Laughs and Lessons in the World of Elections

Why do some states keep us waiting on election results while others seem to have it all figured out? Explore the fascinating intricacies of the 2024 presidential election, particularly focusing on why states like Alaska and Arizona are notorious for delayed vote counts. Armed with insights from an eye-opening New York Post article, I unravel the complex processes and peculiarities that contribute to these drawn-out tabulations. Whether you're an election enthusiast or just curious about the behind-the-scenes, this discussion promises to satisfy your curiosity and perhaps even spark a few laughs as I gear up to vote in Alabama, snacks in hand.

But don't worry, it's not all politics here! Once we've untangled the web of election logistics, prepare for a shift to lighter topics guaranteed to entertain and amuse. Though I won't spoil the fun surprises that await, this episode is designed to strike the perfect balance between the serious and the whimsical. So grab your headphones and dive into an episode that promises both enlightenment and amusement, ensuring there's something for everyone, regardless of your interests.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

Hello, good morning. It is election day. It is finally here for people in Alabama anyway, because we do not have early voting here, and so today after work, I will be going with the gent to cast my vote for Donald J Trump. Yay, we've never had to wait in long lines before. Hopefully we will not have to do that today. But I don't care. If there is a long line, I will wait in it. Better take me some snacks. All right, let's go on. I don't want to be too political on this episode today. I have three topics. Two are pretty fun, but let's go ahead and talk about the political one first. Excuse me.

Speaker 1: 1:05

From the New York Post, here's why these states will take the longest to count 2024 presidential election votes. I've always wondered this why does it take so long? This article actually breaks it down fairly easily to digest, and that's what I like. In 2020, the last, if I could speak, if I could read. In 2020, the last polls closed on Tuesday November 3rd, but it took four days, until Saturday November 7th, for President Biden to be projected the winner, due to delays in ballot tabulation, leading to unsubstantiated claims of fraud by Donald Trump and his allies that continue to reverberate. Well, that's what the media reports. This time around, even without the wrinkle of a global pandemic, republicans and Democrats will still be waiting a while for several states to determine their results. This is such BS. While some of these states' slowness won't be crucial to the outcome of the presidential race, they could delay calls in key down ballot races. Okay, that makes more sense as well as the battle for control of Congress. So Alaska, arizona, california, nevada, north Carolina, pennsylvania, wisconsin and Georgia, perhaps, oh, michigan as well. These are the states they say will delay some of these races. But let's see why. Alaska Polls close at 12 midnight Eastern Time, wednesday in most of the state, 1 am Wednesday in parts of the another part of the state, some islands Aleutian Islands I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly Despite having the third smallest population of any state in the union, the last four, the last frontiers oh my gosh. The last frontier is notorious for being one of the last to get its ballots counted thanks to its peculiar election rules and its scattered, mostly rural population.

Speaker 1: 3:23

State law requires early votes turned in at regional election offices on or before the Thursday prior to the election, to be counted. On election night, however, absentee ballots and early votes cast after that time frame must be tallied up by seven days after the polls close. That is such horseshit. Seven, what look? Count them beforehand, what I mean? A fifth grader could do this.

Speaker 1: 3:56

I don't understand. I don't understand why they can't start counting them. Can Can you not count them before and, if more comes in, count and add to it, count and add to it. I mean, we have lots of ways we can verify these things. I don't understand. All right, and the next state is Arizona. It permits election officials to begin processing mail-in ballots after early voting begins but, crucially, requires officials to wait until after polls close to count them.

Speaker 1: 4:27

Why, during the 2022 midterms, some 20% of mail-in votes were dropped off on election day, requiring time-consuming verification procedures to ensure the ballots were legit. So, if you're, that's the whole point, I think, of early voting Get them in, get them counted, get them verified and then put them somewhere, lock them up, keep them safe. I mean, hello, it's not that, it's really not that difficult. I just don't understand people. I don't understand their logic. Let's see, okay, and then California polls close at 11 pm Eastern. The nation's most populous state has a notorious history of taking days and even weeks to finish off the rudimentary task of counting ballots. This is largely due to the fact that most Californians vote by mail. During the 2020 cycle, 72% of votes were from mail-in ballots.

Speaker 1: 5:27

Okay, blah, blah, blah. All right, nevada is another one. Uh, you can go finish reading that if you would like. There's a lot to it. I think it's very fascinating. You get to learn about why each state does what they do, I suppose, or it tells you why it's going to take so long. I like that. That it's broken down by state, like that. All right, let's move on, let's. I'm going to read the thought part about georgia, though. It says will georgia struggle again? Polls close at 7 pm.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Eastern georgia was the very last state to be called four years ago. Since then, lawmakers in the peach state have taken step steps aimed at speeding up the reporting of results and reforming the election process. The biggest step was the passage of the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which Democrats, led by Biden, maligned as voter suppression, with the president describing it as Jim Crow 2.0. The new law was meant to streamline and bolster resources for ballot processing. Verification Absentee ballots now require the last four digits of a social security number or a copy of identification to minimize the complexity of signature verification. All right, that really doesn't tell me much. All right, we're going to move on. We're moving on to a very controversial topic.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Thanksgiving is coming up, so most people prefer this Thanksgiving food over turkey. Survey reveals. This is from the New York Post Are you guys getting prepared for Thanksgiving? It's gonna be here. I know it doesn't seem like it. It doesn't seem like it. We just had Halloween. We've been talking nothing about the election. I mean all day long, 24-7, election, election, election election. But you know we do have Thanksgiving coming.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Thanksgiving dinner cooks are known to spend days preparing a turkey, but most people prefer putting something else on their plates. Campbell's, one of the most well-known soup and sauce brands in America, has released their third annual State of the Sides report looking at holiday side dishes and recipe trends for the November holiday. This year's 2024 State of the Sides report has emphasized America's love and passion for side dishes, with more than 55 saying they would rather stuff their plates with side dishes than turkey itself. Look, I am one of these people. Very traditional, I love turkey. On thanksgiving I will pile that my plate high with turkey gravy, mashed potatoes. I love me some turkey.

Speaker 1: 8:12

Nearly 40 of americans admitted that they would be perfectly content with a plate full of just side dishes. No turkey at all. Oh my gosh, that's blasphemy, showing that sides are the actual star of the show. Now, yes, I agree. I agree, sides are very important To me. The perfect turkey, the perfect Thanksgiving plate, would be turkey mashed potato gravy, green bean casserole, hello and some cranberry sauce and maybe a roll. That's it Now, since I've met my husband. That's it Now since I've met my husband. He has introduced me to corn casserole and, oh my, I could eat that every single day. It is really delicious.

Speaker 1: 9:03

Okay, and the people eating the meal aren't the only ones who prefer Thanksgiving side 60% find more joy in cooking side dishes than preparing the bird. I would rather preparing the bird, I would rather prepare the bird. I just think there's just a whole artistry to it. And it's Thanksgiving. I've always grown up as the turkey, as Thanksgiving. To me that's just traditional. I'm old-fashioned.

Speaker 1: 9:21

The preference for side dishes has remained consistent, with this year marking the third year in a row for Americans declaring them the better part of Thanksgiving meal. According to Campbell's previous state of the report, 56% prefer eating side dishes. 38% say they would be happy to fill their plate with just the dish side dishes. 60% say they enjoy cooking the sides more than cooking the main bread. I think they interviewed a bunch of vegetarians. That's what I think gen z thinks. So too, with 38 of 18 to 25 year olds sharing that they make seven or more side dishes for their thanksgiving table. Oh, if they're 18 and 25 year olds are cooking, I I doubt it all. Right, you can go finish reading that if you would like. It's uh, it's, it's fun. It's fun. It's something different, right?

Speaker 1: 10:15

We're going to end with another fun story, because you need a break. You need a break. Today is election day. You need a break. There's going to be a lot of crap on tv today, so I'm trying to lighten the mood here for us all.

Speaker 1: 10:32

Again, from the New York Post. I love the New York Post. If you don't have the New York Post, I think you should get the app. All right, let me see I've lost my place here. Let me go back and find it again. Here we go. Excuse me, excuse me again. I am so sorry. New York spent thousands. I'm sorry. New Yorker spent thousands, 50 hours traveling just to see Mudang twice. I am absolutely in love.

Speaker 1: 11:02

This lady from New York traveled to see this Mudang Mudang, or Mudin Mudin Mudang, the little hippo, the little baby hippo. She spent thousands of dollars in travel time to go see this animal twice. I guess people don't have anything better to do. Everyone loves mudang, but it's rare that someone would cross oceans for her twice. Molly swindle fell in love with the baby pygmy hippo at the start of her internet fame and made multiple trips around the world this month just to see her. I am absolutely in love with that shiny, moist potato.

Speaker 1: 11:42

Swindle, who is 30 years old, told the Post she is fun and light-hearted, the New Yorker said of Mudang, who has a penchant for biting zookeepers and dabbling in moonwalking. She is adorable, has a strong personality and she is an absolute joy to watch. Swindle revealed that she traveled a total of 21 hours on her first trip on October 2nd 18 and a half hours of that flying and without much time off from work. This article does not tell me what she does for work and if it does, I must have skipped it because I don't know what she does for work that she could do this, but she kept her trip short, just 30 hours in Thailand, which she said cost her about $1,100. Mudang is a bright spot during a time where there is a lot of unknown Swindle shared. People always need joy in their lives and she is bringing joy to people.

Speaker 1: 12:54

Mudang became an overnight viral sensation when her zookeepers at the Cow Cow Open Zoo, where she was born, started posting clips of the hippo's funny moments. The baby hippo has since been the center of many memes and was even the subject of a recent skit on Saturday Night Live. Oh wow. But seeing Mudang online wasn't enough for Swindle. She needed a peep of her in person. I just love animals and I love adventure, and so I made it a go. Okay, you know, at first I kind of ridiculed this woman for doing it and I thought you know what? Why not? Why not? She explains oops, oh sorry, my foot went on my accelerator. Her only destination was Mudang Zoo home and she shared a laugh with customs agents when she told them she was there solely to see the adorable animal. She chronicled her travels on her TikTok account, where she has received 158,000 followers and 38 million likes, and she can now reveal that her experience lived up to the hype. She did this.

Speaker 1: 13:51

Her father died, I guess, a few years ago and she just decided to start living her life, uh, to the fullest. I'm trying to get to that part where she talks about that and I must have skipped over it. Let me see, bear with me, I'm so sorry, let's see. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh well, you can go read it. Oh, I've missed, I've skipped, I don't know, I can't find it in the story now.

Speaker 1: 14:30

I read it earlier this morning where she said that her father died, I think like six years ago, something like that, and then she's just decided to live her life to the fullest. And if that brings her joy, if she can afford it, she's not hurting anybody, she's not doing drugs. Far as I know, she doesn't have an OnlyFans page. You know what I'm saying. So good for her At first. I was going to make fun of it, but now I'm not Good for her. I think, uh, I don't. She's not hurting anybody, right? Okay, we're going to move on to the question of the day. All right, since we were talking about Thanksgiving, I may have asked this last year I probably did what is your favorite side dish to fix for Thanksgiving? The other question, if you don't want to answer that one, is do you prefer turkey or ham or something else as your main course in the meal? All right, that's my question of the day.

Speaker 1: 15:21

Don't forget, yo carol is coming up for this friday. I do have an entry already. I do have a um um. Somebody submitted something to my yo carol segment for friday. But if you please go ahead and get your entries in and I can save them up and I appreciate it. It's just something fun, lighthearted to do. Again, you could make something up completely out of the blue, make it all fiction, if you'd like. It's just something fun, something creative and fun. All right, we got to go. Thanks for listening. Go vote, go vote and remain calm. Everything's gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be all right. Also, would you please go over to mycarolremarkscom and read my latest blog post entry and maybe comment yeah, all right, gotta go. Thanks Bye.