• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« My uncle’s guide to Kentucky speak
Is it New Year’s Eve in Times Square? Sure feels like it. »

Talk about train wrecks…This election appears to be the mother of all

November 4, 2020 by jimmycsays

Inconceivable. Obliterative. Mind-numbing.

Those are the primary adjectives that come to mind this afternoon as I survey the wreckage — national, state and local — of yesterday’s election.

I don’t intend to dip into despair, however. It’s still great to be an American and enjoy the personal freedoms we have…at least for now. In addition, the quality of our individual lives should continue to be good…at least for now.

In short, I’m not moving anywhere, not now, not ever. Bury me (naturally) in Prairie Village.

But, man, yesterday produced as big a bombshell as 2016, don’t you think?

Two overarching reflections

:: The fact that the presidential race is so tight is very bad news for Democrats. Even if Joe Biden should prevail on the basis of post-Election Day counting, I fully expect a Supreme Court majority to rationalize its way to throwing out enough ballots to flip the result (yes, Bret Kavanaugh, flip the result). If RBG had held on, I think Chief Justice John Roberts would have voted on the side of democracy to uphold a close Biden victory. As it is, Trump’s Gang of Three, plus the other two Republican-appointed justices, will surely have their way.

:: Polling — soliciting the pre-election preferences of voters — is shot. Some of it may have to do with voters not leveling with pollsters, but I think it mainly has to do with cellphones having displaced landlines. The pollsters just aren’t getting adequate samplings, and I have no idea how that can be fixed. I’m not blaming pollsters; I just think it’s a lost art. On the positive side, it has made elections more predictable and, depending on your affiliation, more exciting. (I’m sure Republicans around the country are jubilant today, and you’ve got to hand it to to them, they really turned out yesterday.)

The Senate, which, it appears, Republicans will continue to control…

  • I thought, from polling, Susan Collins was toast. Instead, she is eating Sara Gideon’s lunch.
  • I thought, in my home state of Kentucky, Democrat Amy McGrath might give Mitch McConnell a scare. Instead, he delivered a frightening beat-down, running up a 20-point margin.
  • I thought Jaime Harrison might unseat Lindsey Graham. Instead, Lindsey is sitting in the catbird seat, still wearing that shit-eating grin.
  • I thought, in the next-door battle of the doctors, Barbara Bollier might wrap Roger Marshall in surgical tape. Instead, she ended up in the E.R.

Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao on Tuesday in Louisville, KY

State (Missouri) and local (Jackson County)…

:: Every Republican running statewide creamed his Democratic opponent, including Mike (wear-a-mask-if you-wanna) Parson, who trounced Nicole Galloway. The only good news here is that term limits will knock him out in 2024 because he served more than two years of Eric Greitens’ term before being sworn in June 1, 2018.

:: Passage of Amendment 3, which overturned the Clean Missouri amendment voters approved in 2018, is a crying shame. I figured this was going to be close because the ballot language was deceptive and unclear. Amazingly, two of the three Missouri Court of Appeals judges who wrote the ballot language — Lisa White Hardwick and Karen King Mitchell — were appointed by Democratic governors. They should be voted out of office next time they are up for retention, which, unfortunately, is only every 12 years. Because of Tuesday’s outcome, Republicans will continue to have an iron grip on redistricting, which will extend, seemingly in perpetuity, their control of the Missouri House and Senate.

:: I was surprised that 59 percent of Jackson County voters voted to continue displaying the Andrew Jackson statues outside the Kansas City and Independence courthouses. I thought a majority might vote to toss Jackson. But, as I’ve said before, I am proud to be a Jackson Countian, and it’s okay with me if he continues to sit tall in the saddles.

:: Jackson County Question 1 asked voters to assess a tax of up to $1 a month (you can bet it won’t be “up to;” it will be the full buck) to help fund the 911 call system. Currently, the system is funded by a 7-percent fee just on landlines. I recommended a “no” vote on this because I have zero confidence in Jackson County government. On the other hand, I fully recognize the unfairness of letting cellphone users off scot-free…We can end this post-Election Day rumination on a somewhat hopeful note, then: By a margin of 52 percent to 50 percent, Jackson County voters opted for fairness, meaning we cellphone users will be putting $12 a year into the muddy trough that supports a worthless County Legislature and an in-over-his-head county executive.

Now, back to watching the calendar. 2024 is hurtling toward us, and if Texas should go blue, it’s a whole new game.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

5 Responses

  1. on November 4, 2020 at 2:06 pm Rick Nichols

    Yes, I sure was hoping that McConnell would be shown the door by Kentucky voters, but for me to even be thinking that that was going to happen, I must have been under the influence of some serious Kentucky bourbon. I also was pulling for Bollier in the battle of the doctors and was disappointed to see her come up a little short. Agreed. The passage of Amendment 3 in the Show-Me State is a real disgrace. But the most important takeaway from this election is that we’ve just got to clean up these elections so that we have more consistency in regard to what ballots are going to be counted and how long after Election Day can they be received and still be counted. Agreed: The Democrats have to be disappointed with some of the results last night.


  2. on November 4, 2020 at 2:58 pm Bill Stilley

    Jim, while I do not necessarily agree with everything you stated above, I do agree that there needs to be comprehensive ballot reform (I know I am a Kansan sticking my nose in Missouri elections). In Kansas, mail-in ballots, pre-voting at selected locations and delivering ballots to ballot drop-boxes at libraries has worked in the past and worked well this year as well. Missouri needs to adopt the same plan. I know the main reasons that Missouri is so skittish about absentee ballots and resistant to mail-in ballots. It dates back to the bosses of Kansas City and St. Louis days, and the widespread voter fraud (deceased persons voting, etc.), Also, in the late 1970s or early 1980s, there was a man in Kansas City, a Republican, (I wish I could remember his name), who was notorious in going to nursing homes and persuading the residents to sign absentee ballots.

    I don’t think a notary was always present, and if not, he went to a notary who did not see the person sign their name. I believe he was eventually convicted of election fraud and either was on probation or served actual time. I do not agree for any state to automatically mail ballots to everyone on the voter rolls. That does open the door to fraud. Many people have moved, are deceased, lost their eligibility to vote (convicted felons, or felons still serving their sentence and parole). Someone can easily fill in the voter certification and forge the deceased person’s signature, or forge the previous resident’s signature by the current resident.

    I don’t think that voter fraud is anywhere near the level of the Boss days nor what Kobach, Trump and Company claim. I worked for the Jackson County Election Board the summer of 1978 for the primary, checking to remove convicted felons, deceased persons from the voter rolls, preparing to mail absentee ballots, checking returned ballots for “hanging chad,” etc. Unless things have totally switched and it is corrupt through and through, I do not see then, nor now that it is easy to commit widespread voter fraud.


    • on November 4, 2020 at 3:45 pm jimmycsays

      It took me a couple of minutes, Bill, but I remembered the name of the man who was so good at mining absentee votes. He was Bill Redpath, and he worked in concert with a woman named Lydia Miller, who, I believe, was also his domestic partner. I did not recall him getting convicted, but a Google search turned up a case in the 1980s where a jury convicted him of “knowingly delivering a fraudulent absentee ballot.” The file I saw didn’t indicate what the penalty was…He was actually a pretty nice guy in person. I remember his as smiling a lot and very accessible. I’m sure he and Lydia are both deceased by now.


      • on November 4, 2020 at 4:39 pm Bill Stilley

        Thanks, Jim, for the names! Yes, they were the two. Yes, they seemed nice, but intended to run afoul of absentee ballot laws or were ignorant (didn’t check the laws before doing their “collecting” routine).


  3. on November 4, 2020 at 2:58 pm Bob

    And there is Aaron Coleman, a completely different train wreck. Oh, what God hath wrought.



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 563 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 563 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: