Voting Law Proposals and Voting Rights Efforts (2 Viewers)

[MT15]

This is, IMO, going to be a big topic in the coming year. Republicans have stated their aim to make voting more restrictive in just about every state where they have the means to do so. Democrats would like to pass the Voting Rights Bill named after John Lewis. I’m going to go look up the map of all the states which have pending legislation to restrict voting. Now that we have the election in the rear view, I thought we could try to make this a general discussion thread, where people who have concerns about voting abuses can post as well and we can discuss it from both sides. Please keep memes out of this thread and put them in the boards where we go to talk about the other side, lol.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Even if the Senate squeezes out approval of H.R. 1, a see a big court battle brewing over it. The red state AGs and SoSs are going to come out of the woodwork crying foul.

Then force them to explain why they are crying foul - with facts, proof and evidence NOT 'feelings' NOT 'people are saying'

Make them explain exactly why these changes are democrats putting their thumb on the scale vs taking the republican thumb off

 

[MT15]

Article on wait times to vote in person, and a proposal for Rs to put their money where their mouth is, as they are newly dead set against vote by mail, and want everyone to vote in person.

A Simple Solution to Long Voting Lines: 30 Minutes or Less

Read the latest by Marc Elias.

www.democracydocket.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Interesting that all these 'voting' changes republicans want to implement are to combat a voter fraud problem that doesn't exist, and there is no proof or numbers to show that it exists

Yet....any suggestions to make it any harder to buy a gun to combat a gun violence/ gun death problem that clearly exists, with tons of proof and numbers that show it exists is met with cries of outrage and screams of Anti-America and Anti-freedom

 

[Optimus Prime]

I love how figuring out to appeal to a broader base and convince more people to vote for them isn’t even an option
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The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction, when Southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved Black men, a Washington Post analysis has found.

In 43 states across the country, Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting with such constraints as stricter ID requirements, limited hours or narrower eligibility to vote absentee, according to data compiled as of Feb. 19 by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. Even more proposals have been introduced since then.


Proponents say the provisions are necessary to shore up public confidence in the integrity of elections after the 2020 presidential contest, when then-President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud convinced millions of his supporters that the results were rigged against him.

But in most cases, Republicans are proposing solutions in states where elections ran smoothly, including in many with results that Trump and his allies did not contest or allege to be tainted by fraud.

The measures are likely to disproportionately affect those in cities and Black voters in particular, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic — laying bare, critics say, the GOP’s true intent: gaining electoral advantage.........

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/voting-restrictions-republicans-states/?no_nav=true&tid=a_classic-iphone

 

[SystemShock]

In a lot of countries it's just so much simpler. In Mexico for example your main ID card IS the ID you use for voting. If you lose the card, it is replaced for free.

The "INE" has become the ID everyone asks for, but it is not the only one, and other than the price (free) non-GOP'ers probably would not appreciate the requirements to get one.

 

[zztop]

Came across this today

'An all-hands moment': GOP rallies behind voting limits

On an invitation-only call last week, Sen. Ted Cruz huddled with Republican state lawmakers to call them to battle on the issue of voting rights. Democrats are trying to expand voting rights to “illegal aliens” and “child molesters,” he claimed, and Republicans must do all they can to stop them...

apnews.com

Democrats are trying to expand voting rights to “illegal aliens” and “child molesters,” he claimed, and Republicans must do all they can to stop them. If they push through far-reaching election legislation now before the Senate, the GOP won’t win elections again for generations, he said.

 

[MT15]

That should go in the political lies thread. Cruz is just slimy.

 

[Farb]

What is the opinion on taking a voter test when you turn 18 in order to register to vote?

Instead of being able to vote because you managed to stay alive for 18 turns of a calendar why not have the citizen take a simple, like 5th grade level, basic civics test in order to vote. Instead of a stupid voter population, only those that actually care and know how the government works on a basic level would get the right to vote. Much like driving a car.

Obviously, I like the idea.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Do people running for President also have to pass a civics test?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

What is the opinion on taking a voter test when you turn 18 in order to register to vote?

Instead of being able to vote because you managed to stay alive for 18 turns of a calendar why not have the citizen take a simple, like 5th grade level, basic civics test in order to vote. Instead of a stupid voter population, only those that actually care and know how the government works on a basic level would get the right to vote. Much like driving a car.

Obviously, I like the idea.

This is obviously a gross violation of constitutional protections.

 

[brandon]

What is the opinion on taking a voter test when you turn 18 in order to register to vote?

Instead of being able to vote because you managed to stay alive for 18 turns of a calendar why not have the citizen take a simple, like 5th grade level, basic civics test in order to vote. Instead of a stupid voter population, only those that actually care and know how the government works on a basic level would get the right to vote. Much like driving a car.

Obviously, I like the idea.

Why 5th grade civics? Why stop there?

I prefer we have a test that only high school students with 1400+ SAT scores could pass. That way we KNOW we are getting only the best people voting.

You can see how that’s pretty problematic, right? Also, Republicans would never win another election.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Why 5th grade civics? Why stop there?

I prefer we have a test that only high school students with 1400+ SAT scores could pass. That way we KNOW we are getting only the best people voting.

You can see how that’s pretty problematic, right? Also, Republicans would never win another election.

I fail to see how this is problematic.

 

[Optimus Prime]

guess I'll put this here
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives are warning Democrats not to set a "dangerous precedent" by challenging the certified results of a disputed House election in Iowa.

Republican Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Democrat Rita Hart in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District by only six votes out of nearly 400,000 cast. State election officials certified the results and Miller-Meeks was sworn into office in January.

But Hart has petitioned the Democratic-controlled House to intervene, claiming that 22 votes were improperly excluded. The House Administration Committee, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by six to three, has launched an investigation.

Nine of the 10 Republicans who voted in January to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection drew a strong parallel between the Iowa election and the certified presidential election results that Trump contested in the weeks leading up to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"This action not only sets a dangerous precedent for future elections, it reinforces the false belief by many in our country that our election system is rigged and that certain politicians can change results to fit their whims," the Republicans wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dated March 19.

Pelosi's office directed queries seeking comment to the House Administration Committee.

"It should not be surprising that any candidate in these circumstances would choose to exercise their rights under the law to contest the results," said Democratic committee spokesman Peter Whippy, who noted that there have been 110 such challenges since 1933 or about two in each two-year election cycle

But even some Democrats have misgivings about the case. Representative Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, acknowledged the pain of losing an election by six votes but wrote on Twitter that "overturning it in the House would be even more painful for America. Just because a majority can, does not mean a majority should."..............



Republicans who backed Trump's impeachment warn Democrats not to challenge Iowa election (msn.com)

 

[Farb]

Do people running for President also have to pass a civics test?

Well, if you can't vote, then you can't run for office. I think that is a good compromise.

I would even consider moving the age up to mid 20s to vote. When are brains fully formed?

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Well, if you can't vote, then you can't run for office. I think that is a good compromise.

I would even consider moving the age up to mid 20s to vote. When are brains fully formed?

Depends on the poster person...

 

[MT15]

Maybe you could even ask people to identify the number of jelly beans in a jar.....

 

[samiam5211]

Well, if you can't vote, then you can't run for office. I think that is a good compromise.

I would even consider moving the age up to mid 20s to vote. When are brains fully formed?

I would rather lower the voting age to 15 and have a cut off at 75. Why should people who are going to be dead in 20 years shape the world for people that will have to live in it?

 

[SFIDC3]

Well, if you can't vote, then you can't run for office. I think that is a good compromise.

I would even consider moving the age up to mid 20s to vote. When are brains fully formed?

So at 18 you can serve and risk your life in the military but you can't vote? Seems a bit absurd to me....Brains are fully formed at 24, I mean it's a scientific fact? or something?