You need new voting machines

I downloaded Michigan’s COVID data today. The peak of new cases per day in the last week was only 1350 and only 2000 in the week before. We’re now at the level of mid February and a bit below the plateau of July to September of last year. We’re also at a quarter of the peak in early April. That’s all good news. Beyond that, the data looks a bit strange. I displayed a chart of the previous week’s data to make sure. I also looked at the chart from mid February. My program, one I wrote to use the Michigan data, displays new cases per day and deaths per day since March 1, 2020. I now show 15 months of data. Here’s some of the strangeness: Within the last week the data for the early November peak has been reduced from over 9500 to over 8000, about equal of the April peak. The new cases per day during the July – September plateau has been adjusted up by about 50 in the last week and over 600 since February. The variations within each week still have the same general shape, though trend lines aren’t as flat now as they had been in February. In the February data there were a few spikes in cases per day in May 2020 that reached up to 1700. Now those spikes reach past 2500 and one even topping 3500. I don’t have an explanation for this. The most recent data and modeling update – a series of 40 slides full of charts and major points – is based on data now a week old. The state has said numbers might be revised as more data came in, so I understand changes from week to week, though this much revision is unusual. Because there is bill to create a commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol attack, Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reminds us of two things. First, this is still an ongoing crisis for the country. Second, the actions leading up to that day began well before November 4th, the day after the election, and began well before the nasty guy. The nasty guy was pushing voter fraud during the 2016 election, both in case he lost then and to get the idea out there so he could make the same claim this past year. And he pushed that idea a lot. It didn’t matter the claims were not true. They had the desired effect of questioning election integrity. When the claims when before courts, even though they lost, they gained enemies, which is fuel for a conspiracy. In addition, the GOP had been in the voter suppression game for several years before the nasty guy was on the scene. Both then and now the GOP had willing accomplices in the media, and not just Fox News. Even mainstream media repeated the lies. As for now ... Sumner wrote:

The Big Lie isn’t something Republicans are interested in fighting, because it’s their Big Lie as much as Trump’s. They’ve nurtured it. They’ve fed it time and attention. And they’ve staked their future on the ability to execute the strategy based on that lie. The purpose of voter suppression laws is keeping people from the polls, and convincing them that voting is unfair. Both. Win by breaking democracy on Election Day, or win by breaking democracy after Election Day. It’s still a win.

There is a way they can lose: a thorough investigation into what happened leading up to and on January 6th. About that Big Lie ... Laura Clawason of Kos reported Katie Hobbs, Arizona Secretary of State and a Democrat, has said the vote tabulating machines used in the Maricopa County “audit” have been out of custody of certified elections officials. Therefore, she said, she does not support their use in any upcoming election. Replacement cost is millions of dollars. Clawson concluded:

Republicans in the state Senate intended to do damage with their “audit,” even if they didn’t directly intend to cost Maricopa County millions of dollars in lost equipment. The damage to election integrity and public faith in our democracy is far, far more important—but the financial cost underlines how careless and irresponsible the “audit” backers were willing to be.

And about the fate of that commission in the Senate. Because Sen. Joe Manchin doesn’t want to get rid of the filibuster there need to be ten GOP votes for the commission. None have announced support. Sumner reported that Manchin said:

So disheartening. It makes you really concerned about our country. I’m still praying we’ve still got ten good solid patriots within that conference.

All he’s got is prayers? He isn’t talking to his colleagues to find those ten votes? Sumner added:

It’s not as if there is some form of commission that would satisfy them. In fact, here’s the big secret: If Democrats were to agree with Republicans that the commission should also investigate everything that happened over the summer related to Black Lives Matter and protests following the police murder of George Floyd, Republicans would still filibuster the commission. Because they know that any actual investigation of those summer events would show that most of the tales of violence were fabricated for a Fox News audience, and nothing that happened was an existential threat to democracy—like Jan. 6. There is nothing that can get Senate Republicans for vote for the commission, because there is nothing Republicans want except for there to be no commission.

Joan McCarter of Kos reported Biden is advocating for enough funding for the IRS to double its size. Over the last several years the IRS has been underfunded to the point it can’t go after the big, convoluted, and fraudulent tax returns. That means they can only go after the easy returns. Which means, according to Amara Enyia of The Movement for Black Lives, it’s another form of racism. Currently, the IRS can only audit returns of the low and middle income people. That mean a higher percentage of black people are audited. That’s on top of the racist tax laws that favor wealth and white people – things like homes and investments.