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"sanctity of the voting booth"?! > More than one in five polling places have closed over the last decade, according to an ABC News and ABC Owned Stations analy

"sanctity of the voting booth"?! > More than one in five polling places have closed over the last decade, according to an ABC News and ABC Owned Stations analysis of data from the Election Administration and Voting Survey, the Center for New Data and the Center for Public Integrity. https://abcnews.go.com/US/protecting-vote-1-5-election-day-polling-places/story?id=114990347 https://abcnews.go.com/US/protecting-vote-1-5-election-day-p... This is after Shelby County v. Holder, and now states are shutting down polling stations to suppress the vote --- well you can no longer accuse them that in the courts, but it is clearly what they are doing. Just like how Alabama passed a voter id law and then closed half their DMVs, the ones in black neighborhoods. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/10/alabama-closes-dmvs-in-majority-of-black-belt-counties-passed-voter-id-law-in-2011.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/10/alabama-closes-d... There's no "sanctity of the voting booth" - shutting down polling stations and DMVs and then requiring people to visit the DMV and the polling station and making it intentionally more difficult for some people, this is all very very obvious and you can't hide it from me by waving a flag in front of my face. Here's the actual plan: Require in person voting, "protect" the polling places with armed masked goons working for ICE to "keep illegals from voting" and then call it freedom. Give me a break. Do you really think we're that dumb?

baggy_trough 1y ago
Yes that’s right, the sanctity of the voting booth. The ability, and indeed the requirement, to vote in private so as to avoid all influence is an important value. Of course, one may prepare beforehand.
- byronic 1y ago
  Polling places aren't open during a plurality of hours in which people who work irregular hours can vote -- the Alabama example above affected me personally but generally is true in most of the southeastern United States. We don't get the day off, there isn't a means of transport unless you already live in a city that provides "rides to the polls," and lines are often long and slow to move. I'm not saying that to deride your instinct here that a polling place being a private booth is kind of Cool™, just that providing accessibility (or, if I had my druthers, making voting _mandatory_ and giving everyone the day off to do it) sometimes requires we open the idea book and consider how we can make sure everyone who has the right to vote can do it.
- kristopolous 1y ago
  Politicians writing rules to suppress the votes they don't want, is this a brand new concept to you? Have you honestly never heard of this before? Does the actual reality that exist in the actual world that we actually live in matter more? Tossing unnecessary burdens on the process is how they mess with this thing you think is so holy
- alistairSH 1y ago
  At least one state (NC) allows spouses in the voting booth.
  - baggy_trough 1y ago
    That is certainly a very bad idea.

baggy_trough 1y ago

Yes that’s right, the sanctity of the voting booth. The ability, and indeed the requirement, to vote in private so as to avoid all influence is an important value. Of course, one may prepare beforehand.

byronic 1y ago
Polling places aren't open during a plurality of hours in which people who work irregular hours can vote -- the Alabama example above affected me personally but generally is true in most of the southeastern United States. We don't get the day off, there isn't a means of transport unless you already live in a city that provides "rides to the polls," and lines are often long and slow to move. I'm not saying that to deride your instinct here that a polling place being a private booth is kind of Cool™, just that providing accessibility (or, if I had my druthers, making voting _mandatory_ and giving everyone the day off to do it) sometimes requires we open the idea book and consider how we can make sure everyone who has the right to vote can do it.
kristopolous 1y ago
Politicians writing rules to suppress the votes they don't want, is this a brand new concept to you? Have you honestly never heard of this before? Does the actual reality that exist in the actual world that we actually live in matter more? Tossing unnecessary burdens on the process is how they mess with this thing you think is so holy
alistairSH 1y ago
At least one state (NC) allows spouses in the voting booth.
- baggy_trough 1y ago
  That is certainly a very bad idea.