As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
The Battle Over Voting Rights (also Gerrymandering)
enlightenedbum
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
It's my opinion that the most important fight of the next four years (presuming a lack of nuclear holocaust, obviously) is the one we're going to see happen over the ability of racial minorities to vote. The Trump administration in general and Jeff Sessions transparently wants a herrenvolk democracy for whites only. Today they took their first step towards that outcome by changing DoJ's mind in a major voting rights lawsuit in Texas.
SIG presented legal analysis in the Cabinet thread:
For their part, newly elected DNC Chairman Tom Perez, who has a history of combating this kind of nonsense while he was at Justice, has proposed voting rights enforcement as being a major function of the DNC since we cannot trust Justice to do it. (Campaign promise here)
If Democrats don't win these fights there is almost no way to retake power without a drastic change in policies for the worse from the Democratic Party, so this is the big one.
SIG presented legal analysis in the Cabinet thread:
So It Goes wrote:Here's the rub of that filing by DOJ.
They are saying since the Texas Legislature can fix the law this year, there is no need to move forward right now on the issue sent back down by the Fifth Circuit, namely, was this law intentionally discriminatory when enacted?
This makes no sense, since no matter what the Texas Legislature does this year to amend the law, it changes absolutely nothing about the reasons why the law was first passed, which is what the lower appeals court is tasked with determining at this time.
Unless Texas itself says, wait, we'll pull this law off the books and make a new one, there is absolutely no reason to delay moving forward in having the court determine if the original law was intentionally discriminatory. That's a factual determination based on things that have already happened and can't be changed or amended.
So, you see, they've written a fig leaf into their brief, but it's clear that DOJ supports the law that Texas passed and simply no longer wants to attack it.
THE ARISTOCRATS RACISTS
For their part, newly elected DNC Chairman Tom Perez, who has a history of combating this kind of nonsense while he was at Justice, has proposed voting rights enforcement as being a major function of the DNC since we cannot trust Justice to do it. (Campaign promise here)
If Democrats don't win these fights there is almost no way to retake power without a drastic change in policies for the worse from the Democratic Party, so this is the big one.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
So It Goes on
+12
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
Trump admin's claims of widespread voter fraud, and whatever ginned up "investigation" we get of that claim, is also on topic for this thread.
"the comity necessary in our system of federalism"
Nothing could make me roll my eyes any harder
Get fucked, Sessions. That's not even a fig leaf that's an embarrassment to whoever had to write that tripe about "comity in the federal system". Especially after the comments about attacking states for legalizing pot, which is on much shakier ground federally than illegal voting restrictions.
The guy who (ostensibly) wrote it is a lawyer that defended HB2 in North Carolina, so.
That brings to mind the MLK quote about white people who "prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
There's a few, but it's generally more of a "Help you fill out paperwork and get where you need to go" thing than a financial assistance thing. And they can't really help when "where you need to go" is thousands of miles away because you have to get a special piece of paper in person because America, fuck you, that's why.
Maybe someone should look into starting such an organization...
I think a fair chunk of effort needs to be spent on getting people the IDs required by these laws. I'm not saying we shouldn't fight said laws, but between the Sessions' DOJ and Trump's judges, not to mention SCOTUS, I don't think that we can count on winning many of these cases.
Get people the IDs they need, and send out poll watchers so that we can make sure they're allowed to used those IDs to vote.
I wonder how successful something like this would be today, with what is appearing to be organized disinformation campaigns.
It’s not a very important country most of the time
http://steamcommunity.com/id/mortious
Remember ACORN?
Probably like that
We need a privately funded organization, backed by small doners and democratic voting billionaires, whose only job is to get ID's and voter registration cards into the hands of democratic voters.
Literally a "Democratic Voter Enablement" organization which pays for childcare, days off, does form prep and pays for the ID's and registration and then buses those same people to the polls on election day to vote Democrat.
Its problem was it helped minorities vote. There never needed to be another reason
Oh, of course, but it could be stopped from doing that because...
1) It claimed to be non-partisan
2) It received federal assistance
I'm literally proposing an organization which will help you get ID's, and pay for every aspect of the process and then bus you to the polls on election day if you live in a minority majority neighborhood. Entirely privately funded. Entirely clear in its partisan behavior. No coordination with the main democratic party. So no ability for the Republicans to do anything about it. Who cares if they are pissed. It's not illegal to help minorities. Republicans just want it to be illegal to use federal dollars to do it.
If you are a private organization, it is completely legal to do all of this stuff. Churches already do. As did unions, back when unions had any money.
You can even bring people to a free BBQ and beer session after the voting. Pretty much the ONLY thing you can't do is explicitly offer to pay them to vote a certain way.
Publically funded in any way? It wouldn't last a day. Entirely privately funded? It would be pretty much invulnerable. I mean, do you think that Republicans don't hate the ACLU?
Seriously, somebody get some Silicon Valley or LA bleeding hearts in on this idea and watch it go. If money's speech (Thanks Citizens United!) then use it to help speak for the people who couldn't otherwise speak for themselves.
I'm pretty sure several Democrats, some prominent and some up and coming, have been talking about this exact thing.
Fastest way to get Citizens United overturned is to use it as an means to empower poor and minority voters.
Ive wanted to start an organization with this goal for a while. The logistics for just covering Pittsburgh are overwhelming for me. If somebody who knew what the hell they were doing started it first Id be first in line to volunteer
Voteriders doesn't have volunteers on the ground. Rather, they coordinate with local resources in different jurisdictions: for example, Main Street Ministries in Texas or Wisconsin Voices.
Some of these organizations do provide financial or transportation assisstance. It just depends on the organization.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Then some conservative asshole will come in with falsified and heavily edited video and get everything shut down.
I will try to come back to this later with more detail if needed but these organizations exist. At least locally but I am given to understand there is similar. Mostly they focus on the homeless trying to get them an ID for free. Here they give out a few per week via a lottery system because they can't hope to meet demand. They do not do anything actively get people to the polls, but thats because funding is disgustingly low. I believe the local program is run by Unity whose primary goal is housing. They do great work there too when they actually have money. I know of a few similar programs that claim to offer similar services but end up running over their annual budget within days of the start of their fiscal year.
Oh security surveilance for everything was on my list.
I believe the ACLU and the NAACP are still on the case. it goes through, just not with Government resources.
The category for standing for voter ID laws is more or less "anyone in the state".
3DS: 0473-8507-2652
Switch: SW-5185-4991-5118
PSN: AbEntropy
But YOUR flimsy reality-based evidence is merely doctored.
The concerned citizen tackling voter fraud and investigating you has the real tapes, not the stuff you extended through witchcraft to deceive these good white Christian people and rabble rouse undesirables.
Fact-immunity is a thing in this time. The accusations do not need to even make logical sense and still they will have legs and shamble forth to infect with their noxious bite. Innocence proves nothing, like a certain franchise likes to say.
Insane, but our path forward on this unfortunately has to trek through the winds of madness toward the shining goal of... what we really ought to have already by now, damn these obstructors.
Good thing the ACLU has gotten a big influx of cash lately.
I mean they can doctor whatever but if Im privately funded what can they do?
Go to Local or national News who arent going to risk slander/libel suits and will verify the tape? Post on facebook for their racist aunt?
Edit - Also I know Ill need a social media manager. Again my researchlead me to seeing this as very overwhelming for one guy
I'm sure Jeff Sessions would be happy to use that evidence gathered against your organization to file suit for voter fraud. That's the real danger here. Jeff Sessions wielding the DoJ to prevent people from voting, rather than enabling.
That said, Jeff Sessions has basically acted exactly as I imagined he would i.e. pure evil against all vulnerable minorities.
http://ideas.time.com/2011/11/07/when-voter-registration-is-a-crime/
Jason Kander has started Let America Vote.
I still love that ad so very much. Shame he lost his Senate bid, but glad to see he remains (as the Pod Save America gents call him) a "card carrying badass".
I so wanted that man to be my senator. And the pod crew has it right, he is a badass, and articulate too. I'm going to look into how to help his new organization this weekend.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
But remember, according to Sessions people think he's racist simply because he has a stereotypical southern-style name.
Not because he's actually racist, oh dear me, not that.
I know because I've read the transcript of his attempted confirmation for a federal judgeship in 1986 and his case record as a lawyer.
The fact his legal name is Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is just a bonus.
~ Buckaroo Banzai
But as a private organization, I don't give a monkeys if 55% of the country think I'm a bag of demons. All I care about is the people I'm paying to get ID's and the politicians I'm making massive campaign contributions to to shut up about it. Even if say I somehow manage to enable a non-citizen to get registered to vote, then who cares. It's the GOVERNMENTS job to prevent voter fraud, not mine. I just paid for their forms and dropped them off, the government let them register improperly.
It's why it can't be public. Because it needs to be immune to what Republicans think of it and purely partisan.
It's also why it's past time that we stop 'Rocking the Vote' and start 'Rocking the Democratic Vote'. Celebs need to stop saying "Go out and have your voices heard". They need to say, "I'm going to go and vote Democrat, I'm cool, go vote Democrat and be cool like me."