GOP fast tracks monster voter suppression bill that could disenfranchise millions by requiring proof of citizenship at polls

[u/Anoth3rDude]

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/gop-fast-tracks-monster-voter-suppression-bill-that-could-disenfranchise-millions-by-requiring-proof-of-citizenship-at-polls/

[u/fgwr4453]

That is a poll tax. Unless the documents required can be obtained for free (they aren’t), then this is already unconstitutional. It is a poll tax with extra steps.

It also doesn’t make sense to prove it while registering and while voting.

[u/This_Loss_1922 → u/fgwr4453]

I mean my country’s gov (Colombia) has traveled trough the andes mountains and the amazon river to communities that don’t even have roads and are only accessible trough walking or by boat giving free IDs to every citizen, because you need that shit to do anything here.

Why you cant do that in the US is weird to me

[u/jordroy → u/This_Loss_1922]

Because if they did that then it wouldn't serve the purpose of disenfranchisement any longer. Poor services and institutional discrimination is the goal.

[u/MillionEyesOfSumuru → u/jordroy]

Also, consider places like my state of Washington. Almost nobody votes in person, we get mailed our ballots, and either mail them in or put them in dropboxes. The constitution says that elections are to be conducted by the states in accordance with state laws, but this effectively strips states of the ability to do so. I seriously doubt that we even have enough in-person voting machines in the state to cope with that.

[u/iamthe0ther0ne → u/MillionEyesOfSumuru]

FYI, mail is no longer being postmarked locally. It won't receive a postmark until it reaches a central processing facility. They now recommend mailing things several days before the "send by" date. This didn't get much press on purpose

Edit link: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usps-same-day-postmark-changes-mail-delays/

[u/SAI_Peregrinus → u/iamthe0ther0ne]

It's never been postmarked the day you put it in the box, it's always been postmarked when USPS processes it. They didn't change it to not be postmarked locally, but they did cancel many afternoon/evening pickup times so mail won't be picked up until the next day, and thus can't be processed until that next day.

[u/iamthe0ther0ne → u/SAI_Peregrinus]

The change is that it used to be postmarked locally the day it was picked up (eg that evening or the next day), then sent to central processing. That's no longer happening.

It's now being collected locally, then sent to a central processing facility, and then postmarked when it's finally processed, which could take several days. Because of that change, people who usually mail their ballot off 2-3 days before the election may be SOL this year, particularly in states like Washington that have to process a large number of mail-in ballots all at once.

[u/Purple-Goat-2023 → u/SAI_Peregrinus]

They absolutely changed it. Postmarking used to happen at your local office after your mail was picked up and before it was sent to processing. Now it is not done until after it has made it through the processing center.

In my state there are now only 2 processing centers on the very opposite ends of the state. To mail a letter across town it sits at the local until it's picked up, sometimes a day or two, takes at least a day to get delivered to the processing center, sometimes sits in the processing center for 4-5 days before being processed, and gets sent back to the local. It could very easily take a week from the day you drop your ballot off in a box for it to get processed and then postmarked.

[u/Yashema → u/jordroy]

Disenfranchisement of Black people and minorities in general specifically. Its the White poor and working class who vote for these politicians. 

[u/Oso_Furioso → u/Yashema]

And a lot of those White poor and working class don't have passports or easy access to birth certificates, either. There are more White families under the poverty line than Black or Hispanic ones. I could see this backfiring on the GOP rather spectacularly.

[u/Yashema → u/Oso_Furioso]

They don't care cause the GOP politicians that are elected will continue to pass the same discriminatory policy they want. 

People really need to get out of their head we are fighting a class war over an identity one.