US Politics Thread

[DutchSMOKE11]

this top voter system has to change. always the same two parties. why not make room for others and have one final round of rallying and voting?

 

[SebastianBlue]

How will these restrictions stop people crying foul?

It won’t. See my response to MSC’s post for more detail.

Voter ID in the US has been historically used to suppress minority participation and restrictions on mail-in voting would have a very similar effect.

Nearly all of the currently proposed or implemented voter ID laws, after analysis by independent investigators or courts, have been found to primarily impact Democratic voting blocks and advantage Republican voting blocks. And almost all have been proposed or implemented by Republican-controlled state governments.

Functionally, voter ID laws would generally require government issued identification cards, with many Republican programs requiring onerous citizenship and residency requirements that many legitimate citizens would struggle to meet, outside even the economic hardship that would come from taking time off work to go to various government offices and spending the money necessary to acquire the required documentation (which is often above and beyond the common citizenship documents people receive at birth or naturalisation).

Restrictions on mail-in voting would largely disadvantage those in the lower socioeconomic strata, which tend to vote Democrat, rather than Republican, as they find it more difficult to vote in person. That is especially the case in precincts and districts where Republicans have purposefully reduced the number—and staffing levels—of polling stations to increase wait times to actually cast ballots. Some stations have such ridiculous wait times that people are forced to leave without voting because they have to go to work or risk losing their incomes. It is important to remember that the poor make money by selling their time, and any time devoted to intentionally complex or difficult requirements to be able to vote is literally money out of their pockets, which many cannot afford.

Republican state governments have also been working to purge voter rolls, and challenging registrations, due to new rules implemented in the last few years (or even more recently) which makes it incredibly easy to remove even legitimate voters for bad faith reasons. Or, like in the case of Arizona, require different registrations depending on if you are voting in state or federal or even federal presidential elections (meaning you need to go through several different processes and systems to be able to vote in all of the elections in your state).

This would be made an even bigger issue without early voting or mail-in voting, as people would not find out that they had been purged from voter rolls until they go on Election Day to vote, at which point most would have no recourse to resolve the issue for the current election cycle.

And regardless of the method of voting, bad actors—very often MAGA entities now because Republicans struggle to win elections without these types of election manipulation (in tandem with rampant and egregious gerrymandering)—would look to exploit and/or delegitimise them in order to call in to question unfavourable results.

 

[SebastianBlue]

‘Expect war’: leaked chats reveal influence of rightwing media on militia group​

Disinformation and conspiracy theories – some spread by Elon Musk – fuel group’s vitriol and paranoia

Leaked and public chats from Arizona-based “poll watching” activists aligned with a far-right militia group show how their election paranoia has been fueled by a steady drumbeat of conspiracy theories and disinformation from rightwing media outlets and influencers, including Elon Musk.

The materials come from two overlapping election-denial groups whose activists are mostly based in Arizona, one of seven key swing states that will decide the US election and possibly end up at the center of any disputed results in the post-election period.

The materials offer a window into the way in which the rightwing information environment – and the unverified, distorted or false information it proffers – erode faith in elections, and encourage those who would violently disrupt them.

‘Expect war’: leaked chats reveal influence of rightwing media on militia group | Far right (US) | The Guardian

Disinformation and conspiracy theories – some spread by Elon Musk – fuel group’s vitriol and paranoia

amp.theguardian.com

 

[Blue Maverick]

If Trump is worried about illegal immigrants voting how can they? Surely your name must be on a list like we do over here, if they are illegal they can’t be citizens or am I missing something?

 

[west didsblue]

If Trump is worried about illegal immigrants voting how can they? Surely your name must be on a list like we do over here, if they are illegal they can’t be citizens or am I missing something?

You’re missing the fact that practically nothing Trump says makes any sense at all.

 

[super_city_si]

I just saw that.

There are also investigations in several swing states in to large numbers of fraudulent voter registrations allegedly submitted by several MAGA-aligned voter turnout organisations (those enetities are vehemently denying they were involved).

This after Trump and co have repeatedly claimed the non-MAGA side would be the ones committing fraud and undertaking violence to steal the election from him.

Again, accusation is always confession with MAGA. It is a tactic straight out of the Nazi (and Roy Cohn) playbook.

Just have to look at the 2020 election, any findings of wrong doing were found to be republicans.

 

[inbetween]

If Trump is worried about illegal immigrants voting how can they? Surely your name must be on a list like we do over here, if they are illegal they can’t be citizens or am I missing something?

No they can't vote, even green card holders can't vote. Only US citizens can vote, no immigrant is a US citizen until they've been there long enough, met the criteria and taken the US citizenship path.

What he really means is legal American citizens who are of the wrong skin colour/background.

 

[SebastianBlue]

This is the sort of dangerous election manipulation MAGA states are trying to undertake across the US.​

​

Virginia seeks Supreme Court's intervention in challenge to voter roll purge​

Washington — Virginia officials on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow the state to move forward with its removal of roughly 1,600 alleged noncitizens from its voter rolls, seeking its intervention just days before the November general election.

State election officials requested the high court pause a lower court order that blocked Virginia from continuing its systematic voter removal program that was launched in August, exactly 90 days before Election Day. A provision of the National Voter Registration Act requires states to complete programs aimed at purging ineligible voters from registration lists up to 90 days before federal elections.

Virginia officials asked the Supreme Court to grant its request for emergency relief by Tuesday. They claimed that the district court's order violates Virginia law "and common sense" and "mandates a variety of disruptive measures."

The injunction issued by the lower court will harm "Virginia's sovereignty, confuse her voters, overload her election machinery and administrators, and likely lead noncitizens to think they are permitted to vote, a criminal offense that will cancel the franchise of eligible voters," state officials wrote.

Virginia seeks Supreme Court's intervention in challenge to voter roll purge

Exactly 90 days before Election Day, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced a systematic program to remove from voter rolls people unable to verify their citizenship to the DMV.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[moomba]

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

I thought the rich twat had endorsed Harris, or is he edging his bets to keep himself ‘Almighty’ rich?