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.

 

[LA 2 L.A.]

And maybe a backdoor into the election systems. He has hinted at that multiple times

I wouldn't put it past him. That one time close to the election that Trump said at a rally to Mike Johnson that they had a secret and it was working well, still sticks with me today. Trump said it the way that he usually says in those very rare times he's something true.

I don't think it was so much a hack into the systems as much as it was that Musk was secretly rallying young male voters to go vote, and they voted in both record numbers and record percentages. That voting block swung the election by itself, including congressional races and know one saw it coming. My guess is they are panicked that all Musk has to do is get those young male voters to stay home this time. That would lead to a lot of Republicans losing their seats in Congress and there's really nothing they can do about voters not voting for them.

 

[Rysilk]

I wouldn't put it past him. That one time close to the election that Trump said at a rally to Mike Johnson that they had a secret and it was working well, still sticks with me today. Trump said it the way that he usually says in those very rare times he's something true.

I don't think it was so much a hack into the systems as much as it was that Musk was secretly rallying young male voters to go vote, and they voted in both record numbers and record percentages. That voting block swung the election by itself, including congressional races and know one saw it coming. My guess is they are panicked that all Musk has to do is get those young male voters to stay home this time. That would lead to a lot of Republicans losing their seats in Congress and there's really nothing they can do about voters not voting for them.

Young men are notoriously stubborn. They are also notoriously lazy (as a group), which usually wins out and they stay home on election day. Will stubbornness win the day in 2028? Or will the protest vote desire wane out and laziness take back over?

 

[LA 2 L.A.]

Young men are notoriously stubborn. They are also notoriously lazy (as a group), which usually wins out and they stay home on election day. Will stubbornness win the day in 2028? Or will the protest vote desire wane out and laziness take back over?

Young men aren't all the same, but I get what you're saying. I think way too many young white males have an incredible sense of self-entitlement that they our society instilled in them. That does lead to stubbornness, wanting to coast, and lack of empathy and caring about others.

I think they will follow Musk's lead just like they did last November. Musk has an axe to grind with all things Trump, which includes Trump's congressional Republicans. Musk has never been known to drop a grudge, so I think he'll do whatever he thinks will do the most damage to Trump by way of Trump's congressional Republicans.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Candidates for local office in Miami have been prepping mailers, gathering volunteers, raising money and hitting the street for the last year, with voters expecting to see a robust campaign to replace the city’s term-limited, scandal-chased mayor.

Last week, Miami’s city commission told those voters they’ll have to wait an extra year. In a 3-2 vote, the commission changed the city’s election bylaws to push the municipal races back to 2026.

Commissioners said they made the change in the name of cost savings and increased voter engagement when higher-profile races for Congress or the presidency may be on the ballot.

But they gave themselves an extra year in office without asking voters for permission first. And in a moment when the underpinnings of democracy appear to be cracking in America, a cavalier attitude toward an election seems ominous to some Miami residents.

“What worries people about this is, we don’t want to give the guy in the White House any ideas,” said John Jackson, a Miami resident and former political operative.

There’s no real mechanism to try something like this at the federal level, he said, “but it still kind of makes people a little worried. I don’t know anyone on any side of the aisle – Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal – who just thinks that this was a good thing”.

Florida attorney general James Uthmeier sent Miami’s mayor a warning letter on 26 June, telling the city that the proposal to change election dates without asking permission from voters first violates the city and county’s charter and the state constitution.………

How Miami’s city commission gave themselves an extra year in office without voters’ permission

Commissioners for the city of Miami rewrote their election laws to push the off-year 2025 local races to 2026 without input from voters. The decision has sparked outrage

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

An Atlanta-area county has appointed a staunch election denier, with a history of challenging voter registrations, to the county’s board of registration and elections, a pivotal position to cast doubt on the results of future elections.

DeKalb county’s Republican committee nominated Gail Lee and a second Republican activist, but the nomination of William Henderson was rejected last week by the chief judge of the DeKalb county superior court, Shondeana Morris, after a letter campaign against the two promoted by the county’s Democratic committee and voting rights activists.

Lee has challenged the registration of hundreds of voters in DeKalb county since the 2020 election, beginning her efforts after Donald Trump’s narrow loss to Joe Biden in 2020. Lee told CBS News in December 2023 that she still believed Trump won, and attended a 2022 conference in Georgia hosted by the Election Integrity Network – a 2020 election denialist group linked to the Trump campaign.


“Putting a known election denier who has repeatedly tried to remove voters from the rolls on the DeKalb county elections board is a slap in the face to DeKalb voters,” Kristin Nabers, Georgiastate director for the voting rights advocacy organization All Voting Is Local, said in a statement.…….

Staunch election denier appointed to Georgia county’s board of elections

Gail Lee, who has challenged the registrations of hundreds of voters in the county, was nominated by the local Republican party

www.theguardian.com

 

[MT15]

A little good news - from MS of all places. Common sense rule.

 

[MT15]

This is an alarming timeline of all the actions Trump’s DOJ is taking to try to meddle in future elections.

Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has long worked to protect voting rights. But since President Donald Trump returned to office, the DOJ’s voting section has done a dramatic 180. Today, rather than standing up for voting access, it’s supporting and defending voter suppression laws and...

www.democracydocket.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

MADISON, Wis . (AP) — Wisconsin elections officials declared Thursday that the former clerk of the state's capital city broke several laws related to not counting nearly 200 absentee ballots in the November presidential election, but they stopped short of recommending criminal charges be brought.

The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 to accept a report finding that the former Madison clerk broke five election laws. The commission delayed a vote on ordering the city of Madison to take additional steps to improve election security.

No outcome of any race was affected by the missing ballots. Maribeth Witzel-Behl resigned as Madison city clerk in April amid investigations into the missing ballots.

The investigation was not a criminal probe and the elections commission does not have the power to bring charges. The report does not recommend that prosecutors do so.

There is no intention to refer the case to prosecutors for possible charges, commission chair Ann Jacobs said after the meeting. The goal of the probe was to find out what happened and stop it from happening again, she added.

Charges could be brought by the Dane County attorney's office or the state Department of Justice..........

Wisconsin elections officials find clerk broke laws over uncounted ballots

Wisconsin election officials have found that the former Madison city clerk broke five election laws during the 2020 presidential election.

apnews.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

I think 16 is probably too young

I didn't realize so many countries had that voting age
======================
LONDON (AP) — Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday.

The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain's Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections.

Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament.

The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics.

There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating candidates.

Additionally, the government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations.

The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities...........

Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy

Britain has announced plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national election.

apnews.com

 

[LA 2 L.A.]

I think 16 is probably too young

I didn't realize so many countries had that voting age
======================
LONDON (AP) — Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 by the next national election as part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced Thursday.

The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain's Parliament. Scotland and Wales already let 16- and 17-year-olds vote in local and regional elections.

Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of European Union countries, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament.

The move comes alongside wider reforms that include tightening campaign financing rules to stop shell companies with murky ownership from donating to political parties. Democracy Minister Rushanara Ali said the change would strengthen safeguards against foreign interference in British politics.

There will also be tougher sentences for people convicted of intimidating candidates.

Additionally, the government said it will introduce automatic voter registration and allow voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations.

The previous Conservative government introduced a requirement for voters to show photo identification in 2022, a measure it said would combat fraud. Critics argued it could disenfranchise millions of voters, particularly the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities...........

Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy

Britain has announced plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national election.

apnews.com

MAGA voting makes a strong case for letting newborns and older voter. Channeling Patches O'Houlihan from DodgeBall, "if you can poop your pants, you can poop an election."