jack the nonabrasive
If it isn't obvious, the main tactic will continue to be Black voter suppression. The best thing white folks can do is assist voter turnout.
From my experience doing GOTV in Ohio, this is going to get much uglier than it already is. What this poll
shows is that we need to clear the paths.
From: @mekkaokereke
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/112847353808292270
Administrator
@karabaic @mekkaokereke Right before I left the US South for good, I noticed just how much harder it had become to get a mail vote in Georgia, for instance.
In 2021 Georgia changed the law to require you to use a *printer* to:
A) print out the form
B) sign it
C) scan it
D) send it via email.
Prior to this, you could just sign it on an iPad or your phone.
There was only one reason why this change was made, and it wasn't to make voting "safer".
Jonobie
And in Washington, we all - without doing a thing - get ballots mailed to us. Every election. With a guide. And it’s free to mail back. Boggles my mind that this isn’t everywhere in the US. I get to vote over my morning coffee (or several mornings!) while arguing positions with a partner, and it’s fantastic.
Administrator
@karabaic @mekkaokereke This change was made so that voting by mail would be restricted to only those who either had A) access to a printer, or B) maintained one of their own. Both are things that are getting extremely rare today.
And of course, since this is Georgia, you have to pay for your own stamp.
Meanwhile, in Michigan, I am on the "permanent mail vote" list, where for every election I just receive my vote, complete it, and send it back, with pre-paid postage.
Paul Cantrell
@jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke
Minnesota consistently has the highest voter turnout in the country. We have:
- mail-in voting
- and numerous in-person voting locations
- usually in walking distance
- including in majority minority neighborhoods
- and same-day registration
- that accepts a •wide• variety of forms of proof of residence
- and robust support systems for al the above
We should also take a page from WA with the passive mail ballots!! That’s great.
Paul Cantrell
@jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke
(Context: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/112848410642503779)
Paul Cantrell
@slotrak
(Quotes above don’t mean “so-called,” but rather “the thing a hypothetical person would utter” and/or “the text itself functions as a noun,” as in this sentence.)
slotrak
@klausfiend @inthehands @jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke
No quotes need. It is due to racism, pure and simple.
klausfiend
@inthehands @jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke CA transitioned to fully supporting absentee balloting during the pandemic. It's fantastic. But if I've learned anything as a US voter, it's this: if your state is indifferent or hostile to mail-in voting, the reason is almost certainly "racism".
Administrator
@jonobie @karabaic @mekkaokereke Every now and then I actually feel bad for a Republican politician, because they'll say something like "we need to stop disenfranchising mail voters, because much of our base lives in rural areas where mail voting could actually help us."
These particular Republican voices are usually older -- getting to a polling place may be hard for them too, at that age (there are no "voter busses" in rural areas, as you might imagine).
T J Bombadil
@jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke That’s because in Washington (and Colorado, and other civilized places) voting is seen as a feature not a bug. In Texas, you have to run a marathon over flaming hot coals to even get a ballot, and then be told you don’t have the right kind of ID (the kind that shows your skin as white, of course).
Michael Busch
@inthehands @jonobie @mdm @karabaic @mekkaokereke My one objection to voting rules here in #Minnesota is the witness requirement for voting by mail.
When I was living out-of-state for school but still voting here; I had to find the one person on campus who was a notary in order to vote. It was always a hassle.
Now there is a provision for any other Minnesota voter to witness the ballot; but that doesn't help out-of-state.
And California & Washington manage just fine for without any such rule.
Administrator
@michael_w_busch Wow -- Michigan also has no such requirement.
Wait -- did it really need to be *notarized*? Even Georgia didn't require that. :\
Michael Busch
@mdm The current vote by mail rules from the #Minnesota Secretary of State's office: https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-early-by-mail/
"Who can witness my ballot?
You will need a witness when you vote and complete your ballot. The witness can be either a registered Minnesota voter or a notary."
I keep complaining about this to my members of the Minnesota state legislature.
(On the other hand, all one needs to get a ballot by mail is to fill out the form online - or by mail or in person in a county election office.)
JamesK
@mdm It’s funny, when the plague started Idaho amazingly made absentee voting available to anyone and for some reason it’s still going for most things, so we kind of have voting by mail.
Additionally, some folks worked really hard and got enough signatures by a wide margin to get open primaries on the ballot this fall. The same initiative would put ranked choice voting in place, which boggles my mind. Of course, the legislators are now trying to use their typical fuckery to do an end run, but the mere fact that enough people in the state are on board to consider it is very encouraging.
Administrator
@JamesK You too could move, don't worry! (I never thought I'd be able to leave a voting-restricted state either.)
JamesK
@jonobie @mekkaokereke @mdm @karabaic Yeah, rub our noses in it, why don’t you🙃
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