Extra depressing: thanks to the presence of corrupt VichyDem quislings, a bare majority wonât be enough. Thatâd just hand control to the Joe Manchin and DWS types.
As always, there is a solution, but electoralism ainât it.
4 Likes
More GA shenanigans being reportedâŚ
10 Likes
8 Likes
I hadnât ever looked at how elections work in Canada, and your mention of a âvoter cardâ interested me as I (incorrectly) assumed this was some sort of universal ID. Based on five minutes of research, it looks like you have to provide ID to vote in Canada, hence the need for vouching for people who donât have IDs I guess (and a SIN is not an ID).
However, I have in-person voted in both New York and California, and in both states you do not bring anything to the polling station to vote. You find your name in the list and sign next to it. Dare I say, thatâs how simple voting should be.
Of course, you do have to register to be on the list, which ideally shouldnât be necessary. If youâre in the system already in some way, e.g. you have a driverâs license or government-issued ID of some kind that officially indicates your resident address, you should automatically be registered. Thereâs really no valid argument against that.
(Iâll note also that the past several elections Iâve voted by mail, which again is how simple voting should beâŚ)
8 Likes
Remember though, virtually anyone who can vote here has ID, thanks to universal health care. Everyone has a health card, and while Iâm not sure about all provinces and territories, I know at least some provinces made that photo ID to tighten security.
6 Likes
It helps a lot that the health card in some provinces, like BC, the health card is in itself a photo IDâŚ
2 Likes
TEXAS!!
DONâT ACCIDENTALLY VOTE FOR TED CRUZ!!
4 Likes
So appalling, it can be posted twice!!
I am glad Leah McElrath got pics, though.
2 Likes
The voter ID (and universal ID) debate is interesting, because on the face of it, it doesnât seem like really that much of an undue burden since you need government-issued ID for all kinds of other things anyway.
I think the problem in the US is that when you look at whoâs most likely to push these ID ideas, itâs those on the right - who are becoming more fascistic by the minute. I guess I wouldnât be too worried in Canada, but weâre already on a slippery slope towards a âpapieren, bitteâ society on this side of the border (in fact it already is, if youâre not white and youâre near the southern border).
And, even with the no-ID-needed voting system, itâs near-impossible to commit voting fraud on any scale that matters. So it isnât necessary, and the only conclusion is that theyâre trying to do things like require ID simply to suppress votes.
4 Likes
Except people donât.
I know someone who did contact work in the Appalachians for a few months (maybe 6 months out of a year altogether). He learned there are people â surprise, theyâre all poor â who have no birth certificates, no driverâs licences, nothing. They drive, they just donât have licences. But theyâre white and so under the radar.
Wired and the Other Place have both reported on people essentially disenfranchised because they canât get to the DMV.
Canada kinda is âpapieren bitteâ now, except usually itâs âSorry, I gotta see some ID, eh?â. âPapieren bitteâ is only scary when you donât have papers and couldnât get any if you tried.
Itâs not about the ID. Itâs the one-two of demanding ID while making it harder for certain citizens to get.
11 Likes
One of the things the conservatives used to be wary of was gubmint ID cards. But once they realized their enemies had a harder time getting them in order to vote, presto, they had no problem at all.
6 Likes
Oh hey, more news from Georgia. Guess how thatâs going!
(Note: page has a sticky title bar)
6 Likes
I originally had a big paragraph about people who are disenfranchised because of what seems like a simple thing to most (having government ID), namely Native Americans on reservations, but I deleted it and said âon the face of itâ instead because I was lazy to check sources to get the details right 
I appreciate the Appalachians anecdote - that is a particularly weird place, but poor white rural communities like that where people donât have birth certificates and SSNs exist in probably every state.
I donât mean to derail the thread into a discussion of the surveillance state but personally, I find a papers, please society offensive regardless of whether or not I have papers or am able to get them. That is separate from looking out for others who will have trouble getting the right papers or who can easily have their papers revoked in such a society, although I do care about that too.
But restricted movement in any form is distinctly un-American (with an exception for protecting natural areas and things like that). Papers, please means that your movement is being checked and can be restricted, but it doesnât actually have to be restricted to make you feel restricted - itâs a looming threat.
Voter suppression is also deeply, offensively un-American, and it all ties in together. In my view, the Republicans are committing treason when they amp up the surveillance state, suppress votes, and target immigrants.
The term âun-Americanâ carries some baggage because the right used the term in a corrupt manner in the 50âs but I mean it literally, as far as that goes.
6 Likes
It is very American. Most Western countries, you get the ID and safeguards against the exploitation of that data. Itâs a very social democratic thing.
Rob Sawyer explores this in depth in his Hominids trilogy, where in the alternative Neanderthal society, everyone is electronically surveilled⌠but because of how their entire society is structured, people are generally for it and donât find it oppressive â because itâs been carefully built not to be.
3 Likes
Iâm wary of such cards myself â years ago I read about Singaporeâs use of subway cards that tracked each personâs comings and goings, and thought it was pretty scary. Now we have cell phones and cars that are tracked all the time. The trouble is, in the US, itâs used in all the wrong ways, unlike Sawyerâs novels (which I enjoyed a lot). IIRC, the Neanderthal people had cellphone-like things permanently implanted on their wrists, but the data collected was completely inaccessible by anyone unless needed for solving a crime or equivalent.
5 Likes
4 Likes
6 Likes
5 Likes
4 Likes