So, if you're registering to vote for the first time and don't have a photo ID, what do you do then? I've never seen a birth certificate with an adult's photo on it.
This kind of dilemma is why these fuckwads want to pass this legislation - to lessen the number of registered voters.
Call. Your. Congresscritter. Daily if possible. And then if it passes in the House again, or gets attached to this budget stuff going on, then Call. Your. Senators.
Well, great! This way only "real" Americans are gonna vote. And we know how informed and discriminating *they* are--just look at the last election.
And we all know what "real" Americans means. No more Joy Reids, Mehdi Hassans, or Katie Phangs showing up to steal *your* sacred white warrior's God-given chance to destroy American democracy. Again. Only worse this time.
So, the twist I'm waiting for: Are they going to (try to) purge voter rolls nationwide and require everyone to re-register using new documentation? Because that's the exact f-ckery I would expect them to pull, say a couple weeks before midterms.
And, yes, defeating the SAVE ACT (and the Maine version that they're trying to jam through) is my chosen hill to die on.
REAL ID will NOT suffice as proof, because it doesn't state your Country of Citizenship! A passport will work, assuming you've got the time and $130. A notarized/certified birth certificate, along with a REAL ID compliant ID will also work, assuming the names are exactly the same on both. As a woman, if you didn't have the foresight to have your parents put your married name on your birth certificate (/s), you're out of luck, because there is NO PROVISION FOR A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE TO PROVE NAME CHANGE. This is how they disenfranchise women without changing that pesky Constitution.
So, get a passport, if you are able, and SLAM your Congressional and Senate representatives with emails/calls, telling them that you see through the Republicans cheap tricks and that the SAVE ACT has to be stopped!
So the normal information was good enough for a passport but not good enough to vote? When I got my RealID, there was a woman there who was crying, probably a marriage license showing the path to her name change. And look at who it screws, the people that vote mostly Democratic.
So the normal information was good enough for a passport but not good enough to vote? When I got my RealID, there was a woman there who was crying, probably a marriage license showing the path to her name change. And look at who it screws, the people that vote mostly Democratic.
Thank God I didn't change my last name when I got married (the marriage lasted about five minutes.)
Marcie has written a superb post about how much fucking trouble it will to vote be if this thing is passed. I believe only about 50 percent of registered voters vote anyway, they should die.
To show exemplary policy. To show that government can work. To counter federal Republican voter suppression.
They should do it jointly as well. A kind of loose alternative federal government. They do a lot of joint resistance on an ad hoc basis, I think there should be a permanent structure to it, however loose. And it should be explicitly about countering federal Republican fuckery, with 4 or 5 main things listed. One of them being voter suppression.
I'd also like to see mental and legislative preparation for arresting federal officers of various kinds who run afoul of state-level civil rights, voting integrity, labor, environmental etc. laws. Make them sue you to get their federal primacy enforced.
Blue states, they are coming to crush you with the weight of a federal fascist regime. You know this, they're telling you this. Start building your counterforce now, jointly.
In October 1981 on my day off from my $3 per hour job at J&R Records I got busted for selling records at Astor Place. NYC’s finest chose me out of 10 other “criminals” and made me put someone else’s open Sprite in my jacket pocket, then squeezed me ‘tween the other 2 cops in the back seat and drove me to the 5th Street precinct house (whilst “joking” about “let’s rape that punk rock bitch” about a woman on St Marks Place) and, after joking about said open Sprite’s spilling all over my trou as me having pissed myself, proceeded to rob me of my Social Security card, my J&R check cashing card, my driver’s license, and $300 of records. When I asked why they were stealing my Soc Sec card/etc the cop yelled “Shut the fuck up, kid, or I’ll kick your balls through yer throat!” And I pointed to the 2 black cats in the cell and said “you’ve got two witnesses right here that will testify to your threatening physical violence on me” and the cop replied “You think those two n_ _ _ ers would even think of testifying against me would talk??!!” I gave up, surrendered to the $180 fine, called the ACLU who told me “forget ever bringing anything against the NYPD” - and have luckily never had my Soc Sec etc run on an identity theft scheme.
In October 1981 on my day off from my $3 per hour job at J&R Records I got busted for selling records at Astor Place. NYC’s finest chose me out of 10 other “criminals” and made me put someone else’s open Sprite in my jacket pocket, then squeezed me ‘tween the other 2 cops in the back seat and drove me to the 5th Street precinct house (whilst “joking” about “let’s rape that punk rock bitch” about a woman on St Marks Place) and, after joking about said open Sprite’s spilling all over my trou as me having pissed myself, proceeded to rob me of my Social Security card, my J&R check cashing card, my driver’s license, and $300 of records. When I asked why they were stealing my Soc Sec card/etc the cop yelled “Shut the fuck up, kid, or I’ll kick your balls through yer throat!” And I pointed to the 2 black cats in the cell and said “you’ve got two witnesses right here that will testify to your threatening physical violence on me” and the cop replied “You think those two n_ _ _ ers would even think of testifying against me would talk??!!” I gave up, surrendered to the $180 fine, called the ACLU who told me “forget ever bringing anything against the NYPD” - and have luckily never had my Soc Sec etc run on an identity theft scheme.
Ta, Marcie. I'm hyphenating my name, affixing beloved Meccalopolis's last name to the one with which I was born. I presented my documents on Valentine's Day to the downtown Social Security office, and my new card is due to arrive any day. Not difficult for me, because I've accumulated so many vacation days (and knew well in advance we were going out of town for a concert when I submitted the paperwork). Way too many people can't take any time off. And document retrieval can be expensive as well as bureaucratically inept.
Well the premise here is that low information voters are valuable. Unfortunately they aren't automatically going to vote Blue, in fact they tend to be more likely to be influenced by misinformation campaigns, which has been something that Team Blue hasn't learned to use yet.
It takes a bit of time and trouble to get a Real ID, but then again those that do tend to need them for things like airline travel and voting etc., i.e. things that require higher levels of organization and pre-planning.
As a significant proportion of the electorate can't be assed to get to the polls and vote, even when it's as easy as filling out a mail-in ballot I'm not going to get worried about the effects as the real way to combat this is like what Old Man Shadow suggests below - Dems need to put out a blast starting now on helping people to get Real IDs because I can see this particular scam being used to prevent people from accessing ANY government service - a great way to winnow the number of recipients of SNAP, WIC, Medicare, Medicade, etc.
I'd gladly donate to that campaign, I got my Real ID this month as my old license had just expired and while it wasn't too hard for me as I had all the documentation I needed on hand, getting copies of things like birth certificates isn't all that hard and as the great proportion of the population gets W-2s the SS part isn't that difficult either.
The REAL ID requirements are more burdensome than what I had to do to get an Irish passport (to document my citizenship by way of having Irish-born parents).
I was a longtime food bank volunteer who worked with people who simply didn't have a current ID, and do not have the ability to get a new ID. This issue is so much more widespread than people realize: there were people who had fled domestic violence without taking their IDs with them, people who had run away from and/or alienated their families during previous mental health episodes, kids whose parents had lost their paperwork and didn't know what to do about it, and a LOT of people who just didn't have the organizational capacity to find their paperwork, make their way to a licensing place, and sit through the (lengthy) process of getting it sorted out. The idea that we can all just "get our shit together" and get new or updated ID is simply not true for SO MANY PEOPLE.
So, if you're registering to vote for the first time and don't have a photo ID, what do you do then? I've never seen a birth certificate with an adult's photo on it.
This kind of dilemma is why these fuckwads want to pass this legislation - to lessen the number of registered voters.
Call. Your. Congresscritter. Daily if possible. And then if it passes in the House again, or gets attached to this budget stuff going on, then Call. Your. Senators.
Well, great! This way only "real" Americans are gonna vote. And we know how informed and discriminating *they* are--just look at the last election.
And we all know what "real" Americans means. No more Joy Reids, Mehdi Hassans, or Katie Phangs showing up to steal *your* sacred white warrior's God-given chance to destroy American democracy. Again. Only worse this time.
So, the twist I'm waiting for: Are they going to (try to) purge voter rolls nationwide and require everyone to re-register using new documentation? Because that's the exact f-ckery I would expect them to pull, say a couple weeks before midterms.
And, yes, defeating the SAVE ACT (and the Maine version that they're trying to jam through) is my chosen hill to die on.
REAL ID will NOT suffice as proof, because it doesn't state your Country of Citizenship! A passport will work, assuming you've got the time and $130. A notarized/certified birth certificate, along with a REAL ID compliant ID will also work, assuming the names are exactly the same on both. As a woman, if you didn't have the foresight to have your parents put your married name on your birth certificate (/s), you're out of luck, because there is NO PROVISION FOR A MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE TO PROVE NAME CHANGE. This is how they disenfranchise women without changing that pesky Constitution.
So, get a passport, if you are able, and SLAM your Congressional and Senate representatives with emails/calls, telling them that you see through the Republicans cheap tricks and that the SAVE ACT has to be stopped!
So the normal information was good enough for a passport but not good enough to vote? When I got my RealID, there was a woman there who was crying, probably a marriage license showing the path to her name change. And look at who it screws, the people that vote mostly Democratic.
So the normal information was good enough for a passport but not good enough to vote? When I got my RealID, there was a woman there who was crying, probably a marriage license showing the path to her name change. And look at who it screws, the people that vote mostly Democratic.
Thank God I didn't change my last name when I got married (the marriage lasted about five minutes.)
Marcie has written a superb post about how much fucking trouble it will to vote be if this thing is passed. I believe only about 50 percent of registered voters vote anyway, they should die.
Here's what I'd like to see.
Blue take the initiative.
To show exemplary policy. To show that government can work. To counter federal Republican voter suppression.
They should do it jointly as well. A kind of loose alternative federal government. They do a lot of joint resistance on an ad hoc basis, I think there should be a permanent structure to it, however loose. And it should be explicitly about countering federal Republican fuckery, with 4 or 5 main things listed. One of them being voter suppression.
I'd also like to see mental and legislative preparation for arresting federal officers of various kinds who run afoul of state-level civil rights, voting integrity, labor, environmental etc. laws. Make them sue you to get their federal primacy enforced.
Blue states, they are coming to crush you with the weight of a federal fascist regime. You know this, they're telling you this. Start building your counterforce now, jointly.
'Blue *states* take the initiative...' of course
In October 1981 on my day off from my $3 per hour job at J&R Records I got busted for selling records at Astor Place. NYC’s finest chose me out of 10 other “criminals” and made me put someone else’s open Sprite in my jacket pocket, then squeezed me ‘tween the other 2 cops in the back seat and drove me to the 5th Street precinct house (whilst “joking” about “let’s rape that punk rock bitch” about a woman on St Marks Place) and, after joking about said open Sprite’s spilling all over my trou as me having pissed myself, proceeded to rob me of my Social Security card, my J&R check cashing card, my driver’s license, and $300 of records. When I asked why they were stealing my Soc Sec card/etc the cop yelled “Shut the fuck up, kid, or I’ll kick your balls through yer throat!” And I pointed to the 2 black cats in the cell and said “you’ve got two witnesses right here that will testify to your threatening physical violence on me” and the cop replied “You think those two n_ _ _ ers would even think of testifying against me would talk??!!” I gave up, surrendered to the $180 fine, called the ACLU who told me “forget ever bringing anything against the NYPD” - and have luckily never had my Soc Sec etc run on an identity theft scheme.
Yikes.
On a better note, I used to love J&R. In fact, in 1981 a 16 year old me would have been in there a few times a year.
In October 1981 on my day off from my $3 per hour job at J&R Records I got busted for selling records at Astor Place. NYC’s finest chose me out of 10 other “criminals” and made me put someone else’s open Sprite in my jacket pocket, then squeezed me ‘tween the other 2 cops in the back seat and drove me to the 5th Street precinct house (whilst “joking” about “let’s rape that punk rock bitch” about a woman on St Marks Place) and, after joking about said open Sprite’s spilling all over my trou as me having pissed myself, proceeded to rob me of my Social Security card, my J&R check cashing card, my driver’s license, and $300 of records. When I asked why they were stealing my Soc Sec card/etc the cop yelled “Shut the fuck up, kid, or I’ll kick your balls through yer throat!” And I pointed to the 2 black cats in the cell and said “you’ve got two witnesses right here that will testify to your threatening physical violence on me” and the cop replied “You think those two n_ _ _ ers would even think of testifying against me would talk??!!” I gave up, surrendered to the $180 fine, called the ACLU who told me “forget ever bringing anything against the NYPD” - and have luckily never had my Soc Sec etc run on an identity theft scheme.
Ta, Marcie. I'm hyphenating my name, affixing beloved Meccalopolis's last name to the one with which I was born. I presented my documents on Valentine's Day to the downtown Social Security office, and my new card is due to arrive any day. Not difficult for me, because I've accumulated so many vacation days (and knew well in advance we were going out of town for a concert when I submitted the paperwork). Way too many people can't take any time off. And document retrieval can be expensive as well as bureaucratically inept.
Well the premise here is that low information voters are valuable. Unfortunately they aren't automatically going to vote Blue, in fact they tend to be more likely to be influenced by misinformation campaigns, which has been something that Team Blue hasn't learned to use yet.
It takes a bit of time and trouble to get a Real ID, but then again those that do tend to need them for things like airline travel and voting etc., i.e. things that require higher levels of organization and pre-planning.
As a significant proportion of the electorate can't be assed to get to the polls and vote, even when it's as easy as filling out a mail-in ballot I'm not going to get worried about the effects as the real way to combat this is like what Old Man Shadow suggests below - Dems need to put out a blast starting now on helping people to get Real IDs because I can see this particular scam being used to prevent people from accessing ANY government service - a great way to winnow the number of recipients of SNAP, WIC, Medicare, Medicade, etc.
I'd gladly donate to that campaign, I got my Real ID this month as my old license had just expired and while it wasn't too hard for me as I had all the documentation I needed on hand, getting copies of things like birth certificates isn't all that hard and as the great proportion of the population gets W-2s the SS part isn't that difficult either.
The REAL ID requirements are more burdensome than what I had to do to get an Irish passport (to document my citizenship by way of having Irish-born parents).
I'm sure that this will all be figured out by 2026, when voting will be easily available to all white land-owning assigned male at birth Americans.
The only land I own outright is out of state. Where do I vote now?
Both places like many of the GQPers did in 2024.
There’s always American Idol.
I was a longtime food bank volunteer who worked with people who simply didn't have a current ID, and do not have the ability to get a new ID. This issue is so much more widespread than people realize: there were people who had fled domestic violence without taking their IDs with them, people who had run away from and/or alienated their families during previous mental health episodes, kids whose parents had lost their paperwork and didn't know what to do about it, and a LOT of people who just didn't have the organizational capacity to find their paperwork, make their way to a licensing place, and sit through the (lengthy) process of getting it sorted out. The idea that we can all just "get our shit together" and get new or updated ID is simply not true for SO MANY PEOPLE.