cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22680392
Thinking of red states vs blue states is busted. Plenty of good visualizations of this over the years, but this election in particular feels really important to point out "We" did not chose this.
When I say we I mean registered US voters, but even less so citizens, and even less so again residents.
Even of the voters who did vote for the GOP candidate, who can say how many really wanted him or his policies vs they just didn't want more of the status quo Dems.
The popular vote tallies in this graphic are out of date too, He definitely didn't win in a landslide the way it can appear with red and blue maps. His win in the popular vote was also pretty small now that more votes have been counted. https://www.thenation.com/.../donald-trump-vote-margin.../
So, what if Biden used broad immunity SCOTUS granted to declare a crisis of democracy - That between massive disinformation campaigns by enemies both foreign and domestic, voter suppression, as well as many other factors, the will of the people can't be discerned from our recent presidential election. That it would be a dereliction of duty both to the people and to his oath to defend the constitution to hand over power to someone whose clear and declared intent is abuse the power of the office to fundamentally reshape or demolish our republic based on this highly suspect and incomplete result (remember, most people didn't even vote)
Here is my off the cuff proposal for what to do after that
A new election, everyone must vote. Trump and Harris on the ballot, but each major party must offer 2 candidates, and we're using Ranked Choice Voting. 1st place gets presidency, 2nd place gets VP.
Biden almost certainly won't do anything like this. He is clearly a coward with a stupid sense of optimism - a "things will be just fine, no need for any drastic measures" ever, mentality, and despite some rhetoric has shown no signs that he thinks there is anything to actually be concerned about from the party which has veered hard towards fascism. But, hey, a guy can dream.
Its so far (the counting will not be in for a bit) the second highest voter turn out. No one "admitted" it was low, the numbers above show it was high (second to 2020). This whole endless blaming of "non-voters" is pathetic and the same line of reasoning devalues literally every other election then 2020 held in the USA.
Bro, That makes no sense considering how can voter turnout be high but votes cast was lower than 2020.
Did people just show up and not cast votes?
2020 was highest ever in history (or at least the last few decades). 2024 was slightly less than 2020, but still taking 2nd place in raw numbers. To call that 'low' is extremely inaccurate and misleading.
And insulting. It cheapens the whole vote and overall process. I think its terrible the US is still under a two party system but 60% plus is a great turnout for an election when you don't even give voters choices other then between the ruleing party or a fascist.
2020 was the highest in history of us elections with 65.8% of eligible voters turning in a ballot, 2024 (so far as counted) is 63.7% of eligible voters turning in a ballot. The delta between the second highest (2024) and the highest (2020) is only 2,624,285 votes, and this number will shrink if anything once the official count is in.
You seem to think an over 60% turn out is bad, when it is very high for non mandatory voting. Look at 1988 with a 52.8% turn out and even then no one pulled this weak line of crap out in defense of Dukakis.