Texty the Bard
@textualdeviance.bsky.social
Democrat & Social Justice Bard. Queer/Enby/Spoonie/Neurospicy. Gen Xer & PNW snob.
I write SFF, sing, cuddle my spouse/kids/cats & swear a lot.
False equivalence, class reductionism, AI slop, GOP/fascist BS = block
WA Rebel Bird pic: Rebecca LaPointe.
I write SFF, sing, cuddle my spouse/kids/cats & swear a lot.
False equivalence, class reductionism, AI slop, GOP/fascist BS = block
WA Rebel Bird pic: Rebecca LaPointe.
You really, really don't understand how modern voting works, do you? There are some differences from state to state, but you're never going to see on-site counting at a precinct. There are massive security reasons not to.
January 30, 2026 at 2:38 AM
You really, really don't understand how modern voting works, do you? There are some differences from state to state, but you're never going to see on-site counting at a precinct. There are massive security reasons not to.
I think you may be imagining that ballots get counted immediately, and they don't. None of them do. Not even the ones that use machines.
January 30, 2026 at 2:25 AM
I think you may be imagining that ballots get counted immediately, and they don't. None of them do. Not even the ones that use machines.
Wait a minute. I think I know where you're going wrong. Provisional ballots are always paper ballots, and they are never counted on the spot (no ballots are, actually.) That's the entire point of provisionals: they only get counted after they've been fully vetted.
January 30, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Wait a minute. I think I know where you're going wrong. Provisional ballots are always paper ballots, and they are never counted on the spot (no ballots are, actually.) That's the entire point of provisionals: they only get counted after they've been fully vetted.
That ballot will NOT be counted. That's what I'm saying. Even if you're voting in person with a provisional, you still have to sign something, and that signature has to be matched to the one on the registration before the ballot gets counted.
January 30, 2026 at 2:16 AM
That ballot will NOT be counted. That's what I'm saying. Even if you're voting in person with a provisional, you still have to sign something, and that signature has to be matched to the one on the registration before the ballot gets counted.
Let me walk you through how it works in WA.
-Voter registers
-Registration verified
-Ballot mailed to voter
-Voter fills out ballot, submits it by mail/drop box
-Ballot marked as received by elections office
-Envelope signature verified
-Ballot goes to counting machine
-Ballot marked as counted.
-Voter registers
-Registration verified
-Ballot mailed to voter
-Voter fills out ballot, submits it by mail/drop box
-Ballot marked as received by elections office
-Envelope signature verified
-Ballot goes to counting machine
-Ballot marked as counted.
January 30, 2026 at 2:11 AM
Let me walk you through how it works in WA.
-Voter registers
-Registration verified
-Ballot mailed to voter
-Voter fills out ballot, submits it by mail/drop box
-Ballot marked as received by elections office
-Envelope signature verified
-Ballot goes to counting machine
-Ballot marked as counted.
-Voter registers
-Registration verified
-Ballot mailed to voter
-Voter fills out ballot, submits it by mail/drop box
-Ballot marked as received by elections office
-Envelope signature verified
-Ballot goes to counting machine
-Ballot marked as counted.
Absolutely not. It doesn't record the contents of the ballot, only that it was submitted. The counting machines don't even get the ballots until they've been cleared as valid.
January 30, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Absolutely not. It doesn't record the contents of the ballot, only that it was submitted. The counting machines don't even get the ballots until they've been cleared as valid.
Because, like I said, they have databases to record votes for each person as they come in, BEFORE THEY GET COUNTED. Are you imagining tech that existed 40 years ago is still the only way things are done?
January 30, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Because, like I said, they have databases to record votes for each person as they come in, BEFORE THEY GET COUNTED. Are you imagining tech that existed 40 years ago is still the only way things are done?
This is prime, grade-A bullshit. Even the Kobach Commission found virtually no fraud.
January 30, 2026 at 1:17 AM
This is prime, grade-A bullshit. Even the Kobach Commission found virtually no fraud.
Actually it does. There's a reason elections don't get officially certified until well after election day. They have to resolve discrepancies like that. And with most modern electronic or paper-ballot counting systems, the fraudulent ballots wouldn't even make it that far.
January 30, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Actually it does. There's a reason elections don't get officially certified until well after election day. They have to resolve discrepancies like that. And with most modern electronic or paper-ballot counting systems, the fraudulent ballots wouldn't even make it that far.
Your anarchocommunist Utopia is not. fucking. happening. until the GOP has been removed from every scrap of power they currently have. Until/unless you come up with a concrete, workable plan to do that, the only future you have is in a pile of corpses.
January 30, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Your anarchocommunist Utopia is not. fucking. happening. until the GOP has been removed from every scrap of power they currently have. Until/unless you come up with a concrete, workable plan to do that, the only future you have is in a pile of corpses.
Are we winning against ICE in the streets? Holding them back, perhaps. But that's 3,000 untrained dipshits who don't yet have carte blanche for mass murder. What happens when it's 10,000 real soldiers with tanks, drones and shoot-to-kill orders?
January 30, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Are we winning against ICE in the streets? Holding them back, perhaps. But that's 3,000 untrained dipshits who don't yet have carte blanche for mass murder. What happens when it's 10,000 real soldiers with tanks, drones and shoot-to-kill orders?
We fight them? OK, sure. Again, how? This is not the time to be vague. How do you stop a fascist-run military that will take out entire zip codes without blinking? Walk me through your battle plans.
January 30, 2026 at 12:49 AM
We fight them? OK, sure. Again, how? This is not the time to be vague. How do you stop a fascist-run military that will take out entire zip codes without blinking? Walk me through your battle plans.
First order of business is going to have to be getting rid of the fascists who are now murdering and enslaving millions without any formal opposition at all. So how do we do that? And how do we survive in the meantime?
January 30, 2026 at 12:46 AM
First order of business is going to have to be getting rid of the fascists who are now murdering and enslaving millions without any formal opposition at all. So how do we do that? And how do we survive in the meantime?
I know about the future you envision, so don't waste my time telling me about that. I want to know HOW we get there. Step by step. Don't go all underpants gnomes and shrug and say it's other people's jobs to figure that out. This is YOUR dream. How do we make it real?
January 30, 2026 at 12:41 AM
I know about the future you envision, so don't waste my time telling me about that. I want to know HOW we get there. Step by step. Don't go all underpants gnomes and shrug and say it's other people's jobs to figure that out. This is YOUR dream. How do we make it real?
Oh just fuck off. I'm sorry you're broke, but people are being *directly* fucking tortured and murdered by this regime and you're complaining that Democrats aren't kissing your particular ass well enough?
January 30, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Oh just fuck off. I'm sorry you're broke, but people are being *directly* fucking tortured and murdered by this regime and you're complaining that Democrats aren't kissing your particular ass well enough?
Except that we've already seen that GOP voters don't care about any crimes their party's people have committed. They operate on a belief that there are good and bad people, not good and bad acts, so their "good" people can never do wrong.
January 30, 2026 at 12:24 AM
Except that we've already seen that GOP voters don't care about any crimes their party's people have committed. They operate on a belief that there are good and bad people, not good and bad acts, so their "good" people can never do wrong.
Why is it that like 80% people with these shitty opinions are white dudes?
Oh, right. Because they're not in a demographic that the GOP *literally* wants to enslave or murder, so they feel free to pretend Democrats are just as bad.
Oh, right. Because they're not in a demographic that the GOP *literally* wants to enslave or murder, so they feel free to pretend Democrats are just as bad.
January 30, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Why is it that like 80% people with these shitty opinions are white dudes?
Oh, right. Because they're not in a demographic that the GOP *literally* wants to enslave or murder, so they feel free to pretend Democrats are just as bad.
Oh, right. Because they're not in a demographic that the GOP *literally* wants to enslave or murder, so they feel free to pretend Democrats are just as bad.
Here in WA, where we're on universal mail ballots, voter eligibility is checked on registration (verifying citizenship, etc.) Then when you vote, the signature on your ballot envelope is checked against the one on your registration. Any discrepancy immediately pulls the ballot until it can be cured.
January 30, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Here in WA, where we're on universal mail ballots, voter eligibility is checked on registration (verifying citizenship, etc.) Then when you vote, the signature on your ballot envelope is checked against the one on your registration. Any discrepancy immediately pulls the ballot until it can be cured.
That's not how that works at all. Elections officials keep database records of who has voted in each election. Those systems would automatically flag any attempt to record two votes for the same person.
January 30, 2026 at 12:14 AM
That's not how that works at all. Elections officials keep database records of who has voted in each election. Those systems would automatically flag any attempt to record two votes for the same person.
Reposted by Texty the Bard
Realizing that math exists isn't centrist.
January 29, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Realizing that math exists isn't centrist.