FAQ pdf The answer to your question starts at the end of page two and continues onto page three.

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

/u/meatb4ll asks:

If somebody were to try and change the country's voting system, what would their options be? Would that needs a conditional amendment, a new law, getting at each state one by one?

[–]UsuallySunnyQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

It depends exactly what it is you wanted to change.

If you wanted to completely get rid of the electoral college, that would take a constitutional amendment. But there are other ways to achieve the goal of electing the president by popular vote, like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

There are other things that could be changed by adopting a federal law -- like moving election day to a weekend, for example. And other things that could be changed by state laws, such as expanding early and mail voting.

So the answer is -- it depends what you want to change.

[–]PM-Me-BeerQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (5子コメント)

1) What can the states do post-election to publicly guarantee the authenticity of their results?

2) Without voter ID laws, how is voter fraud prevented?

[–]ZanctmaoQuality Contributor 1ポイント2ポイント  (2子コメント)

To answer your questions:

  1. It really depends. In a state like WA, where it is 100% by mail, there are paper records. In almost every jurisdiction there is one or more races where the results are within the recount window - which is I believe .5%. So those ballots are recounted. This serves as an audit function. If the results were to vary wildly from the initial count it would be a clue that there existed some sort of problem.

  2. This presumes that the problem exists, which the available evidence does not support. But even without voter ID people are required to identify themselves and are stricken off the list, so they can't circle back and vote again. If voter fraud were rampant, at least sometimes, the real person being impersonated would show up and there would be a dispute which would lead to an investigation. As that doesn't happen, it is good evidence that in person voter fraud is less of a problem.

2a. with regard to mail in voter fraud, that could, I suppose be a problem, but they compare the signature on the exterior envelope with the signature on file, and notify the voter that there is a discrepancy, so they can come in and validate their signature before the vote is counted, or at least that's how it happens in WA.

[–]thepatmanQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

In a state like WA, where it is 100% by mail

Wait, what? All Washington ballots are cast by mail?

[–]ZanctmaoQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

100% vote by mail. This is also the case in Oregon and Colorado. Saves a lot of money (no need for machines everywhere) and reduces reliance on untrained volunteers.

Edit: I just realized that these are also the three states where recreational Marijuana is legal. I don't think there's a connection - maybe the initiative process?

[–]UsuallySunnyQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

What can the states do post-election to publicly guarantee the authenticity of their results?

I'm unaware of any widespread question about the authenticity of results -- I suppose the answer would depend on the type of question raised.

Without voter ID laws, how is voter fraud prevented?

There is no empirical evidence that in-person voter fraud is a widespread problem. Most people are simply unwilling to risk a felony conviction to vote twice, or to vote illegally. A 2014 study by Loyola Law School professor found evidence of 31 documented cases out of over a billion votes cast.

[–]I_work_in_HIEDQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

1) Varies by state. Each activity related to ballots is conducted by persons of opposing party affiliation to provide a check on each other. The records are kept for a long time, can be requested by individuals, and are regularly audited.

2) "ID laws," as they tend to be called, only prevent an individual from voting using the name of another registered voter. There are other checks in place including the registration process and filed signatures. Additional regulations may exist by state.

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

/u/visvis asks:

If the new president were crazy enough (not suggesting that any candidate is that crazy of course) to violate the constitution by firing all Supreme Court justices and appointing nine new ones without involving the Senate, the Supreme Court would have to rule this move unconstitutional, right? Who gets to decide whether the old or the new Supreme Court gets to rule on its constitutionality?

[–]UsuallySunnyQuality Contributor 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

The President can't fire the SCOTUS justices. They can only be impeached, just like the president. That takes a 2/3 vote of the Senate, so I think we can safely rule that out as a possibility.

[–]stretter 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

How are third-party non-partisan election monitors designated?

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

/u/JustSysadminThings asked:

What is the process to challenge the validity of a states electoral results? Does it start in state court or is this something that goes straight to the supreme court for consideration?

[–]ExpiresAfterUseQuality Contributor[S] 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

The answer to that question is not going to be what you are looking for. A "regular" voter does not have the standing to challenge the validity of election results. If Mr. Trump or Sec. Clinton wish to contest election results in say, oh just a random state, Florida, they must do so themselves. That is why it is Bush v. Gore, not Random Citizen v. State of Florida.

As for the actual process in Bush v. Gore started in Florida State Court. Gore actually won at the state court level, and that is when then-Gov. Bush appealed to SCOTUS and we got the Bush v. Gore ruling. Notice that Bush is the plaintiff and Gore the defendant.

[–]UsuallySunnyQuality Contributor 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I agree. The cases definitely don't go directly to SCOTUS. Some states have specific provisions for election challenges, including who can bring them, in which court, and the grounds for the challenge. They require specific evidence, more than just anecdotes.

Election challenges are different from the automatic recount laws, which says that if an election is within x percentage/number of votes, a recount automatically happens. IIRC the Florida challenge in 2000 started as an automatic recount.