After a couple long days of counting, it is clear we are winning in enough states to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
I am here to report that when the count is finished, I believe I will be the winner.
We knew — because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote — that it was going to take a while. We’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying the votes is finished. And it ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted.
With all the votes counted, we have won Wisconsin and Michigan. And I feel very good about Pennsylvania. We flipped Arizona and the second district of Nebraska.
Of special significance to me is that we’ve won with the majority of the American people, and every indication is that the majority will grow.
As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election. That’s the decision of the American people.
“We the People” will not be silenced. “We the People” will not be bullied. “We the People” will not surrender. That’s why we launched the Biden Fight Fund to count every vote — and why I’m asking if you’ll chip in $25 to fund election protection efforts for our campaign and Democrats up and down the ballot.
We once again proved that democracy is the heartbeat of our nation — just as it has been for more than two centuries.
Even in the face of a pandemic, more Americans voted in this election than ever before in American history. Over 150 million votes were cast. I think that’s just extraordinary.
I’m grateful to the poll workers, to our volunteers, our canvassers, everyone that participated in this democratic process.
And I’m grateful to all of my supporters all across the nation. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Every time I walked out of my grandpa’s house up in Scranton, he’d yell, “Joey, Keep the faith.” And my Grandma, when she was alive, would yell, “No, Joey spread it.”
Native Iowan Ari Berman discusses SCOTUS and voting rights with Thom Hartmann in the context of the 2020 election. Ari is Senior reporter at Mother Jones, covering voting rights. He is author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America
The November 3 federal elections will stand as one of the most momentous in the nation’s history. Not since the 1960s have voters confronted such an array of issues—coronavirus pandemic, heath care, climate change, police misconduct, street protests, racism and sexism, voter suppression, economic doldrums, and a Supreme Court appointment.
These issues have generated fiery partisan debates. Recent public opinion polls also indicate that clear majorities of respondents think that the nation is headed in the wrong direction. The dissatisfaction rate is widespread, hovering between roughly 60 and 80 percent of poll participants.
Looming over the electoral process is the unprecedented amounts of money poured into the races for the presidency and Congress with billionaires often taking a leading role. Campaign spending in the 2020 election cycle will outpace the 2016 race by an estimated factor of 10. Access to money often plays a significant role in determining who runs for office and who is elected.
The amount of money now being spent on political campaigns has created growing skepticism about the integrity of our election system. This is not a new issue. It dates back to the brawling campaigns and political machines of Tammany Hall and the Robber Baron era in the 1880s and 1890s with special interest money bankrolling American political campaigns.
Congress enacted various reforms during the early 1900s, but it was not until 1971 that reformers came up with an alternative to private campaign money. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 required candidates for federal office to disclose their funders and set limits on their spending. And, for the first time, it provided public funding of elections for presidential campaigns.
The idea was to match funds raised by the candidates themselves with public monies in return for candidates agreeing to spending limits. The public funds came from voluntary contributions by individual taxpayers through a check-off on their income tax returns, designating a small donation to public campaign funding for six presidential electoral cycles from 1976 to 1996, public funding worked well for the major party campaigns of Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, and their opponents. The availability of public funding encouraged transparency in campaign funding and sharply reduced the influence of wealthy donors.
But the presidential public financing system began to fray during the 2000 campaign. Republican George W. Bush became the first nominee of either major party to pass up public matching funds during the primaries and to rely solely on money raised by his own campaign.
The sheer cost of running for president has risen astronomically since 1976. The costs far exceeded the amount of available public funding. This occurred in part because Congress never established a mechanism to index public financing to the inflation in campaign costs.
A more basic problem was the sharp decline in taxpayer participation in funding the system, from 30% in 1980 to 9% in 2008. For the 2012 general election, the tax return check-off generated only about $80 million, a tiny fraction of the $2.3 billion actually spent on the 2012 presidential campaign. Today, we witness the outsized influence of Super PACs, independent money machines often led by billionaires.
Hope remains for a reasonable, comprehensive and meaningful system of public financing with carefully drawn disclosure rules, reasonable limits on campaign contributions, and stricter enforcement of existing bans on coordination between candidates and super PACs. The struggle to secure fair, public-financed elections will require an ongoing effort
Randy Rainbow’s final thoughts before the election (4 minutes):
I just wonder why after 4 years of one disaster after another, after thousands and thousands of lies anyone would vote for Trump or for any politician that supports Trump.
Joni Ernst had plenty of opportunities to break with Trump and show some leadership. She hid in the shadows. Expect no more of her if she is sent back to the senate.
Farmers were hard hit mostly by their own president. Why would any of them expect anything different from more Trump?
Trump is immoral, actually amoral, incompetent and only concerned about one person – himself. look at the way he treats anybody. Even his closest allies – Graham and McSally – in the senate have spent the past week being dissed by Trump.
He has sold out the country over and over. New evidence is coming out now, right now, tying him into a sellout to Turkey.
Given the chance – with your vote – Trump will end democracy and all that your ancestors worked for. Why would anyone vote for this guy?
A bit of a long video. If you didn’t have trick or treaters last night because of the pandemic and you miss real humans in the White House this may perk you up. For October 30, 2015. 30 minutes:
First we need to understand that things are about to get bumpy. Dear Leader will not give up power easily especially considering his next residence may well be a jail cell. He thinks he has set up a system that will let him steal the election with the Attorney General, the Supreme Court and several governors and state legislatures set up to suppress votes like never before. If he does that will be the end of American Democracy.
Plans are already being made for protests if Dear Leader does try some of the tricks many have been anticipating. A website called https://protecttheresults.com has been set up as a clearinghouse for protests. As I write this there are no protests set up in Iowa, but that most likely will change.
As a bit of decompression from a terrible year we will ask some current event questions, some election questions and a couple of Halloween questions.
BTW did you set your clock appropriately? I will let you figure it out if you don’ know what I mean.
Last night we had a convergence of Halloween and what astronomical somewhat rarity?
Name three Republican women senators likely to lose Tuesday? (Hint: east, middle, west of US)
Today is what holy day in the Catholic Church that is the reason for Halloween having been yesterday?
George Washington was our only unanimously elected president. In which city was Washington inaugurated?
Kanzi turned 40 years old Wednesday. Although he lives in Des Moines, Kanzi birthday is of note to the world because Kanzi is a what?
Following an appearance by whom in Omaha Tuesday hundreds of people were stranded miles from their cars in very cold weather resulting in several cases of hypothermia?
The island of Taiwan has now gone how long without a case of corona virus?
What president lost both the popular vote and the electoral college, yet still became president?
What is the most common first name for a president?
Dracula is one of the most ubiquitous of Halloween characters. What does the name “Dracula” mean?
Covid cases in the US continue to skyrocket with new cases topping what number for the first time Thursday?
Did anyone go out and get Linus from the pumpkin patch? He was out thee waiting for what?
Two presidential elections have been decided by the House of Representatives. Oddly both involved one family. What family was involved in both of these elections?
The Wisconsin Republican Party was hacked last week and had how much stolen from their funds?
Donald Tump, Jr. said that “No one is talking about“ what “because the number is almost zero.”?
In an odd turn of events, the former head of what “Christian” college is suing that college for damaging his reputation?
Miles Taylor was revealed as what author of an op-ed about “resistance within the Trump administration?
How many people were hanged during the Salem witch trials?
A nest of what large and vicious insects was destroyed by authorities in Blain, Washington?
Name the two presidents who lost the popular vote yet became president because of the electoral college in the past 20 years?
Sorry to shout, but don’t forget just how important it will be to vote your whole ballot. We need to replace the worthless Ernst in the senate. David Koch may as well be sitting in that seat.
Abby Finkenauer photo: millennialpolitics.com
At the congressional level, Iowans need to return Abby Finkenauer in the 1st district and Cindy Axne in the 3rd district, Both Finkenauer and Axne will be instrumental in updating the Affordable Care Act. They will also be needed to provide leadership in America’s fight against the corona virus and to help lead in the restoration of the American economy.
Rep. Cindy Axne
In the second district, Iowa needs to replace the steady leadership of solid progressive Dave Loebsack. Rita Hart has the character and real on the farm and in the schoolhouse leadership that will be sorely needed as America recovers from its long illness.
Rita Hart
Can we dream that JD Scholten could finally put the fourth district into the blue column? JD certainly has a winning platform for constituents out there in Western Iowa. It would be such a shock for constituents in the fourth district actually working in their interest on things like health care. Feenstra will work his ass off to end health care access for his constituents just like every Republican.
JD Scholten
And of course, imagine an Iowa senator who will actually work for Iowans? Theresa Greenfield will work for farmers and workers and small businesses. She will be a breath of fresh air in a state that has been lied to constantly by Republican leadership.
Every bit as important is to get Democrats in the state house. The Republican dominance in the past decade has brought us an Iowa that was once looked on as a very sane state with policies that were pretty much bipartisan. Two of the laws that constantly drew praise from good government types across the country was our public collective bargaining laws and our judicial selection process.
They must have been too sane, because both are long gone, victims of the Republican triple lock on state government where they have the House, the Senate and the Governorship. Crushing Iowa working people was the Republican goal and they have pretty much succeeded.
So be sure to vote down ballot. In the Iowa Senate here are the Democratic names to look for on your ballot
Since the Iowa House has every district on the ballot we won’t list every race. We will remind you to make sure you vote for the candidate with the (D) behind their name. I cn guarantee they will be the best candidate for that seat.
Check the down ballot before you turn your ballot in! This is the most important election of your life.
First, this is Halloween. Wishing you a safe, corona virus free holiday.
Now on to the main story. Tuesday will be the end of what is now referred to as the election season. In the US pretty much every state has some form of early voting which begins as much as 50 days prior to the actual Election Day. As someone who has worked a 12-hour shift on Election Day or has been suddenly called out of town on Election Day the expansion of the voting period was much needed. As with most Democrats, we believe the more that can be done to expand the vote is a good thing.
The onset of the corona virus in this country was late February. By the middle of March schools and other public venues and events began shutting down. Americans waited for the administration to lead us in a response. In so manycrises during his presidency Trump’s responses had been strange at best. But surely this time even he could not ignore the threat that the country faced.
We were wrong. By late March it was quite clear that the President would not only respond poorly, he would respond in such a way that would cause the virus to spread, leading to much more death and illness than would have happened had he simply did nothing. His actions gave the pandemic new life.
By late March Trump was already talking of reopening the economy that had been shut down pretty much voluntarily by businesses, then made formal by late to the game governors. Trump wanted the economy reopened by Easter. While he didn’t get that wish, most of the economy was reopened by mid-May. The pandemic has just blown up since then.
Many of us have been waiting 4 years to cast this vote. Many have been itching to vote since the pandemic started. Others have slowly come on board to vote against Trump as pandemic numbers have spiraled upward with no response from the administration. The response to the pandemic has been a capsulation of his whole administration – do nothing and claim that anything good that happens is due to your leadership.
A friend of blogforiowa, former Muscatine democratic chair Don Paulson shared his latest LTTE with us. He sums the the situation up in a few pointed sentences:
For those of you who haven’t voted yet, I urge you to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot!
All Americans know of the failures of the Trump Administration. Their response to the pandemic has been a disaster. They are attempting to end the Affordable Care Act (and have for years) with nothing to replace it. Science and climate change are ignored. Fact checkers note that Trump constantly lies on and off the campaign trail. He belittles minorities and his political opponents. The incompetence coming from this White House is breath-taking.
Currently the number of bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to help the American people and the nation is just under 400. They sit idle on Mitch McConnell’s desk.
His enabler, Republican U.S. Senator Joni Ernst does not speak out. She has failed the ethanol industry. She has stated she wants to talk about privatizing Social Security “behind closed doors”. She is holding up the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act because the National Rifle Association doesn’t want to close the “boyfriend loophole”. She has voted to confirm judges rated as “unqualified”.
At the state level, Republicans control the state legislature. They have failed Iowans on the issues of water quality, public education funding, restoring worker rights, common sense gun measures, and raising the minimum wage. And they will not act on reversing the disastrous privatization of the state’s Medicaid program.
Two Supervisors are up for re-election in Muscatine County. You’ll recall the fiasco with the county and the mental health board, the application of slag on the county’s roads, and the current backroom scheme to install a County Attorney that was forced from office in a different county.
A kickback scandal involving former Cass County Attorney James Barry in 2004 was about as big as it gets in Iowa, and, for a time, cast a wide shadow over Iowa’s criminal justice system.
Appalled at the time by a lack of action by state government officials, seven Atlantic residents decided to do something very rare: Petition the district court themselves to have Barry, county attorney for 14 years, and Sheriff Larry Jones removed from office.
Judge Robert Hutchinson ousted the two top lawmen, finding them responsible for willful misconduct and maladministration in office in a scheme to offer plea bargains for cash. In 2009, Iowa’s Supreme Court suspended Barry’s law license for a year, saying what he did cast disrepute on the judicial system and amounted to “justice for sale.”
But on May 11, the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors set aside that history and voted unanimously to resurrect Barry’s career in public office.
From the White House to the courthouse and every stop in between. Governor Reynolds has turned Iowa into one of the most dangerous places to live IN THE WORLD! Ernst is little more than an employee of the gun industry and the Koch brothers. The Iowa legislature is a rubber stamp for business and rich folks wish lists.
Make the change Iowa. Elect Democrats up and down the ballot. There is still time to turn it around and restore true democracy in which WE, The People actually have a say!
Iowa’s deadlines for requesting an absentee ballot and for voter pre-registration have passed, but there are still opportunities for everyone to register and vote. These are your options in the final days of voting in the 2020 general election.
You haven’t requested an absentee ballot and/or you haven’t registered to vote:
Vote early in person Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Monday (Nov. 2). Check your county auditor’s website to find your early voting location (most are at the county election office).
Vote in person on Election Day from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Look up your polling place before you go. Many voting locations have changed because of the pandemic.
If you have a felony conviction and completed your sentence, your voting rights have likely been restored. Find more information here.
You have an absentee ballot, but you haven’t returned it yet:
Recommended: Fill it out, sign and seal the affidavit envelope, and bring the ballot to your county election office by 9:00 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3. This close to Election Day, this is the best way to make sure your absentee ballot gets counted. Some counties have a ballot drop box outside the office. County election offices will also be open Saturday, Oct. 31 to receive ballots.
Vote the ballot, sign and seal it, and mail it to your county auditor. It must be scanned by the post office by Nov. 2 and received by noon on Nov. 9 to be counted. Election officials recommend mailing your ballot before Nov. 2.
Vote in person on Election Day. Bring the blank absentee ballot with you and surrender it to a poll worker.
You requested an absentee ballot but it hasn’t arrived, or you lost it:
You can vote in person early or on Election Day. You’ll be asked to sign a declaration that says your ballot was lost or never arrived.
On Election Day, you’ll vote a provisional ballot. It’ll be counted in the week after Election Day as long as the election office doesn’t receive your voted absentee ballot in the mail. This prevents double voting, which is illegal.
You already returned your absentee ballot, and you’re not sure if it was received:
Governor Kim Keynolds: (515) 281-5211 U.S. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Iowa Members of Congress - Rep. Randy Feenstra (R) - Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) - Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R) - Rep. Zach Nunn (R) Iowa US Senators - Senator Joni Ernst (R) - Senator Charles Grassley (R)
by Ralph Scharnau
