Oof. I checked mine three times this cycle to be sure. Never know when some awful mistake, like voting in a Democratic primary, will get your TX Voter info deleted.
You know, though, since we’re mostly left-leaning around these parts, just tell me the secret code and I’ll meet you at a basement in the People’s Republic of Austin and we’ll discuss getting three non-citizens to vote however you’d like, and then we can dine on the flesh of Christians to celebrate!
Hubi@feddit.org 2 months ago
As a European, the whole registering to vote thing is honestly one of the wildest parts of the US elections to me. It’s just so unnecessary complicated and prone to errors/manipulation. I just show up with my ID, doesn’t matter if it’s for the EU parliament or my the city senate in my hometown.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
It’s by design. We could make it easier, but certain groups benefit from making it difficult.
match@pawb.social 2 months ago
In conclusion, please send the UN to fix us
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s wild.
There are some local and state governments trying to pass automatic voter registration, but it’s an uphill battle, not unlike most things that would generally benefit the public good in this country.
b34k@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Even in California, we got automatic voter registration passed the legislature, only for the governor to veto it.
Just wild that something so fundamental to a functioning democracy is so divisive.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
There’s never been a United States ID card, for… reasons. As a Californian, I could get a California ID card, at the same place I got my California Driver’s License, if I didn’t intend to drive. The forms have the option of adding Voter Registration using the same information (birth certificate, proof of residence) at the same time. But some states make it all much more complicated.
elephantium@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Passport seems like it sorta fits, but it’s hardly universal.
myrrh@ttrpg.network 2 months ago
…what the electorate consider a bug the politicians consider a feature…
actually@lemmy.world 2 months ago
So… I’m in Texas , been here a long time.
most ballot counts in the primaries and general are counted by secret software and hardware run by ultra conservative families the last 20 plus years. Recounts are not allowed and exit polls not used anymore because of unpredictability.
Nobody cares, no political party wants to change : not a topic in forums anywhere, even in conspiracy minded chat rooms, and it’s been this way forever ( since before 2000).
There is a ton of crazy that is ignored .
I’ve seen how the system works, I’ve been at the county chair level. Nobody will criticize it . There is a quiet culture of people knowing it’s invalid but decide to leave it be.
kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
That’s why it exists - to make it more inconvenient for people (especially in certain demographics) to vote.
eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
the sound bites you hear about voting are intentionally misleading: you have to show up with an id to vote here too and that’s not where to controversy lies.
the controversy is registering to vote and the conservative states intentionally make registering as heavily bureaucratic as possible in the hopes of minimizing the number of people who cant register to vote.
they’ve also dedicated hundreds of millions on dollars to understand an enact policies to keep the poor and minority groups from voting.
democrats sit back and let republicans openly do it.
Devdogg@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
Hold on, I’m in MN and we don’t have to show our ID to vote.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 months ago
It’s overblown. It’s mostly propaganda.
My ID is good for 5 years, and I am required to update it within 60 days of changing residences. Every time I’ve renewed or updated it, they have asked me if I wanted to register or update my voter registration. My registration is updated every time I vote, and I don’t get de-registered unless I skip voting for about a decade straight, without re-registering when I renew my ID card.
ALL of the problems with voter registration are about people who either can’t or won’t get or renew their ID card. Every time you read about voter registration issues in the US, you should imagine going to your polling station without a current ID card.
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That’s called privilege. You literally don’t realize what a burden it is for some people to comply with voter registration requirements, because your life is such that it’s easy for you.
I could try and explain it, but in my experience every example I give, you’ll take out of context and come up with a simple fix. Because you aren’t able to understand the cumulative effect of thousands of these examples all happening all the time. You’ll just pick each one, imagine it happening to you in your life once, and think “oh that’s not a big deal I could handle that”. But it’s death by a thousand cuts. “That” is not a one time aberration. Your whole life is nothing but “that”.
You just have to believe those of us more experienced in that kind of hardship than you.
Or, alternatively, believe the Republicans who have been caught on a hot mic saying that they implent voter ID laws specifically to suppress Dem votes.
turtletracks@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
“I’ve had no issues, therefore issues don’t exist”
ImminentOrbit@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Except, the whole point of this thread is an example of that not being the case.
Badeendje@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yeah but we have voter id. And for some reason Americans think it is unreasonable to have to have a government issued ID as this would disenfranchise all the people that don’t have an ID… Which I think is also weird. Just make IDs accessible to citizens at low costs and implement voterID across the board.
billiam0202@lemmy.world 2 months ago
A certain political party benefits from low voter turnout. Which, coincidentally, also happens to be the party working to get Trump elected and shield him from the repercussions of his crimes.
mle86@feddit.org 2 months ago
They could just make a government ID that is not mandatory. Much like a passport. And whoever holds a passport or a voluntary govt ID is automatically enabled to vote using their ID / passport, but then would still leave the choice of registering for voting for those who don’t trust “the government”
Revan343@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
This is where you’re missing it. The point of requiring voter ID in America is to make it as difficult and inaccessible as they can
faercol@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Depends on the country though. In France you must be registered to vote (you’re assigned a specific voting office). It’s a single registration foe everything, not for each vote
Although the process is online, and takes like 5mins.
You also get a voting card, but it’s technically optional, it just speeds up the process in the voting office.
abigscaryhobo@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Just want to add, in the US you’d don’t have to register to vote each election/vote, just when you change address.
GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Imagine you moved countries, and we’re entitled to vote in both.
You have to tell the new country you exist there.
That’s the most common failure mode in the US, when you move states or even counties and there’s a miscommunication or lack of communication between where you came from and where you are.
There are other issues, but this is the most common.
You don’t vote at a federal level, you vote at a state level, for federal stuff. (And state/local stuff)
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
I think for most people in the US when you move you have to get a new driver’s license, and that process also lets you register to vote
skullgiver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl 2 months ago
leadore@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I see comments like this a lot. Most important and apparently most difficult for Europeans (and others but it’s almost always Europeans) to understand is that the US is a very large country, made up of 50 semi-independent states, each with its own government and laws-- about many things, not just elections. So that’s why things are more complex here–we’re not a small monolithic nation with one single, centralized government and set of laws that apply to everyone no matter where in the country they live.
Each US State runs its own elections; a person obviously can’t be allowed to vote in more than one state. Since people can move from one state to another at any time, and even have residences in more than one state at the same time (such as college students and well-off people), it’s necessary to register with the state you will be voting in, so that you are officially able to vote in that state and no other.
DreamlandLividity@lemmy.world 2 months ago
You do realize some countries in Europe have federal governments (Germany for example), right? And then these completely independent countries are part of the EU which have EU elections. So you have federation within federation. Also, the EU has higher population than the USA. We don’t even all speak the same language. You are allowed to move between EU countries whenever you like and have residence where you please.
So what is your excuse again?
drkt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
In a incredible stroke of irony, you just described the European Union