Voter Disenfranchisement

[Yukaphile]

They should fund transportation for people who don't have access to voter IDs to get them. But Republicans don't wanna do that because they're paranoid they might vote Democrat.

[Antiboyscout]

They should fund transportation for people who don't have access to voter IDs to get them. But Republicans don't wanna do that because they're paranoid they might vote Democrat.

ID cards from the DMV are already free if you're on welfare.

[PerrySimm]

You know what they do in a lot of countries? They just stick your thumb in a pit of ink to keep you from voting twice.

Simple and effective, no bureaucratic hurdles, and no need to criminalize people for typos or late paperwork.

[Yukaphile]

Public transportation is too expensive for some people. I'm talking funded transportation that's free to provide people a mean to get to these places to fill out their IDs. But again, the GOP knows that by 2050 the US will be mostly Latino, and they're terrified the demographics are against them, so they don't wanna help people, especially poor Hispanics, have easier access to voting. It's much simpler to try and turn voters away rather than reform their party and reject the hard right's bigotry. Like Trump's comments that Mexicans are rapists and killers.

[Admiral X]

It's funny how that keeps being misquoted.

Meanwhile, in my state, some asshat decided that a government issued ID that has a PO box on it instead of a physical address just isn't good enough to vote (because how do we know they really live in that community, apparently ). Incidentally, most Natives have a PO Box listed on their tribal ID instead of a physical one, because depending on where you are, there might not be any street signs or numbers anyway. The Standing Rock tribe is encouraging its members who don't know what their physical address is to coordinate with the local 911 coordinator (technically even folks living in the middle of no where have a street number type address for 911 purposes) to figure out what it is so they can change the address on their IDs in time for voting next month.

[Antiboyscout]

Public transportation is too expensive for some people. I'm talking funded transportation that's free to provide people a mean to get to these places to fill out their IDs. But again, the GOP knows that by 2050 the US will be mostly Latino, and they're terrified the demographics are against them, so they don't wanna help people, especially poor Hispanics, have easier access to voting. It's much simpler to try and turn voters away rather than reform their party and reject the hard right's bigotry. Like Trump's comments that Mexicans are rapists and killers.

What does being Latino have to do with access to a DMV?
The bus is too expensive for people on welfare? sure...

Meanwhile in CA I had to wait 2 hours in a DMV to get a real ID drivers license because the state wanted to issue drivers licenses to illegals.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

good news is there's a fund to help improve voting access to disenfranchised Native Americans in North Dakota: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dkndnativevote

[Worffan101]

I'd like Voter ID requirements myself, but in a way that's not going to disenfranchise legitimate voters. Because there are all sorts of clever ways to do the latter with the former. Not widely disseminating new requirements, for instance, or requiring personal visits to the election supervisor's office (a barrier for those without personal transportation or access to transportation, as can happen in rural communities especially, since the latter rarely have even the slightest system of mass transit).

I think that's why many Democrats are leery of the Republican pushes for Voter ID, they see it as a clandestine disenfranchisement campaign, not a legitimate response to a legitimate problem.

The main problem with the Voter ID laws the Republicans push is that they're an added restriction that not only doesn't actually work (most fraudulent voting seems to be by Republicans who think they need to vote multiple times to counteract the 'illegal voters' Faux News tells them exist), not only is already covered by stuff like what @Robovski mentioned (I registered to vote absentee here in CA, and yeah, they asked for my SSN, and that's all the Feds truly NEED to verify your identity), but it demands kinds of IDs that poor people (who are more likely to be black and to vote Dem) generally do not have (it's far cheaper for a poor person in a city to buy a bus pass than to get a car, after all, so why bother with a drivers' license?).

Add to that that the Republicans have openly admitted that the purpose of these laws is to disenfranchise voters (I used to live in PA, one of our state reps was openly bragging about how the voter ID law he helped pass would "help Governor Romney win the state of PA"), and frankly, I don't see the point of adding more restrictions. Voting should be as easy as possible to encourage voter engagement.

[Yukaphile]

The way Trump tells it, millions of votes are being rigged with illegal immigrants and dead people. Of course, we know why he says that. It's a way to soothe the wounded ego of social conservatives who just hate the idea they lost the popular vote in like the last several presidental elections going back all the way to Dubya, so they convince themselves it's just a few million extra votes that "aren't real," thus they really do have the "mandate of the people." And I do agree the progressive wing of the party is too radical to appeal to the center, and they need to tone down the radicals on their flank if they wanna be taken seriously. Did you see how they were acting in 2016? Throwing wads of cash at limos (what a waste of money!), and using slurs like "corporate whores" which seemed like a deliberate dig against women's rights given our frontrunner was a woman, ripped banners out of screaming children's hands, and then bused people into local caucuses to cause a ruckus. I don't trust the progressive wing ever since they said the TPP would sell us literal slavery in the most basic and absolute definition of the word. Obama had his problems, but that? Is laughable.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Um, Yuka, have you seen any anarchist, communist, or other far-left people try to stop republicans from voting? Passing laws that prevent anyone accused of hate crimes or purchasing a yacht from participating in elections?