Lame duck period

[buritobr]

Is a long lame duck period necessary?

In the USA, there are at least 71 days between the election and the innauguration. In Brazil, there are at least 61 days if there is runoff and 83 days if there is no runoff. In Mexico, there are at least three months.
In France, there is only one week. In Greece, Tsipras started his term in the following day after the election.

Do some countries have long lame duck time because it is necessary to organize the transition? Or only because it became a tradition coming from a time where vote proceeding used to take several days?

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Yes. It allows time for:

- certification processes (this takes weeks in states like CA)
- any necessary recounts
- a smooth transition process

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It could be trimmed here in the US, but doing so would require changing election day from the first Tuesday after the first of November. Having Congress convene earlier would put it into the Winter Holidays.

[politicallefty]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves with current American governance. Once an election has occurred, I do not believe those in power prior to said election should be able to exercise any power. They no longer have legitimate democratic authority.

Considering the considerable work in transitioning to a new Presidency, I could see perhaps moving Inauguration Day much closer to the New Year (such as January 3rd). As for Congress, those duly found elected should be able to take office within a week or two weeks at most. Virtually all races will have been declared within a week (a select very few last beyond that). Unless the seat count is very close, a new Congress taking office that soon will not affect anything. They don't necessarily have to do anything at that time. They can easily convene and recess to a later time.

My main issue isn't so much when the new Congress takes office, but rather the end of the previous one. I do not believe any elected official should be able to act once their successor has been elected. Perhaps Congress should have automatic dissolution two months prior to Election Day (with the possible exception to convene on emergency matters with a 2/3 supermajority in both Houses, and any laws requiring the same supermajority).

[muon2]

Because there are overseas military and provisional ballots, an election cannot be certified for as much as three weeks after the election. That puts the reasonable limit on seating a new body at four weeks. In IL that's the span used for most local offices. For example IL county boards are sworn in on the first Monday in December.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

[Indy Texas]

A lot of it is when our elections are.

Move the inauguration up any more and you're up against Christmas/New Year.

It would be a bad idea to try to coordinate all that stuff when so many people are traveling or otherwise not at work. (Even more so for government offices that have sane holiday policies.)

[buritobr]

When the lame duck in the USA was even longer.
Comparing to the events in Germany at the same time.

Nov 6th, 1932: German Federal Election
Nov 8th, 1932: Franklin Roosevelt elected president of the USA
Dec 3th, 1932: End of Von Papen government in Germany, due to the result of the federal election. Schleicher starts a new government.
Jan 28th, 1933: End of Schleicher government. Adolf Hitler starts a new government.
Mar 4th, 1933: Innauguration of Franklin Roosevelt
Mar 5th, 1933: New German Federal Election, confirming the plurality of the NSDAP

So, Hoover lame duck government was much bigger than the whole Schleicher government

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

What's interesting is that for special Senate elections, the amount of delay depends on the state and how close it is. Dianne Feinstein took office the day after her first election.

Meanwhile, Al Franken (not a special election) had to wait 8 months because of the close result, and Republican obstruction.

[muon2]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

Actually it's quite realistic, if we but update our procedures.  It's ludicrous that we have multiple independent lists of identity.  Merge drivers licenses/IDs with voter registration. Go whole hog on computerization so that there is no need for distinct precincts but people can vote at any voting place and have the ballot for that voter be drawn up.  Provisional ballots are only needed because of the antiquated paper driven offline voting system we use.  Similarly, it would be quite doable to have voting centers at every US embassy/consulate/military base for those who insist on waiting to the last moment to cast their absentee ballots.

[Indy Texas]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

If we outsourced our voting operations to Google or Amazon, all of our votes could be counted in well under 3-4 weeks. All the archaic paper-based systems and the redundancies they entail would be out the window. I'm not saying doing so would be a good idea. I'm just saying that we're perfectly capable, from a technological standpoint, of having every American anywhere in the world vote and having their votes tabulated in a fraction of the time it takes today.

[Antonio the Sixth]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

How does every other country in the developed world manage to count all its votes within 24 hours with virtually no errors? Well, do as they do.

[Indy Texas]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

How does every other country in the developed word manage to count all its votes within 24 hours with virtually no errors? Well, do as they do.

Muh voter fraud. Muh local control. Muh barebones election budget. Muh gubmnit bureaucrats havin' too much of muh information.

[muon2]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

How does every other country in the developed world manage to count all its votes within 24 hours with virtually no errors? Well, do as they do.

I've attended the vote counting at an EU country back in 2002. They don't seem to count late mail-in ballots, if you are out of the country your vote must arrive by election day. That contrasts with the US where ballots must be postmarked by election day. That would require overseas military personnel to vote as much as three weeks before the election to insure that it arrives in time.

Provisional ballots are required to help voters who came to the wrong polling place or whose registration may have been in error cast a ballot. In the US the voter can cast a ballot and it is eventually matched up to lists at the correct precinct. What I saw in the EU was that if you weren't at the right place your vote didn't count.

The error rates in the US and EU seemed comparable controlling for the technology. My observation was that in the EU there was a greater reliance on the finality of the local count. Recounts are much harder to obtain for close elections in the EU.

[DavidB.]

It should be 1-2 weeks. That's more than enough to pack your stuff and get out.

Of course that entails adopting first-world vote counting procedures.

How would you handle overseas ballots that can be mailed up to election day?

How would you handle provisional ballots that have to be checked against voter lists by the same people who are certifying the vote totals from regular ballots? There's actually a lot of required cross-checking of precinct data before a count is certified.

That's why it's unrealistic to do it in less than 3-4 weeks.

How does every other country in the developed world manage to count all its votes within 24 hours with virtually no errors? Well, do as they do.

I've attended the vote counting at an EU country back in 2002. They don't seem to count late mail-in ballots, if you are out of the country your vote must arrive by election day. That contrasts with the US where ballots must be postmarked by election day. That would require overseas military personnel to vote as much as three weeks before the election to insure that it arrives in time.

Provisional ballots are required to help voters who came to the wrong polling place or whose registration may have been in error cast a ballot. In the US the voter can cast a ballot and it is eventually matched up to lists at the correct precinct. What I saw in the EU was that if you weren't at the right place your vote didn't count.

The error rates in the US and EU seemed comparable controlling for the technology. My observation was that in the EU there was a greater reliance on the finality of the local count. Recounts are much harder to obtain for close elections in the EU.

This really depends on the country (even in elections for the European Parliament). I don't think you could generalize the vote counting procedures in one country to the EU level.