Current Events > Solution to Voter Registration Issues

(+) Yeah! (+)

Some states like Florida and Texas require Real ID to vote. Sounds simple because you get a driver's license and you have Real ID.

Whatever.

State should be required to pay people compensation of $15/hour for their time spent getting the id. This should include time it takes to understand the procedures, acquire documents, traveling, waiting in line and waiting on hold.

State must pay people for failed attempts because otherwise the state will refuse people just to save money.

At the very least every resident who pays taxes should get a voters card.

What if you're an overseas Florida voter?

sfcalimari posted...

What if you're an overseas Florida voter?

You need Real ID to get out of the country. This is another issue. You are born here, grow up here, work here but they are not going let you travel or vote without Real ID

If voter ID isn't 100% free, it's a poll tax.

That includes travel expenses.

Voter ID should be available free of charge, and at minimal inconvenience, before it becomes a requirement to vote.

Otherwise, it just becomes a barrier. And all those closet racists and the nasty alt-right who make bad faith arguments like 'oh, are you saying minorities can't overcome a few barriers?' can fuck off. There should be as close to none as possible.

You're going to need RealID to get on a plane soon (or already?), anyway.

These states actively make things harder for people to vote for a very specific reason. Your topic may as well be "The solution to voter registration issues to to have the states who are purposely making it harder stop making it harder. Job's done!"

tankboy posted...

You're going to need RealID to get on a plane soon (or already?), anyway.

Or a passport. Which you would be wise to have anyways.

What percentage of the population doesnt have an ID? Ive never really understood it being a major hurdle, especially where you have 2/4 years to get it if youre getting it for the purpose of voting. I understand fringe cases for infirm individuals or those who simply may not have a local place to get it, but you have literal years.

I've never understood why having an ID to vote is so controversial. You have to have an ID to fly, driver a car, or hell even order a drink at the bar. Seems like a no brainer to have to have an ID to do something such as vote.

Nemu posted...

What percentage of the population doesnt have an ID? Ive never really understood it being a major hurdle, especially where you have 2/4 years to get it if youre getting it for the purpose of voting. I understand fringe cases for infirm individuals or those who simply may not have a local place to get it, but you have literal years.

People who live in areas dense enough that they don't need a driver's license. Or people who can't afford a car and don't need a license.

Some people live in places like Alabama who passed a voter ID law then closed all the offices that issue IDs in all of the poor and blqck neighborhoods. They did this despite having passed a bond issue the year before that was supposed to guarantee they stayed open.

I don't understand why anyone needs to make an effort to get an ID. Give every citizen a motherfucking ID for free, just because they were born in the god damn country.

Nemu posted...

What percentage of the population doesnt have an ID? Ive never really understood it being a major hurdle, especially where you have 2/4 years to get it if youre getting it for the purpose of voting. I understand fringe cases for infirm individuals or those who simply may not have a local place to get it, but you have literal years.

Samurai_Man posted...

I've never understood why having an ID to vote is so controversial. You have to have an ID to fly, driver a car, or hell even order a drink at the bar. Seems like a no brainer to have to have an ID to do something such as vote.

It's never about "just" an ID. They also cost money, which has been considered unconstitutional as it leans toward being a poll tax.

Heineken14 posted...

It's never about "just" an ID. They also cost money, which has been considered unconstitutional as it leans toward being a poll tax.

All the states I've lived an ID or Drivers License has cost less than $15-$20 which is fairly cheap and is valid for almost half a decade...

Samurai_Man posted...

All the states I've lived an ID or Drivers License has cost less than $15-$20 which is fairly cheap and is valid for almost half a decade...

What part about poll taxes being unconstitutional did you not read?

Heineken14 posted...

What part about poll taxes being unconstitutional did you not read?

You need a valid ID to do more than just vote, I still don't see how this is an issue...

Samurai_Man posted...

All the states I've lived an ID or Drivers License has cost less than $15-$20 which is fairly cheap and is valid for almost half a decade...

And if you live paycheck to paycheck that's still too much. If it's required to exercise your constitutional right to vote anything more than free is a fucking poll tax. You either get that and or are trolling, or are clueless.

Samurai_Man posted...

You need a valid ID to do more than just vote, I still don't see how this is an issue...

Ok? What does that have to do with voting? At this point you have to purposely be misunderstanding the issue.

Samurai_Man posted...

You need a valid ID to do more than just vote, I still don't see how this is an issue...

I'd say the "it's unconstitutional" part is the issue...

Easier to just go door to door and issue people a voter ID.

Samurai_Man posted...

You need a valid ID to do more than just vote, I still don't see how this is an issue...

You mean like buy groce...oh that was just that moron who said that.

"I don't see how something being unconstitutional is an issue" is all you need to read to know the motive of that user.

Heineken14 posted...

These states actively make things harder for people to vote for a very specific reason. Your topic may as well be "The solution to voter registration issues to to have the states who are purposely making it harder stop making it harder. Job's done!"

True but it is more likely that people will overcome the restrictions than it is that insisting to their faces that they are doing what they are doing will remove the restrictions.

Last couple times I've had to do anything at the DMV related to an ID or driver's licence it literally took most of the day, on a weekday of course. Same with getting a replacement social security card. Don't give me this shit about "oh it's no big deal, you just walk in and get a new ID within minutes," this same group of boomers would complain when people have to take a day off work to do this completely pointless shit. Some states it's easy to do this stuff, other states it's like passing through multiple circles of hell because Republicans have intentionally made the DMV completely horrible.

Samurai_Man posted...

All the states I've lived an ID or Drivers License has cost less than $15-$20 which is fairly cheap and is valid for almost half a decade...

It doesn't matter if it costs 15 dollars or 15 cents. If it costs anything at all, it's a poll tax and thus unconstitutional.

I need to renew my ID. It's gonna set me back $30 I think. May not seem like much to some but I need basically every dollar I can get. That's $30 I can't spend on anything else. Sigh.

Umbreon posted...

If voter ID isn't 100% free, it's a poll tax.

That includes travel expenses.

On a related note, you should be paid for jury duty. The government should not be able to order you not to work because of some civic duty nonsense. If you pay tax, youre already doing your civic duty.

One slight silver lining to my new criminal record I suppose. I wont have to put up with that shit.

Samurai_Man posted...

I've never understood why having an ID to vote is so controversial. You have to have an ID to fly, driver a car, or hell even order a drink at the bar. Seems like a no brainer to have to have an ID to do something such as vote.

From what I hear people don't really have an issue with requiring an id to vote. It's the types of ids that are accepted that is the problem. For example, my state let's you use your hunting or fishing licenses, but not your state university id as a valid voter id. But the good news is that you can get a free id for the purpose of voting if you go to a DMV. Unfortunately they permanently closed DMVs in certain areas after the law was passed, making it nearly impossible to get such an id for some people. Oddly enough the majority of DMVs that were permanently closed were ones in areas with higher minority populations.

In the UK, you can get a free Voter ID card. You can apply online, by post or in person. All you need is a photo, your name, address, date of birth, and National Insurance number (like SSN in the US). If you can't find your NI number, you can use a bank statement, birth certificate, or utility bill. If you don't have that, you can have someone attest to your identity.

It's still a solution to a problem that didn't exist, and people are still turned away, but that should be the standard for issuing voter ID. None of this 'expired gun license, but not student ID' bullshit.

ScazarMeltex posted...

Some people live in places like Alabama who passed a voter ID law then closed all the offices that issue IDs in all of the poor and blqck neighborhoods. They did this despite having passed a bond issue the year before that was supposed to guarantee they stayed open.

This is the real issue.

They target areas of poor and disenfranchised people.

So now someone who literally cannot afford to miss work, both financially and sometimes in the purview of their job not allowing them to do so, to go the handful of times the ID office is open, which is only on every 3rd Tuesday following a massive rainstorm. And if they don't have the proper forms, which in themselves can be a massive hurdle if they don't have access to a computer or if they misunderstand what is required or simply mess up filling out a form, then they have to wait til the next time they can catch said office open.

It's literally anti-American. States that put undue pressure like this on its citizenry are wholesale failed States and should be treated as such. If a government cannot afford to supply its citizenry basic identification, then the government has no business existing

Nemu posted...

Ive never really understood it being a major hurdle,

Probably because you don't live in a place where people deliberately are making it a hurdle

Samurai_Man posted...

I've never understood why having an ID to vote is so controversial. You have to have an ID to fly, driver a car, or hell even order a drink at the bar. Seems like a no brainer to have to have an ID to do something such as vote.

The next question you should be asking is why Republicans don't want to send people free voting IDs

Samurai_Man posted...

All the states I've lived an ID or Drivers License has cost less than $15-$20 which is fairly cheap and is valid for almost half a decade...

Even if the price of a voter ID or driver's license was $0.08 for the plastic card it's printed on... that's a poll tax.

ScazarMeltex posted...

And if you live paycheck to paycheck that's still too much.

Imagine having to take 4 hours off of work and paying the equivalent of two more hours worth of work to get an ID. Assuming you're not fired for not being at work where you don't have PTO to begin with.

Woof.

Dark_Arbron posted...

On a related note, you should be paid for jury duty. The government should not be able to order you not to work because of some civic duty nonsense. If you pay tax, youre already doing your civic duty.

One slight silver lining to my new criminal record I suppose. I wont have to put up with that shit.

I got paid for my jury duty.

It was like $15... a day.

Samurai_Man posted...

I've never understood why having an ID to vote is so controversial. You have to have an ID to fly, driver a car, or hell even order a drink at the bar. Seems like a no brainer to have to have an ID to do something such as vote.

There are established reasons why ID is required for some things. Passenger safety on aircraft, underage drinkers buying alcohol.

The same has not been established for voter ID. Far from being a 'no brainer', it is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, appropriated and misused by those who wish to manipulate the vote.

When voter ID is available free of charge, and with minimal inconvenience (perfectly achieveable by the way), then you can start to put forward the argument that making it a requirement is no big deal.

Shadow_Don posted...

Probably because you don't live in a place where people deliberately are making it a hurdle

The next question you should be asking is why Republicans don't want to send people free voting IDs

Also people who have ids but not the right ones are ineligible. Hunting license? Yeah well take that. Student Id? Nah?

Who is more likely to have a hunting license.

Additionally you already have to prove your identity to vote the ID isn't the issue it's just the nice gift wrap on the suppression of the problem.

DnDer posted...

I got paid for my jury duty.

It was like $15... a day.

Jury duty pay is considered a travel stipend, not wages for your time. That's why it's so low.

DnDer posted...

I got paid for my jury duty.

It was like $15... a day.

Yeah Ill rephrase, you should be paid at the equivalent rate for missing however many days worth of work, not to mention money for transport and/or parking since courts are usually in cities and its fucking impossible to park in cities without paying extortionate rates.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Yeah Ill rephrase, you should be paid at the equivalent rate for missing however many days worth of work, not to mention money for transport and/or parking since courts are usually in cities and its fucking impossible to park in cities without paying extortionate rates.

I understand the intent here, but it'd be difficult to implement. How do you prove your pay rate unless you bring in a (normal) paystub? How would you prove the hours you worked for said normal paystub? What about small business owners whose absence could cause a whole store to be shut down? How do you compensate them on potentially lost business?

While it should definitely be higher than $15 a day, a better rate would be like a straight $150-300 a day. High enough to not doom somebody from missing a day or two of work, but not high enough to incentivize some to dick around in the jury room for an additional few hundred bucks.

wackyteen posted...

I understand the intent here, but it'd be difficult to implement. How do you prove your pay rate unless you bring in a (normal) paystub? How would you prove the hours you worked for said normal paystub? What about small business owners whose absence could cause a whole store to be shut down? How do you compensate them on potentially lost business?

While it should definitely be higher than $15 a day, a better rate would be like a straight $150-300 a day. High enough to not doom somebody from missing a day or two of work, but not high enough to incentivize some to dick around in the jury room for an additional few hundred bucks.

I assume theyd check with your employer. As for business owners, I dunno. But yeah a flat rate could work too. It just needs to be a lot higher than it is.

Dark_Arbron posted...

On a related note, you should be paid for jury duty. The government should not be able to order you not to work because of some civic duty nonsense. If you pay tax, youre already doing your civic duty.

<_< it is paid.