5 ms·

Why make voting harder and more expensive then it already is?

andrew_ 5y ago
Apologies for replying to your question with a question. What is hard and expensive about voting today? I'm interested in your experiences on the topic, as I've personally not had a voting experience that was hard or expensive. For what it's worth, I'm considered a minority in the U.S.
- cmh89 5y ago
  It depends on where you are. In my state (Oregon), voting is easy and secure. We vote by mail as a default and if you move and don't get your ballot, you can go to any voting office and request all the way up until when polls close on election day. Now, if you are in republican held states like Alabama or Georgia, it's going to be a different story. republicans use several methods to disenfranchise voters, voter ID is just one of them. 1. republicans always aim to have the shortest polling hours possible. This benefits them because their base tends to be older and more time/ability to vote during the day. Working-class voters are especially impacted by this because if they can even get time off during the day, they probably will have to pay for the privilege of voting in the form of sacrificing hours at work and getting a reduced paycheck. 2. The second thing republicans do is close polling stations in areas they don't expect a lot of support. This creates massive wait times for folks who are more likely to vote Democrat. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smartphone-data-show-voters-in-black-neighborhoods-wait-longer1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smartphone-data-s... Those hourly workers who are already sacrificing money to vote have to take even more time off to cast their ballot. 3. Another tactic is voter roll purges. A lot of folks don't know that they've been unenrolled from the voter rolls till they show up on election day. This particularly effects renters who might not realize they aren't registered at their current address, and miss mail regarding it because its sent to their former address. 4. republicans will also just shamelessly attempt to discourage Democratic turnout. For example, Georgia got rid of voting early Sunday morning to put a damper on the 'Souls to Polls' movement. There is no rationalization for this. They didn't even bother to lie about it. They just wanted to squash a successful Black get-out-the-vote initiative.
  - andrew_ 5y ago
    I've lived in Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and Texas and (again, as a minority) have never experienced any of these. I'll admit that confirmation bias is a real thing and may apply here, however these points smell of common media talking points and heavy, heavy tribalism. Even as a registered Democrat, I just do not buy into the "Democrats are purveyors of voting righteousness and the Republicans are out to destroy our right to vote" narrative.
    - cmh89 5y ago
      That's great for you! That doesn't really have any bearing on the documented reality of republican disenfranchisement of voters. Sometimes 'common media talking points' are talking points because a real and serious problem exists. There's plenty of evidence of the problem if you want to take the time to get educated on it. republicans ARE out to destroy the right to vote. They are actively anti-democracy to the point of spreading outright lies about the 2020 Presidential election and attempting to overthrow the democratically elected candidate for US President. This really isn't a 'both sides' thing. When you have to pretend that both sides are bad so as to appear fair, we call that 'enlightened centrism'. republicans represent a minority of Americans. They'd never have power again if we had fair democratic elections. Democrats represent the majority of Americans. They benefit greatly from fair democratic elections. It's just that simple.
      - treebot 5y ago
        > republicans represent a minority of Americans. They'd never have power again if we had fair democratic elections. Democrats represent the majority of Americans. They benefit greatly from fair democratic elections. It's just that simple. This is the truth, and is why Republicans are doing what they are doing. It's not because Republicans are bad and Democrats are good. It's because Republicans are going to lose otherwise.
  - the_snooze 5y ago
    >3. Another tactic is voter roll purges. A lot of folks don't know that they've been unenrolled from the voter rolls till they show up on election day. This particularly effects renters who might not realize they aren't registered at their current address, and miss mail regarding it because its sent to their former address. I hear this a lot, but states do have to keep their voter rolls up-to-date by law. People move in and out all the time, and not everyone votes in every election. Are there mechanisms that you think are effective in reducing the chances of someone mistakenly getting removed, while still allowing for stale records to be dropped?

Apologies for replying to your question with a question. What is hard and expensive about voting today? I'm interested in your experiences on the topic, as I've personally not had a voting experience that was hard or expensive. For what it's worth, I'm considered a minority in the U.S.

cmh89 5y ago
It depends on where you are. In my state (Oregon), voting is easy and secure. We vote by mail as a default and if you move and don't get your ballot, you can go to any voting office and request all the way up until when polls close on election day. Now, if you are in republican held states like Alabama or Georgia, it's going to be a different story. republicans use several methods to disenfranchise voters, voter ID is just one of them. 1. republicans always aim to have the shortest polling hours possible. This benefits them because their base tends to be older and more time/ability to vote during the day. Working-class voters are especially impacted by this because if they can even get time off during the day, they probably will have to pay for the privilege of voting in the form of sacrificing hours at work and getting a reduced paycheck. 2. The second thing republicans do is close polling stations in areas they don't expect a lot of support. This creates massive wait times for folks who are more likely to vote Democrat. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smartphone-data-show-voters-in-black-neighborhoods-wait-longer1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smartphone-data-s... Those hourly workers who are already sacrificing money to vote have to take even more time off to cast their ballot. 3. Another tactic is voter roll purges. A lot of folks don't know that they've been unenrolled from the voter rolls till they show up on election day. This particularly effects renters who might not realize they aren't registered at their current address, and miss mail regarding it because its sent to their former address. 4. republicans will also just shamelessly attempt to discourage Democratic turnout. For example, Georgia got rid of voting early Sunday morning to put a damper on the 'Souls to Polls' movement. There is no rationalization for this. They didn't even bother to lie about it. They just wanted to squash a successful Black get-out-the-vote initiative.
- andrew_ 5y ago
  I've lived in Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and Texas and (again, as a minority) have never experienced any of these. I'll admit that confirmation bias is a real thing and may apply here, however these points smell of common media talking points and heavy, heavy tribalism. Even as a registered Democrat, I just do not buy into the "Democrats are purveyors of voting righteousness and the Republicans are out to destroy our right to vote" narrative.
  - cmh89 5y ago
    That's great for you! That doesn't really have any bearing on the documented reality of republican disenfranchisement of voters. Sometimes 'common media talking points' are talking points because a real and serious problem exists. There's plenty of evidence of the problem if you want to take the time to get educated on it. republicans ARE out to destroy the right to vote. They are actively anti-democracy to the point of spreading outright lies about the 2020 Presidential election and attempting to overthrow the democratically elected candidate for US President. This really isn't a 'both sides' thing. When you have to pretend that both sides are bad so as to appear fair, we call that 'enlightened centrism'. republicans represent a minority of Americans. They'd never have power again if we had fair democratic elections. Democrats represent the majority of Americans. They benefit greatly from fair democratic elections. It's just that simple.
    - treebot 5y ago
      > republicans represent a minority of Americans. They'd never have power again if we had fair democratic elections. Democrats represent the majority of Americans. They benefit greatly from fair democratic elections. It's just that simple. This is the truth, and is why Republicans are doing what they are doing. It's not because Republicans are bad and Democrats are good. It's because Republicans are going to lose otherwise.
- the_snooze 5y ago
  >3. Another tactic is voter roll purges. A lot of folks don't know that they've been unenrolled from the voter rolls till they show up on election day. This particularly effects renters who might not realize they aren't registered at their current address, and miss mail regarding it because its sent to their former address. I hear this a lot, but states do have to keep their voter rolls up-to-date by law. People move in and out all the time, and not everyone votes in every election. Are there mechanisms that you think are effective in reducing the chances of someone mistakenly getting removed, while still allowing for stale records to be dropped?