Edit/Update: It turns out that my last name has a capitol letter in the middle and they put a space in it. Thank god. I can actually vote this year.

  • Hubi@feddit.org
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    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 so unnecessary complicated and prone to errors/manipulation. I just have to show up with my ID, doesn’t matter if it’s for the EU parliament or the local city senate.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      It’s by design. We could make it easier, but certain groups benefit from making it difficult.

        • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 months ago

          On the one hand, the UN making a resolution that they won’t trust the results of the US elections would play right into the hands of what some MAGAs are saying.

          But MAGAs then agreeing to any UN resolution, especially one that requires third party oversight…

          I’d say the odds are even on this.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      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.

    • actually@lemmy.world
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      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.

    • ...m...@ttrpg.network
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      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 so unnecessary complicated and prone to errors/manipulation.

      …what the electorate consider a bug the politicians consider a feature…

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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      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.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        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.

        • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Yeah. It’s also not as if doing this now will be reasonable. It will be something that needs to be put into law including the affordable national ID and then worked towards over the course of a decade or something.

      • mle@feddit.org
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        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 manually registering for voting for those who don’t trust “the government” and don’t want a govt ID

        • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Why? The whole “illegals are voting” will be dead in the water. And requiring someone to be able to ID themselves using a government issued and official ID when performing stuff like voting is not weird. The whole convoluted show up with birth certificate yadda yadda is.

          • mle@feddit.org
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            2 months ago

            Yeah that’s pretty much what I meant, sorry if I wasn’t clear.

            I just think in order to reduce the resistance against such a change, it might be good to still provide the “old” method with voter registration for anyone who doesn’t want a government ID because of “muh freedoms”.

            That way, any normal citizen can just have a government ID and by identifying themselves be able to vote without further registration. Any citizen who doesn’t want an ID can go through a voter registration process, same as today.

      • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Just make IDs accessible to citizens at low costs

        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

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      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; but the soundbites are setup to make it sound like it is to engender the reaction you’ve shared.

      the controversy is registering to vote; not voting; and the conservative states intentionally make registering as heavily bureaucratic as possible in the hopes of minimizing the number of people who can successfully finish to process of registration.

      they’ve also dedicated hundreds of millions on dollars to understand and enact policies to keep the poor and minority groups from voting.

      usually democrats sit back and let republicans openly do it, but sometimes democrats do it themselves; the democratic governor of california just made automatic voter registration illegal; just as the conservative states do.

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          the reason why we have this mess is because the states get to make up whatever rules they want around voting so long as they never officially block you from voting. doing so would force the federal government to step in, so the red & purple states are careful not to poke that bear and instead focus their voter suppression efforts on the aspects of voting that previous court cases had decided that federal government has no say: like registration.

          biden won because most of the battleground states managed to make registration & voting easier; like the example you shared (except mn is not a battleground state); and they’ve all since then repealed that easier access.

    • faercol@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      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
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        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
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      2 months ago

      Imagine you moved countries, and were 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 is no top level federal voter database.

      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
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        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 as an automatic bonus if you check a box saying you want it

        • Ech@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Some states have lifetime DL terms, while others are still ridiculously long.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          That’s true but I’m just explaining the potential problem.

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
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        2 months ago

        Are there people of voting age that are exempt from paying taxes? Because I’m pretty sure the federal government has a huge database of its citizens already through the IRS. People who became adults after the last tax season and people committing tax fraud would need to register manually once, but I don’t think that’s such a big risk.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          As I said, federal government doesn’t handle this. So the IRS is involved for several reasons.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      It’s overblown. It’s mostly propaganda.

      I just have to show up with my ID

      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.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          2 months ago

          What I’m describing has been federal law for over 30 years. The European criticism about ID cards is nonsensical. Every time you obtain, renew, or amend your drivers license or ID, you update your voter registration.

          Remember the context of my comment: I am replying to European criticism of registration. The European approach is for everyone to obtain a government issued ID card and present it at the polling station. The NVRA already does this. We have already adopted the European solution to this problem.

  • wjrii@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    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!

      • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Oh, you fool. Christians are part of the body of Christ, and communion involves eating of the body of Christ, and communion is entering into a convenant as a living member of the body of Christ…

        Don’t eat the Christians. That’s how it spreads.

        • wjrii@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          It’s like Mad Cow Disease, except most of the Christians around here have no brains.

    • ...m...@ttrpg.network
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      2 months ago

      …here’s the thing most folks don’t realise: as a metropolitan area, austin skews far more conservative than san antonio…

      (we actually meet in the basement of the alamo)

  • RagingHungryPanda@lemm.eeOP
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    2 months ago

    Edit/Update: It turns out that my last name has a capitol letter in the middle and they put a space in it. Thank god. I can actually vote this year.

    • Wolf314159@startrek.website
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      2 months ago

      Those are the kinds of inconsistencirs the GOP use to accuse you of voter fraud, even if you correct it. Don’t be surprised if some GOP busybody adds your name to a list of voter registrations to purge. Whenever they talk about voting irregularities and a rigged election, this is exactly the kind of voter disenfranchisement that they are trying to accomplish. Hell, question enough votes and you can get the votes of an entire region thrown out. You don’t need any proof to make the accusations, then they massive shit sandwich gets dropped in the lap of a few underpaided and understaffed people to substantiate. I recommend you vote as early as possible and follow up to make sure your vote gets counted.

      • RagingHungryPanda@lemm.eeOP
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        2 months ago

        Something like that, except it’d be DeLarge and it’s in the system with a space and apparently case-insensitive

  • TriflingToad@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    by the way if you vote by mailing it in, in Florida your vote could be denied without you even knowing.

    They verify the signatures and a lot of recent young adults never really had a proper signature, it also happens that a lot of youth vote blue.

    • Wilzax@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Invalidating a vote based on signature analysis sounds like a recipe for a MASSIVE probe into election integrity.

      • Ech@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        Won’t matter if it pushes it past Jan 6th and the vote isn’t certified.

  • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Important: If you’re on the suspese list rather than being fully removed (unsure if that’s the case here), you might still be able to vote but will need to show proof of residence. Contact your registrar to check that and ask them about it

    If voters find out they’re still on the suspended list after having shown up at their polling places on Election Day, they can still vote after they complete a “statement of residence” form.

    Voters with suspended status who may have moved to other counties will be required to vote in the counties where they previously resided or may be asked to submit provisional ballots.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/texas-voter-purge-warning-ballots-abbott-rcna168811


    As a note to all: Check your voter registration status today as deadlines are very fast approaching (or even already past in some states)

    https://vote.gov/register

  • Tiefling IRL@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    Hell, I’m in NY and my partner’s voter registration keeps getting reset to an old address she doesn’t live at any more. She’s fixed it like three times this year.

  • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    I’m going through the same shit in Indiana. Waiting on a response grim my local office.

  • HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.one
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    2 months ago

    To be safe itnsounds like younhave to register to vote every year.
    Just donit when its the “spring forward” part of daylight savings.

    Or everytime you’re stopped outside a grocery store by the person with the clipboard.

    • Vanon@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Definitely check voter registration. Quick and easy at state or county website. And register any change of address (along with updating ID, DL).

      I usually remember to check about a month before election, or when I see a new illegal “voter purge” in the news (always GOP).