Trump signs executive order that will upend US voter registration processes
a year ago by arotrios to c/politics
Summary:
Donald Trump has signed a far-reaching executive order that promises to fundamentally disrupt American voter registration processes, introducing measures so restrictive they could in effect disenfranchise millions of citizens if enacted.
Described by Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, on Tuesday as “the farthest reaching executive action taken” in the nation’s history, the order represents the latest in a long list of assaults against immigration, but also on current voting systems.
The sweeping order amends the federal voter registration form to require proof of citizenship in order to vote. It demands documentary proof for citizenship such as a passport to be eligible to vote in federal elections, empowers federal agencies to cut funding to states deemed non-compliant and instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute what the White House paints as “election crimes”. All the executive orders Trump has signed so far Read more
The measure also seeks to block states from accepting mail-in ballots after election day, regardless of when they are mailed in.
Many of the provisions in the order are likely to be quickly challenged and are legally suspect. The US constitution explicitly gives states and Congress the authority to set the rules for election and does not authorize the president to do so.
“The short answer is that this executive order, like all too many that we’ve seen before, is lawless and asserts all sorts of executive authority that he most assuredly does not have,” said Danielle Lang, a voting rights lawyer at the non-profit Campaign Legal Center.
Republicans have long sought to add a citizenship to the federal form and been stymied by the courts. In a 7-2 decision in 2013, for example, the US supreme court said that Arizona could not require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. The power to set the requirements on the federal form is left to the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission. Courts have also blocked efforts to short-circuit efforts to add the question.
The order tracks with a controversial bill in Congress Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act, which would require Americans to prove citizenship in person – a requirement that could immediately eliminate mail-in and online voter registration already across 42 states, as well as DC and Guam.
Slamming Trump? That's a paddling.
Oh hey, look! I don't have a Real ID or a Passport. I already can't fly or enter federal buildings. Now I won't be able to vote? They're basically making it a requirement to have a Real ID or Passport to be considered a citizen at this point.
Millions of poor people are about to lose their U.S. citizenship is what this sounds like it's coming to.
Democrats are fighting on the wrong side of this issue and have been for some time IMO. I think requiring them is 100% fine, but they should be fucking free.
Yeah, in all EU countries people get a national ID card when they're in their teens and then get automatically added to the voter registry when they're 18.
It's mandatory to have an ID card and it's provided for free.
For every election all I have to do is show up, show my ID card and cast my vote. It baffles me why it doesn't work like this in the US and why is it even controversial.
(At least as far as I know, this is how it works in all EU countries)
It doesn't work like this in the US in part because some consider it illegal under the first and fourth amendments for the federal government to mandate identification. This also ties back into the early history of identification documents in the us that sparked a lot of outrage.
Yes and no. The issue is really with the difficulty and time it takes to get these ids. Not to mention the expense. The poorer a person is, the less likely they are to have the correct id. And make no mistake, the Republicans know this, and they know that poor people favor democrats. Same with mail in voters. So their effort to make this rule is not one of common sense, but stratrgic value. They are just trying to put up obstacles that making voting hardrr for people who don't vote from them.
And really, what should be addressed is the difficulty of getting id. But noone wants to pay for that. This causes some people to have to travel significant distances on our meager public transit system which can take many hours to go 15 miles. And again, the poorer a person is, the less likely they are to have a car to drive, or the money to uber, or the time away from work to get to these places and even attempt to get the id.
And really, what should be addressed is the difficulty of getting id. But noone wants to pay for that.
That's my point. Fix that. Everyone gives up on that without even half a fight.
To casual observers, it looks like you're arguing for voter fraud. Then Republicans can cynically appeal to the stupidest people by making that argument directly.
But... why?
Voter fraud isn't an issue that needs solving. Yes, we could (should) make an ID easier to get, but not for this. Conservatives would just move the goalposts again and add more roadblocks for the voters they don't like.
If you give a fascist a cookie...
Doesn't matter what you do, Republicans will claim some BS and their voters will believe it. Let's just do things because it is the right thing to do.
Imo, being present in the jurisdiction, subject to the jurisdiction's laws, and only voting once and in and one jurisdiction per election, with some form of proof of residence issued by the jurisdiction, should be all that's required.
Step 0: Show your finger at the door to the polls.
Step 1: Bring a letter to yourself from state or town government, register to vote with your town, have a current driver's license, or something equivalent, and receive a ballot.
Optional Step 1: Swear an affidavit before the registrat of voters that you are who you say you are and live where you say you live, no ID required; hold the ballot provisionally for a period in case someone wishes to challenge it for cause. This is currently the law in my state. If local government cannot take a citizen at their unchallenged, sworn oath, then everything falls apart.
Step 2: Vote.
Step 3: Dip your pointer finger in temporary die, also known as election ink.
Optional Steps 0-3: Preregister to vote with proof of residence only to be able to receive an official, serialized ballot mailed to your residence. Register checks serial number to make sure you don't vote twice.
Done.
Just let people vote. Who cares about their citizenship if they reside in the jurisdiction and are subject to its laws, as long as they can't vote twice?
I'm also in favor of lowering the voting age to sixteen. Kids can be very smart. No reason they can't start shaping their future if they want.
Showing ID when you vote is an requirement in every European country since forever. There's no slippery slope here. Ability to identify yourself is a pretty basic thing in a civilized country. Where I live proof of residence allows you to vote in local elections. National elections require citizenship. National ID proves you're a citizen. It's really simple.
Red states also resisted the RealID rollout. They kept having to delay the requirements for requiring them for flights, because states like Oklahoma were pissing and moaning the entire time.
The same kinds of places that don’t want the wrong kind of people to vote intentionally have made the process of getting that identification difficult. I have no idea why I was turned away for a RealID a few years ago, and now I’m not even going to try because having my marker reverted back to an ‘F’ would probably get me killed.
They do that cause Republicans win the less people are able to vote. When you disenfranchise people who don't have the time or care to deal with getting an ID you are left with either richer people or older people who both tend to vote Republican. So of course they're gonna require ID to vote and make it as hard as possible for working people to get a valid ID for voting.
Barring transit delayed mail-in ballots is 100% the way these fucks will steal the next election.
I hope Vermont doesn't deregister me - thankfully voting administration is done by the individual states so they'll likely push back on the EO but I'm absolutely not going to fly to Burlington to prove my identity in person.
So uh, only about half of Americans actually have active, valid passports.
So thats a neat trick to disenfranchise half the population, instantly.
I'm guessing the next thing will be to fire everyone involved in processing and issuing passports.
Oh fuck right.
Yeah, I guess basically all trans people are now inelligible to vote, along with... yeah, basically anyone with sufficient melanation that the government decides is an immigrant, for any reason.
... Yeah this is pretty fucking bad.
Also DOGE cutting the workforce that would process things like this, ensuring that people have even more trouble getting proper documentation for voting.
[insert Andy Samberg saying “cool cool cool cool cool cool…”]
Half the people in the country have passports? That's seems WAY too high of an estimate. Even just thinking of the people I know who's status I'm sure of, only about 10% have one, and most of those are expired.
The figure I found was just an estimate, and yes, I agree, the actual number is probably lower, but I wasn't able to find ... precise numbers.
If you live in the US, and you either never, or rarely travel internationally?
Yeah, you don't actually have any reason to actually even go through the process and even get a passport, or keep it current.
... Well, until right now, apparently.
Fucking Glory to Arstotkza! I guess..
You get it.
I used to represent a lot of trade workers for a very large defense contractor. They had an employee benefits office with an 800 number for workers to call to ask about their retirement, insurance, death benefits, short and long term disability, workers comp., etc., and nobody ever answered the phone. They would change the hours every six months. Like sometimes it was only open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, then the other half of the year it was only open on Mondays. Ratfuckers.
I’m so sick of seeing “Trump has just signed this insane executive order but don’t worry, what he’s doing is actually ✨_illegal!_✨”
Yeah, well who the fuck is stopping him them? Because from where I’m standing, it seems like no one is.
Fascism has well and truly arrived in the US and American libs still have this insane idea that it can be stopped by the rule of law and the checks and balances they love so much. Well they don’t fucking work when your opponent ignores them and every bureaucrat in government allows him to do so. When the history books are written, let these people be regarded in the same way as those who thought they could work with or appease Hitler.
The people spending long hours working to challenge his illegal efforts in court are who is stopping him. And they are winning, a lot. But courts take time, so trump uses the gap to cause chaos and slip in a few illegal actions.
Thanks to them, in the long term trumps presidency will cost many X more then any savings it is claiming. There will be tons of payouts to federal employees, legal expenses, and the cost of putting back together what he has damaged or destroyed.
All that aside, I don’t here people saying don't worry. I see them saying that his team and his efforts are incompetent attempts to garner attention. Essentially they are just saying that this crew is idiots.
And probably jntetest.
Well, those were conservatives too.
Not a single disparaging remark about the conservative majority in all 3 branches of government thrusting the knife into the dying corpse of our republic. No why didn’t neoliberals stop them.
Dont paint all these caucuses as the same general groups of people. Like 11% of the representatives of the electors are gutting us alive.
While those being gutted just stand by and do nothing.
If you have the power to stop something, and choose not to, you're choosing to help. That makes you complicit, and history will not be kind to you.
Are you holding or attending labor resistance movement assemblies in private?
empowers federal agencies to cut funding to states deemed non-compliant and instructs the Department of Justice to prosecute what the White House paints as “election crimes”.
This is the bigger problem, it will allow them to “fix” elections
“Election crimes”
Being a minority and voting liberal.
Being a minority and or voting liberal
I added them for ESL readers, I hope native readers would know the alternative meaning of fix is influencing the outcome
Solution:
Motor-voting registration in all states through the DMV. You already have to prove citizenship for Real ID. Make sure everyone getting a state ID is also registered to vote.
Then you do 100% vote by mail.
Republicans: "Wait, not like that..."
what you suggested has been a republican talking point. wisconsin republicans admitted that they forced it into state law because it results in fewer democratic voters being able to vote.
not everyone can afford to travel (thus not everyone needs a state ID). and many can't get to a DMV without taking time off of work that their employers may not allow even if unpaid. and many can't even physically get to a DMV in areas with poor or no public transit. but they still have the right to vote.
Oregon and Washington too. I think Utah too? Should be all states.
Have you tried getting a realID? It's just as bad as getting a passport and costs a chunk of change. I'm pissed off states weren't able to shut it down. Now you need a passport effectively to fly domestically.
I haven't needed to because I already have both a passport and a passport card, but it's really not that hard or expensive (at least, not here it's not!)
The DMV already requires proof of citizenship even without Real ID, so that requirement didn't change.
One of these:
U.S. passport or U.S. passport card
U.S. birth certificate issued by a state or local government
Certificate of Citizenship
Certificate of Naturalization
Consular Report of Birth Abroad
Permanent Resident Card
Employment Authorization Card
Foreign Passport with unexpired visa
and valid I-94 issued by DHS
Proof of Legal Name:
Social Security Number (SSN):
Proof of Address:
TWO printed documents that show your current name and current residential (home) address.
Bring $30 for the Real ID charge in addition to the other fees.
So a Drivers License is $64, a state ID is $47, a permit is $30. +$30 for Real ID.
$94 for a license with real ID.
Yeah that's why I called out it costs money.
Its also kinda similar to taxes, the US pretty much already knows all this info already, yet somehow we can't manage to make elections easy and free.
Because you're paying for the drivers license and the Real ID, the voter registration is a free add-on.
In TN, a drivers license is $28 with or without Real ID. I got it by accident.
He can sign as many EOs as he wants, but until he goes through the process (as if he has the attention span and focus to), gets the votes through Senate and House to make this mandatory, this means dogshit.
Congress implicitly consents. There has been no push back from Congress on any of this, even stripping funding powers from Congress themselves.
He proved this train has no brakes, but we're still accelerating. Just wait till his attacks on judges/the judicial branch really ramp up...
After bad faith testing the water like this over and over you should no longer be allowed to be president, seeing as you can't follow the rules, the law, or the constitution. We can see what you're doing. It should be over for him now.
It should've been over on 1/7, or at the latest 1/20 and Biden throws his ass in Gitmo for attempting a fucking coup. Nah, let's just see how it all plays out, pretend it's all normal and another normal election that he's somehow allowed to run in. Soooo much failure at all levels.
Doesnt that make it harder for the majority of GOP voters to vote?
The line at every DMV at all three of the cities I have lived and worked in starts at 3 am.
To get my drivers license the first time, we had to try three times to get a testing spot. (And the first time they failed me because of my leftist bumper stickers 🙃)
I tried to get a real ID a couple years ago, and somehow my documentation wasn’t correct. They demanded my marriage license and didn’t like something about it.
Bureaucratic institutions have already not been functioning in the south.
This is how it happens!
I swear all he's doing this is to distract the media attention!
Joke's on you. Billy Bob Joe Bob and his pig cousin Suuuuey Jane Sue Jane don't have passports
Lemme get my auction card here... I'll show em.
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Yes. Agreed. How's the whole shouting, "hey, this isn't legal" working out so far? The key to having laws is also enforcing said laws. Not doing great on that part so far.
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