Micaela Darkwatch

Members Of Election Board Suspended For Supporting Weekend Voting

Voting in Ohio | Fight over poll hours isn

__________________
~ I mean, who am I? That's the real question, isn't it? Who am I? Who are you? What other questions are there? What other questions are there, really? If you want to understand the universe, embrace the universe, the door to the universe is you!~

AshaSekayi Ra

From Columbus Dispatch

And yet, they claim these voter suppression changes have zero to do with political games. Yea right.

Eboni Khan

I don't see how not allowing voting on the weekend is disenfranchising people. It has been election day not election week, election month, election weekend for how long?

It seems that some people will only be happy when we have 24/7 voting, no ID or registration required. Why even vote at all.

Joshua Nightshade

In principle I don't have a problem with requiring ID, but the point is that these changes are being done last minute simply to make it inconvenient (if not impossible) to get ID in time. Given that some states don't even supply temporary ID, and there's a lead time of several weeks to receive it, the only point is to try and make it impossible to get yours in time for the election.

If you want to change the laws to stamp out a non-existent problem (10 cases of voter fraud since 2000, in the entire country) fine; do it after the election.

Ohio went so far as to change the voting hours to reduce the time in predominantly Democratic districts while extending them in Republican ones. Literally. It's simply about making a specific group of people have a difficult time voting so your guy can win.

__________________

Lianne Marten

I had to re-read that quote several times to make sure that he actually provided the own subtext to his statement and it wasn't an author insert. This new trend for GOP members to state outright the actual reasoning behind their policies is... pretty interesting.

Literally no one has ever said people should be able to vote without registering, anywhere, ever.

Washington State allows voting by absentee ballot for anyone. Mail in your ballot anytime you want, from the day it arrives at your address all the way up until election day. It works fine.

Giving people more options for when to cast their vote has zero functional downside. Unless you're a Republican, since more people voting makes it more likely you'll lose your election. That's why they are doing things like this.


[edit]I may have been slightly hyperbolic with that first sentence there. It looks like North Dakota allows voting without registration, so I assume someone there must have said something about it back in 1951. I amend the statement to mean: "No one has ever attempted to remove the registration requirement for voting where it currently exists, in the 21st century."

__________________

Ramen Jedburgh

Its not like these people aren't just appointed to their posts behind the scenes anyway.

__________________
--
Ramen Jedburgh
Abusively Cute ^_^

Eris

When a state with a history of extremely long lines at polling places is allowing night and weekend voting in predominantly Republican districts, but not Democratic ones, they're obviously trying to disenfranchise Democrats.

Getting 130 million people to the polls on the same day can be problematic, hence early voting.

Ann Launay

Actually, I won't be happy until I can vote from the privacy of my home, using my computer.

__________________

Eunoli Rain

Allowing weekend voting gives those low-income working people who are not able to leave work to vote (despite the laws saying they must be allowed) an opportunity to participate in the democratic process. It is a good idea in urban areas and to create a policy that boils down to "too bad, too poor and too black - they shouldn't be allowed to vote" just takes me back to the voter suppression that happened in the early twentieth century.

For as long as I remember - this country has *always* focused on making it easier for as many citizens to vote as possible. Voting is a civic duty, not a privilege. Preventing any registered citizen from voting is a shameful and possibly criminal act.

Seyla Warden

... And hope that your vote is actually tallied honestly and isn't changed to whatever the people running the system want it to be.

__________________

Kara Spengler

Umm ... you DO know "no ID to vote" was the norm before all of these voter ID laws, right?

__________________

Ann Launay

Oh, that reminds me. The demise of the electoral college will also be necessary for my happiness. It's outlived its usefulness.

Kara Spengler

I just had to defend why voter ID laws were a source of disenfranchisement on the LAST place where I would have expected to have to do so. A transgender advocacy email list.

Getting required documentation, getting to the office (may or may not be near you and may or may not have hours that fit your schedule), and so on.

*sigh* FOX seems to be distributing kool-aid everywhere now.

Joshua Nightshade

That's a good point. It's immensely difficult to get those documents coordinated with your gender identity even when you happen to live in a state with progressive handling of the subject.

Seyla Warden

So if it's soooo important that people have an ID in order to contain all the voting fraud going on (I'm not sold on this but let's run with it for the sake of argument) then surely the thing to do is to make sure everyone has a free ID, with an easy and free way to replace it if something happens to it. Right? IDs = less voter fraud, right guys? Guys?

Oh, wait, you just want to demand IDs so people can't vote because getting IDs can be made ridiculously hard. Gotcha. You can go die in a fire now.

eta:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...7964&forumid=1

Micaela Darkwatch

The ban on weekend and after hours early voting was allowed in predominantly Republican areas and denied in predominantly Democratic -read African-American- areas. In 2008, when it was allowed, 48% of the voters in Franklin county (predominantly African-American and Democrat) voted in extended hours.

If that's not disenfranchisement, I don't know what is. Way back in the beginnings of this country, people could just leave their farms or close their shops for the day and go vote. Back then, even big cities weren't anywhere near the size we have today. And, try to get a day off (or an hour, half day, whatever) today if you're a low to mid-wage earner. Single day voting is no longer an option in today's world, unless, of course, you're trying to make it near impossible for whole groups of people to vote.


I did too. I still find it hard to believe he actually allowed himself to be quoted (via email, no less) a statement like that.

Beebo Brink

Every year that I work the polls in my county, I'm increasingly grateful for the process I see in place. We have early voting at the couthouse that starts at least a week ahead of an election and covers weekends and evenings. Anyone who wants to vote is given every opportunity to do so.

If you opt for showing up at your precinct on the formal election day, the only requirement for casting your vote is that you can match the signature on the register polls. Only if the signature doesn't appear to match are you asked for any ID, and in a worst case scenario you will be asked to cast a provisional ballot. (You are provided with a tracking number for that ballot so you can learn the decision of the election board and can even contest it.)

In every way, the process is transparent.

__________________
Noob: "okay.... im in a house with cages and people in gags and the door just locked and i cant get out :c"

Rosemaery Lorefield

I'm sorry, but what part of making voting more accessible makes voting pointless?

Oh wait, it is pointless for those who want to suppress the poor, working poor and minorities. Got it.

Eboni Khan

One person one vote, all this no ID bullshit, and letting people vote for weeks is just so people can vote more than once.

Seyla Warden

So then you would be on-board for the government footing the bill for EVERY citizen to get a free ID, with provisions in place to replace it (again, freely) without requiring a bunch of documents that can also be lost and extremely hard to replace if you don't already have them?

Because if it was truly about the IDs all of that is the logical continuation. Right?

Richie Waves

Rape is more common in America than voter fraud. These gobshites have their priorities list in a bottle up their arses.

Joshua Nightshade

Ten cases.

Since 2000.

Ten. In the entire country.

No one is gaming the system.

Lianne Marten

Policy Brief on the Truth About “Voter Fraud” | Brennan Center for Justice

TL; DR: Individual voter fraud is about as common as getting struck by lightning. The only voter fraud that occurs in any significant numbers is the kind done by outside actors attempting to lower voter turnout.

Ann Launay

Hush, Joshy. Eboni is proselytizing.

Amity Slade

The working poor tend to have jobs that do not offer generous leave time. Extra time to vote relieves them from having to choose between voting and keeping their jobs.