Voting Law Proposals and Voting Rights Efforts (1 Viewer)

[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.

 

[DaveXA]

Thank for getting there! If those claims are found to be fraudulent, then they have committed voter fraud and should be be prosecuted!

Indeed.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Posted this in another thread, but it is appropriate here as well...

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Wanna challenge a person's right to vote? There's an app for that...

Police officers in Texas, senior citizens at a nursing home in Pennsylvania and people who had registered to vote at a Marine base in California.

They are among the thousands of voters whose right to cast a ballot has been needlessly challenged ahead of this November’s election by activists — many of whom have been inspired by conspiracy theories — seeking to prevent voter fraud.

“My simple right as a voter is being attacked,” said Daniel Moss, a university administrator from Denton County, Texas, whose registration was challenged by one of the activists even though he has lived in the county and voted there for about two decades. “It’s kind of un-American to do that.”

Election officials across the country have been inundated with dubious complaints about inaccurate voter rolls, which have wasted government resources and sapped taxpayer money spent reviewing lists of registered voters that officials say are already carefully maintained, a CNN investigation has found.

One of the main drivers of the fruitless challenges is a conservative Texas-based nonprofit group called True the Vote, an election-monitoring organization that has long peddled debunked voter-fraud theories. The group’s founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, has called on followers to help clean voter rolls by using an app called IV3 that enables users to research voter data and submit voter-eligibility challenges to local election offices.

A half-million records and one app: The group behind a massive effort to ‘clean’ voter rolls | CNN Politics

Police officers in Texas, senior citizens at a nursing home in Pennsylvania and people who had registered to vote at a Marine base in California.

www.cnn.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Republican National Committee that sought to block Mississippi from counting absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days after after it.

U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. handed down his ruling Sunday, becoming the second federal judge in recent weeks to dismiss such a lawsuit.

“Mississippi’s statutory procedure for counting lawfully cast absentee ballots, postmarked on or before election day, and received no more than five business days after election day is consistent with federal law and does not conflict with the Elections Clause, the Electors’ Clause, or the election-day statutes," Guirola wrote.

Another federal judge recently dismissed a similar lawsuit in Nevada, rejecting Republicans’ assertions that counting absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received days later was unconstitutional and violated federal law.

The Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, a member of the state Republican Executive Committee and an election commissioner filed the Mississippi lawsuit in January against Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and six local election officials. The Libertarian Party of Mississippi later filed a similar lawsuit, and the judge consolidated it with the one filed by the Republican groups.

The suits argued that Mississippi improperly extends the federal election beyond the election date set by Congress and that, as a result, “timely, valid ballots are diluted by untimely, invalid ballots.”

In dismissing the suits, Guirola wrote that “no ‘final selection’ is made after the federal election day under Mississippi’s law. All that occurs after election day is the delivery and counting of ballots cast on or before election day.”.............

MSN

 

[Semper]

I don’t understand the voter problem. Every US citizen has a social security number and a free social security card. Require it to vote. It’s required to get an job in the U.S. and it’s free.

 

[Sharon]

I don’t understand the voter problem. Every US citizen has a social security number and a free social security card. Require it to vote. It’s required to get an job in the U.S. and it’s free.

I think it's because SS #s are too easily scammed. We have to have picture ID here.

 

[Semper]

I think it's because SS #s are too easily scammed. We have to have picture ID here.

Can’t we get state id’s for free?

 

[Sharon]

Can’t we get state id’s for free?

Yes. Probably in your state, too. Now, getting to the office and waiting in line...

Get Prepared and Geaux Vote!​

Be prepared to show a photo identification card with your photo and signature or a United States military identification card that contains your name and picture when voting. If you do not have a photo ID, you may obtain a free Louisiana special identification card by presenting your voter registration information card to the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) or you may vote by affidavit after correctly answering identifying information before voting.

Vote

www.sos.la.gov

 

[DaveXA]

Can’t we get state id’s for free?

Don't know why we don't already do this. It's essentially a poll tax.

 

[Semper]

I mean there are a lot smarter people than me out there that should be able to figure this out. People need an ID for every single service in the country. Heck you can apply for a passport at the post office why not a free voter ID card?

I know there are opinions for and against it and all these conspiracy theories on having and not having.

Why not take out any question to the validity by doing something like this? And I also believe that Election Day should be a federal holiday. So everybody has time to get out and vote.

I am just tired of all the “they stole the vote” bullshirt.

 

[DaveXA]

I mean there are a lot smarter people than me out there that should be able to figure this out. People need an ID for every single service in the country. Heck you can apply for a passport at the post office why not a free voter ID card?

I know there are opinions for and against it and all these conspiracy theories on having and not having.

Why not take out any question to the validity by doing something like this? And I also believe that Election Day should be a federal holiday. So everybody has time to get out and vote.

I am just tired of all the “they stole the vote” bullshirt.

Well, the "they stole the vote" screams are indeed bullshirt. Definitely agree there.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Don't know why we don't already do this. It's essentially a poll tax.

Free photo IDs for voting purposes should be obtainable at the DMV, post office, and any other reasonably appropriate site. They should be tied to our Social Security numbers, which should be used to automatically register everyone to vote when they turn 18.

 

[DaveXA]

Free photo IDs for voting purposes should be obtainable at the DMV, post office, and any other reasonably appropriate site. They should be tied to our Social Security numbers, which should be used to automatically register everyone to vote when they turn 18.

Agreed.

 

[Optimus Prime]

We've beaten this topic to death over the years

Absolutely agree that it should be a national holiday, national mail in voting should be a thing, a certain number of mail drop offs and election site per a certain number of eligible voters, no more hours long wait, no more one drop off box per county

It seems that the people who are most for voter ID laws, are against making that ID free and easy to get and also against making election day a holiday and you'd have to wonder why that is

 

[Semper]

We'be beaten this topic to death over the years

Absolutely agree that it should be a national holiday, national mail in voting should be a thing, a certain number of mail drop offs and election site per a certain number of eligible voters

It seems that the people who are most for voter ID laws, are against making that ID free and easy to get and also against making election day a holiday and you'd have to wonder why that is

I see Republicans all over wanting it to be a national holiday. The mail in thing I see them going against.

 

[Sharon]

It's a state holiday here. Maybe get your legislators fired up?

Some states do, however, observe Election Day as a holiday. Most state offices will be closed on the date, including:

• Delaware
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Montana
• New Jersey
• New York
• Rhode Island
• Virginia
• West Virginia

 

[GrandAdmiral]

I don’t understand the voter problem. Every US citizen has a social security number and a free social security card. Require it to vote. It’s required to get an job in the U.S. and it’s free.

Something like this could only work in federal elections as some states allow non-citizens to vote in state elections.

 

[MT15]

I am just tired of all the “they stole the vote” bullshirt.

Oh, me too. Especially when there’s zero evidence of it. This is what is called punishing everyone because some folks don’t know how to act. In a really good workplace, for example, if there is one person acting up and abusing a privilege you deal with that person. You don’t take away the privilege from everyone.

The US has exceptionally safe and secure elections. We don’t have any problems with them.