Has everyone voted?

Emailed mine last week and was received without issue.  Crossing all kinds of fingers and toes

Crossing all kinds of fingers and toes

Me too but my gut is that both will remain red. 

Mine is Hillsborough as well. I've never received a confirmation email. Have you?

AFAIK, they don't send emails on that. They have a website vote status checker thingy set up (for Hillsborough County - don't know how rest of Florida does it). You input your details & it tells you if/when your ballot was received (and before that, when it's been sent etc).

It's not the greatest site design, but it works. I think it starts here, and you need to fill it out and follow it through & you'll get there eventually.

https://www.votehillsborough.org/About-Voting/My-Registration-Status

I just checked online (MN) through a link that was in the email that had my ballot, and it showed when mine was counted!

Dennis, I think the most crucial bit is, like Nan said, about the balance of power between the three branches of government.  Right now, the Republicans control all three, and Congress is not doing it's constitutional duty to serve as a check on the President.  That's the reason why Trump has not been tried for the many impeachable acts he has committed.  And the reason Trump was able to install a completely unsuitable candidate on the Supreme Court.  If the Supreme Court stops doing it's job to check the power of the executive, then all is lost.

The importance comes from the fact that the very foundations of our democracy are broken, and these elections are the only way it will be fixed for the foreseeable future.  It is almost literally a referendum on whether we should continue to live in a democracy.

Another disadvantage of being a President with a minority in the Senate is that they can block all Federal judge appointees. When Trump became President there was a backlog of about 150 Federal judges to appoint, and they don't need to be qualified to be appointed. One of Trump's appointees didn't even know the basics about the law. I watched clips from his Senate hearings and he couldn't answer the simplest of questions on the law of the land, but he was still confirmed as no Republican has the guts to stand up to Trump.

AFAIK, they don't send emails on that. They have a website vote status checker thingy set up (for Hillsborough County - don't know how rest of Florida does it). You input your details & it tells you if/when your ballot was received (and before that, when it's been sent etc).

It's not the greatest site design, but it works. I think it starts here, and you need to fill it out and follow it through & you'll get there eventually.

https://www.votehillsborough.org/About-Voting/My-Registration-Status

Oh cool! Thanks for the link! They received it on 15 October. Awesome.

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In case you haven't seen the news, it appears that the Democrats took the House (pwew!) although the Republicans held the Senate. Some of those Senate races were pretty darned close, too. Not quite the blue wave I'd hoped, but the House has subpoena power and controls the purse. So, that's an improvement.

It's a good start!

We apparently scare off Republicans on this forum, or they don't speak up. HAHAHA!!

I was mentally preparing for a very bad outcome. It was the kind that said "you can never go home anymore", to tell you the truth. This outcome leaves me feeling better.  It's going to be an ugly two years and the next election is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event for me, I think.

In some ways this feels very much like the 1960s again. Minus the rioting in the streets.

I'm pleased.  Bummer about the Senate but there wasn't much potential for the Senate to swing.

I was at the edge of my seat. Everything was so darn close. I'm relieved the Dems are now house majority. Looking forward to seeing what they do.

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Not as good as I would have liked. The Dems now control one half of the 3 branches of government. With the Senate even more firmly in the hands of Repubs then Trump will continue to load the Federal courts with his appointees and possibly yet another Supreme Court Justice in the coming years.

Nice to see that Florida overturned its draconian policy of felons effectively never being able to vote for the rest of their lives even decades after they served out their sentence (The Clemency board run by the Governor has a huge backlog and rarely reinstates voting rights). Enables 1.5 million citizens to become registered voters in Florida, that is 10% of all eligible voters and 25% of all eligible African American voters.

Only Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia remain as States where only the Governor can reinstate voter rights to felons who served out their sentence and probation period.

Just remember, the House has the purse strings.

Just remember, the House has the purse strings.

They can only block new spending with a Republic Senate and President.

Budgets are short term, plus the tax cuts for the rich with big deficits have already been passed as have big increases in defense spending, no chance of new Democrat budget proposals getting through the Senate. If/when the stock market crashes or the economy slows then the Dems will be blamed.

Federal court and Supreme Court appointments last for decades.

So much for trying to think positively, that some good has come along....