PoliticalWanderer
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https://wyofile.com/wyoming-voids-28-of-its-voter-registrations-in-mandatory-purge/
This is the real reason why Republicans are so big on purging voter rolls. As soon as they can lie, cheat, or steal their way to a majority, they can look for any reason to disqualify all but their own most committed voters. Everyone else gets tired of jumping through hoops and drops out of participating in the system, letting would-be authoritarians who despise voters rob people of their voice.
Stuff like this is why GOP attempts to meddle with election processes have to be fought and held up for what they are, because this is where they lead. Stand up every single time, do it in large numbers, and don't let them get away with stealing your rights from you.
Organize and radicalize.
BasinStreetDesign
I'm Canadian. Because voting is a right, no number of missed voting opportunities is sufficient to remove one from the voters list. I vote every time but my wife has never voted in her life and we both still get voting notices every time.
alcaray
So this is something they can do in Wyoming (and other states). What we can do is make sure all those purged voters get re-registered by November (or the next election). Check your registration status: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=check+voter+registration+status&atb=v314-1&t=chromentp&ia=web and make sure you can vote.
sowasvonsowas
We cannot "get tired of jumping through hoops and drop out of participating in the system, letting would-be authoritarians who despise voters rob people of their voice." Our only hope is for a massive turnout at the polls in November.
georgejimmydoodle
If there are any Republicans running your state, keep checking that you haven't been purged.
RCSpotz
Probably should be legally required to notify people if they've been removed from any voter list like that.
copperdomebodhi
Nobody claps their hands and says, "Okay, freedom's over." It's a long series of half-steps like this. Next stop - you go to vote and find out they moved the polling place fifty miles away.
pretendthisisagoodusername
this is common republican tactic, quietly purge people off polls and then throw in as many hoops as possible to jump through so they either get discouraged or can't pass them all before next election.
DeadWhiteMale
Does Wyoming even exist with so few voters? Maybe it should lose its status as a state and returned to a territory.
massholesome
Massachusetts requires voters to miss 2 state election in succession, after being placed on the inactive list, on top of not completing the annual street list, or not voting in any other type of election, or signing petitions and/or nomination papers. Essentially there could be folks who have moved and/or are deceased so this is why it is allowed, at least here in MA. Doing any one of the actions listed preserves them on the voters' list. How do I know? I'm an election official.
januarylover
Voter purging is a deliberate attempt to impede citizens' ability to participate in democracy. They use all kinds of dubious rationalisation, got a Latino name? (Might be illegal somehow, purge & make them re-prove they're American). Changed address? (Might have changed voting district, better purge people who rent - double-lucky - mostly lower economic households! Can't have The Poors voting!) Fucking voter suppression. Fight against this shit.
dextarrogue
More people would vote if they were holidays or it was required by law that people could leave work to vote and heavily punished for businesses to prevent people from voting.
hellospacemonkey
Wyoming's population is ~581,381, which means they get 2 senators that BLOCK good things for the entire USA because ~193,559 people vote for Republican candidates. Time to change democracy in the USA.
Hercules99
How do I organize? What can I do? I'm a single mom with two kids and a full time job. I can't just go off and protest. So how can I make a difference (other than voting)? I'm asking genuinely. I hate that I can't go out and fight.
kamikazehindenburg
Wyoming is the reddest state in the country. They weren't worried about losing any elections.
SmugandFurry
Not at the state level, no.
Knightendae
This is one of the reasons that anytime somebody asks me if I would like to register I say yes
DarkSock
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." - David Frum, conservative columnist
StarscreamAndHutch
Every election matters in a democracy. They want you to give up. Do not reward them for stripping you of your rights. Keep fighting.
youareagreatguybut
How can 'muricans even allow such a bullshit as "voting registration" is beyond me. Yet another problem so incredibly complex, it got solved "only" by every other democratic country.
drduffer
Here is where it’s appropriate to post Vote.org to ensure registrations AND THEN encourage voters to vote out the Republicans in any position at any level in every elections until the bastards are GONE!!
IAmDuckHammer
And get on the horn with ACLU about it (not sure if they'll do anything, but it should send a message).
Samja192
For a country that loudly proclaims itself as the leader of all democracy you sure seem to do a lot to try and subvert democracy. In Australia it's the law that everyone has to vote, or they get fined.
staceyjorgenson31415
dennydorko
Were they that worried about Democrats voting in WYOMING that they needed to do a voter purge? What possible rationale is there for getting rid of 22% of the electorate in a state Trump won by over 40 percentage points?
DudeThatsRacist
As long as you can register when you vote, I'm ok with keeping rolls clean. The problem is that this is just one of many roadblocks put up.
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DudeThatsRacist
If you read my comment, I think that would be fine, as long as when you go to vote the next time, you can register again. Purging rolls, isn't a big problem as long as there isn't a barrier to register. People move and people die and keeping accurate records is part of a how a functioning government works.
KingMagenta
Sorry
sailorjurai108
Yeah unfortunately way too many places don’t permit same day registration or if they do it has to be on a provisional ballot & then if you turn out to (even unknowingly) be ineligible to vote rather than just tossing it & moving on they jail you if aren’t white & rich enough.
DrSchlepenstein
Republicans only win when they cheat.
mickjl
Hey America, you ok?
januarylover
DEFINITELY NOT
FiftyShadesOfMascarpone
This is such a weird thing to me. I received an unsolicited election voting card in the mail shortly after I turned 18, and I've been getting them ever since for all local, state, federal, and more recently EU elections. I never had to register anywhere. Why do citizens of voting age have to register in order to exercise a right? And how tf can they be purged again from voter registration lists while they're still alive?
SimpDaddyDee
I mean, I can understand having to register to exercise *certain* rights. Like in the US where they have a right to bear arms (albeit a badly misinterpreted one). I think people should register for that one.
FiftyShadesOfMascarpone
It also shouldn't be a right with regard to modern arms. And it already isn't seeing as the ownership of a great many contemporary weapons is restricted or flat out prohibited. Since a legal line in the sand already exists, it should be easy enough to move said line. I could see adults being allowed to buy muzzle loaders w/o restrictions (which is even possible in Germany; also crossbows etc.) but anything that can fire bullets in rapid succession should require a license, psych eval, training.
minipancho94
its an intentionally obtuse bureaucratic nightmare here. we're 50 smaller nations in a trench coat masquerading as a single nation who's democracy only exist as a concession from the slave holding landed elite because they didnt want a civil war to erupt the moment we finished our revolutionary one. the system is streamlined in some states and weaponized by the oligarchs and fascist in others.
Ristari
That's America baby! Gotta register to vote. You move? Gotta unregister from the old place and register at the new.
shitheadtookmyname
It's the same way in Texas as you. I get my registration card every year in the mail. I don't have to do anything. It just shows up. Then I get two weeks to vote wherever I want in my county. Schools, government buildings, etc. Are polling places.
CptnJinx
Registering to vote is apparently ok according to red voters. But register to buy guns? Hell no!
Jarjarthejedi
Because fewer voters is good for Republicans, and so they want to make voting as intentionally difficult as possible. https://www.gq.com/story/mcconnell-voter-turnout-bad
Jarjarthejedi
This isn't a conspiracy theory or some secret thing, they are open and upfront about not wanting people to vote so they can win, and they control the voting rolls in places like this.
DinosaursCameFromSpace
Each state having its own rules about how, when, and where you can vote makes anything unified, such as when someone moves, too bureaucratic to cope with
MBinks0
Yeah - you need to do a tax return, why isn't there a box for "Please Update My Voter Registration"?
Ultratoxic
Because, at a fundamental level, some (Republican) politicians do not want their constituents voting at all because they know it will be a vote against them.
SURPRISEscience
Americans don't really have rights. You would be forgiven for thinking so, but any time a "citizen" right butts up against an uncomfortable statistic for people in power who want to keep it, it's immediately taken away, often violently.
The biggest example of this IMHO is that smaller population centers constantly overrule and suppress votes from larger cities and towns. Living in the city I do my vote is worth .77 that of someone who lives on tons of land in the countryside.
wouldClimbForCash
The system working as designed. "Lives on tons of land" sounds a lot like "landed gentry". A tyranny of the majority has been prevented. Instead we have a tyranny of the minority, which is effectively good old aristocracy. Oops.
SURPRISEscience
Ironic, that in the founders misguided attempt to prevent kings from controlling the new world they so desperately decided belongs to them, they just completely made all of their fellow land owners and "people of import" worth more than everyone else. Instead of one monarch every single tiny tyrant that owns a rental can now be our oppressor.
Zyrixion
Because constitutionally speaking, we don't have a unilateral right to vote. The form of our elections is a patchwork of tradition and state laws, mixed with some limited protections and blueprinting at the federal level.
Hellbat666
Because rights are a myth… and don’t actually exist…
MattJeffery
You know why.
staceyjorgenson31415
Yarp :/ Some pigs are “more equal” than the average pig 🐷
Heavenissize17socks
The whole concept of Voter Registration is to -stop people from voting-. It's racist, sexist and stupid.
Our state issue ID card is sufficient, period. The whole purpose of registration is to keep the 'wrong sort' of people voting. Ban voter registration, make voting days national holidays. Sell hotdogs with French Fries, Canadian Bacon and English muffins. Voting needs the three point goal.
DJOldguy
In Australia on polling days, always a Saturday, the polling stations often have barbecues set up and you can buy a "Democracy Sausage" with proceeds going to a local charity. We could do the same here, that is, change the polling day from the 1st Tuesday in November to the 1st Saturday in November. No chance of getting a "Democracy Sausage" in many States here though.
cousteau
"You see, technically this isn't literally 'moving goalposts' because this is basketball."
Robbann
maybe i'm just a dumb European who doesn't understand American wierdness, but i don't understand how it's racist and sexist. it's a stupid system that effects everyone.
is it more difficult for blacks to register to vote somehow?
how do they make it effect just the "wrong people"?
WarKittyKat
For one, the laws tend to disproprionately affect low income people. Who are, in turn, more likely to be black, female, etc. Other barriers are also unevenly distributed - for example, having the locations to get your ID be placed primarily in white neighborhoods and not accessible by public transit. Having polling stations near primarily black regions be understaffed so people have to wait and maybe miss work. You get the point.
HannibalsLectern
To add to what's already been said, it's sexist because women are more likely to have kids to deal with, which also makes it harder and/or more expensive to go get the ID, and women tend to have lower incomes (even for the same job) than men.
TitleWeHaveTalked
I am going to assume this was an honest question and not bait. It is more difficult for minorities because in most states minorities are more likely to not have the documents needed to register, than white Americans and the process to get those documents can either be long and a hassle or cost money sometimes significant money to acquire. It isn't that it only affects the "wrong people" but it disproportionally affects them, so even if they lose some votes the other side loses many more.
AFallenDragon
It also tends to affect poorer peeps more so then others, which considering everything in our history tends to hit certain races/sexes a little harder then others.
januarylover
& please don't call black people 'blacks'. It's not 1950. 'Black people' please.
januarylover
Gerrymander voting districts so the (reduced number of) voting stations are difficult to reach using public transport. This means people in lower economic areas need to take more time off work to catch multiple buses, then walk long distances, then stand in line all day to be allowed to vote. IF they are even able to get the time off their min-wage work in the first place. Lower economic areas are deliberately affected, & have high levels of BIPOC.
januarylover
Women also, are disproportionately represented in low-power, low-wage jobs, often while they're trying to juggle households/childcare. Women still make up the bulk of employees for jobs like cleaners/waitstaff etc. VERY hard for them to get the time off work to untangle the ever-changing bureaucratic obstacle course to not only register but STAY registered to vote.
januarylover
Make the proof you need to be enrolled to vote cost money, in time, resources, transport etc. Change the rules frequently. Make the places you can submit your information difficult to reach. Oh yeah, this form must be notarised by a JP. Close down libraries where you might more easily access a JP etc. Don't notify people who've been 'purged' from the poll. Don't notify people who've accidentally missed a step registering etc. Hike the cost of ID cards etc.
januarylover
Make registration to vote as difficult, complicated & time consuming as possible. Because low-income households don't have as much time/energy to devote to untangling bureaucratic puzzles, make sure they frequently have to resubmit/re-prove evidence showing they're entitled to vote. Make sure they must submit things in person, sometimes notarised, so need to take more time off work/travel etc. Make it complicated for people with lower reading/comprehension skills.
januarylover
Make sure you purge the electoral rolls frequently - try using tactics like 'did the voter change their address in the past year?' Wealthy people move homes infrequently, poor people move frequently due to renting etc. Bipoc people frequently affected worse due to racial/socio-economic factors.
OrionJC
State issued ID cards (or any other voter ID requirements) can work only if the states don't charge you for the ID (believe most do) because requiring money (no matter the amount) to exercise the right to vote is considered a "poll tax" and thus not allowed by the Constitution.
HannibalsLectern
This. Requiring an approved state ID is a favorite tactic to reduce he number of voters, and it generally eliminates more left of center voters than right of center voters. Voter registration is free, and if you vote every year you should be good for as long as you live in the same location.
Leithoa
Also many people have issues getting to the state ID office due to its location & operating hours.
mardukkur
Voter rolls are a MUCH better voting security procedure than using IDs. We should have automatic registration though.
MarioBoon
Or just do the voting on sundays. The day most people don't have to work.
HannibalsLectern
You know that the day you vote has nothing to do with getting the required ID, right?
MarioBoon
I come from a country where everyone has an ID cart from the age of 12.
mizzamir
Or just make it a national holiday
MarioBoon
Be practical. What would be easier?
WarKittyKat
We'd have to make national holidays mean something first.
Hercules99
Def national holiday.
HannibalsLectern
Here it is in one go, instead of 3 posts
sirava
I'm 100% with you until the English muffins. Can we compromise on scones?
Heavenissize17socks
Scones with Miwadi!
Breakfast of champions.
DinosaursCameFromSpace
It would make sense if the previous voting opportunity was at the same level - but someone not voting in the ballet for the 3rd assistant comptroller in district 7 shouldn’t mean they lose the right to vote in a presidential election
Imalwaysready
No, missing ONE election does NOT make it make sense. Missing the last 3, 4, 5 (6, 8, 10 yrs of elections)? OK, that shows a pattern.
Missing ONE, though?
You could have been out of town, or sick, or sitting out in a protest non-vote, or had a car wreck on the way and had to deal with that and couldn't get back before polls closed, or literally 1,000 other reasons.
You can FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF with this enabling "tHaT cOuLd MaKe SeNsE" bullshit that helps them get away with shit like this.
mustardburp
3rd assistant comptroller Stevens of district 7 and his initiative to switch legal documents from black ink to a hip new blue is disappointed in you right now.
Alfadorfox
In this case, it sounds like it was the same level? That the only people who got purged were those who hadn't voted in the 2022 general election.
Imalwaysready
I would assume "same level" would include the presidential option, which 2022 didn't have.
2022 would be at the same level (or slightly lower) than 2020, but 2022 is not at the same level as 2024.
IHaveGreatKittenRecipes
2022 would be what is called a mid term election, it's an off cycle one relative to the federal Presidential election. 1/3 of the House of Reps and Senate are up, but a lot of people just *do not care* about those offices and so don't vote in mid terms. But, a lot of states tend to have state offices come up for grabs at the same time, which is even worse because the local elections are what really push the federal narrative. Wyoming is Republican so people feel there's no point voting Dem.
JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
Republicans sure hate democracy...
iquestionthepinappleeveryday
I think a lot of people don’t realize a few things 1.) democracy isn’t everyone’s favorite form of government 2.) The history of western philosophy, that so much of our thinking comes from, points to “not democracy”, an example Plato in the Republic held Oligarchy higher than Democracy (albeit the idea that work was actually about and actual city is debatable). 3.) America isn’t a democracy anyway, but a democratic republic 4.) yes, absolutely the Republican Party would love less democracy
worm61
In The Republic, Plato also suggested that children should be taken from their mothers at birth and raised in kennels, and the ones that weren’t strong enough should be killed, so that’s maybe not the best example to look to for a government model.
iquestionthepinappleeveryday
I didn’t say I was, I said it’s the basis for Western Philosophy
DarkSock
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." - David Frum
Cinammontoastcrunch
Some of them have voiced this literally.
stsword
Heck, they've voiced that they are against people voting since the 80s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBAsFwPglw
Cinammontoastcrunch
Yeah, but literally some repub politician said "we don't want to be a democracy" like last week, so there's no inference needed
Whitebeardthepirate
they hate losing to "democracy" that's the difference
imaclubbingseal
They are into ‘freedom’ not the US Constitution or democracy. They are basically all the guys you hate in HS because they are either bullies, ignorant or both.
sirava
It hurts their chances to remain in power.
copperdomebodhi
90% of conservative commentary these days is, "If Americans won't vote for far-right authoritarianism, it's our duty to force it on them."
Superchief86
If everyone had a fair vote they would never win again.
DerpMeister
Only when democracy includes "those people". (Don't know if "/s" is apropriate here...don't tase me bro).
ClutteredDesk
It's unneeded. Because your comment is transparently accurate.
pookieeatworld
Of course. It has 7 letters in common with the word Democrat, so it must be evil Satan magic.
malbec
Democracy, decency, common sense… the list goes on
PersonalityFire
"wE arE a RePuBliC!" (never mind that a Republic is just a form of democracy)
n0d2ablindh0rs3
They sure love sharia law though.
JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
n0d2ablindh0rs3
You silly goof. I mean the system that forces religious law on to everyone regardless of their beliefs. GOP loves the laws, hates that Muslims were able to do it first.
JustDriftingAboutTheInterWebs
SoberAndBored
Fear. They fear democracy.
WinstonSmith101
People. They fear people.
NotACyberman
Fear. They fear.
Sarnion