2y ago

Pa. to register voters automatically, Gov. Shapiro announces

www.pennlive.com

66 comments

In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Shapiro said everyone who goes to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new or renewed driver’s license will be automatically registered to vote, unless the individual chooses to opt out.
That’s not quite automatic, but still a great step
- It's like that in other states. You get or renew your license/ID and part of that form is voting registration.
  
  The main difference is opt in vs opt out. Still not the same as automatic registration
  
  In Canada, there's a box you can tick on your taxes to pass along your info to Elections Canada. Not sure how hard this would be to implement as well.
- goddamn we've been trying to get motor voter legislation for 30+ years.... and the conservatives know more voters is their death knell so they've fought it tooth and nail everywhere. GOOD ON PA.
- It's calculated to devalue the votes of city dwellers who don't have or need a license. Still, more voters is always good.
  
  Its not calculated that way. Dems are the only group pushing automatic register voters anywhere, and they aren't going to cut into their city advantage if possible.
  Its done this way because it's logistically simpler to implement, and DMVs tend to handle ID cards as well for those that dont drive.
  
  What? How does getting easier access to registration for one group cut out the existing conditions for access from another?
  
  You already need an ID to vote in PA, which is itself problematic, but automatic registration is purely an improvement
  
  Those people get government IDs. It's the same form.
  
  You can still get an ID without getting a liscense...
Republicans going hate that wonder how long until the lawsuit.
- A lawsuit when 23 states were already doing it? GOP's voter rolls are going to grow too.
  
  The GOP of late has been doing everything in their power to make it tougher to vote. They've gone through in multiple states and purged voter registrations which many people didn't find out about until they actually went to vote and found out they were no longer registered.
  GOP’s voter rolls are going to grow too.
  The GOP is trying to bank on the fact that their voters tend to be far more motivated to vote. The DNC has more actual supporters than the GOP and if there was 100% voter turnout the GOP would never win another election, but since we only get something like 40% voter turnout, and nearly all Republican voters show up to the polls every time, that lets the GOP keep scoring election wins. They know that if they make it more difficult to register to vote, the vast majority of their supporters will go through the extra effort, while a significant chunk of Democrat voters will be discouraged by the extra hoops to jump through and will give up before actually getting registered or voting.
  
  But often, voter registration ends up disenfranchising marginalized people.
i'm very stupid -- i've never understood this whole registration system at all. why is it not just based on your ID or social security or something? (oh, so prisoners can't vote? great, i'm glad we introduced more complexity to disenfranchise more people.)
- Some Americans, particularly evangelical Christians and libertarians, are vehemently against the idea of a national identification system. To them it's either the beginning of a New World Order government or the Mark of the Beast or both. So having a national ID card will never fly. Social Security Numbers aren't even supposed to be used for identification, despite the fact that they're used that way everywhere.
  There's also the case that not everyone has an ID. Racist southern states, for example, enact voter ID laws and then remove all places where you can get an ID from majority black areas. Having to show an ID to vote is, therefore, going to disenfranchise some people. You could get around this by broadening valid identification to include simply bringing a piece of mail with your name and address on it.
  
  Actually SSN’s ARE supposed to be used that way now. It wasn’t intended when the system started because it was difficult to get everyone one. But once the system was established they started pushing federal agencies to use them. Then in the ‘60’s when the digital revolution began it just made sense to use them. But the law has been changed since 1943. The new cards don’t even have that line on them anymore.
  https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/ssnreportc2.html
- oh, so prisoners can't vote
  It seems like not having a polling location inside the prison would also address that concern.
- You know weirdly in Australia it's mandatory to vote, all government departments exchange information and yet we still need to register to vote... you get fined for not voting and you can't get a passport if you're 18+ and not enrolled.
- I don't know why Republicans wouldn't want prisoners to vote. The don't need to avoid consequences' group and acting overly tough to the point of making life much harder on themselves is their entire base
  
  You can't be Tough On Crime^tm if you allow prisoners to vote. What if -gasp!- they vote to abolish all crimes! Our streets would be RAMPANT with undesirables! /s
  Also, think about the demographic make-up of America's penal system, and you'll find another reason Republicans don't want prisoners to vote.
I voted for Governor Shapiro because I’ve always loved his YouTube videos, but I don’t agree with a move like this. Voting shouldn’t be too easy or people won’t cherish it for the special thing that it is.
- I’m usually pretty good at detecting sarcasm but I cannot tell based on this post.
  
  Voting is so important, it’s a rite of passage and a symbolic, almost religious ceremony. If you just sign everybody up to do it willy-nilly, they won’t take it seriously. Better that people should have to jump through a few hoops so only the people that really care can partake.
- I'm for it. Pre-Trump and all the recent GOP voter blocking nonsense, I was automatically purged from Florida's rolls for not having voted recently enough? Something like that.
  
  Aye, last year a poll worker started about my license not matching my voting address. I'd heard shenans were to be expected so I plopped my voter registration poll card down and she stfu. The result? I am now trained and going to work the polls. What did I learn in training? She was wrong wrong wrong wrong and what she did was harassment. But you know what? That's OK, bc now I'm showing up, maybe I'll get to sit next to her this year and turn her in.
  
  See that’s what I’m talking about. If you didn’t vote recently then you probably don’t really care about it and should have to go re-register to prove that you’re really committed to democracy before being able to vote again. That’s how we make sure only the real democracy cherishers can vote, and that’s how we defeat authoritarian demagogues.
- Here's the thing, if you reduce the amount of people who will vote, it increases the cost of a singe vote and by extension incentivises falsifications by the ruling party.
  Being able to vote isn't a privelege to cherish it, it's a right.
  When it comes to such things, always remember how they can be abused, because they likely will be.
  This is how informational autocracies do it. The deincentivise participation and use state employees to vote for people who didn't participate. This is how it works in Russia, Belarus, and many more other countries.
- Wtf
- Do you also like to stab people to help them cherish their lives more?
- lol
- Exactly. If someone can't figure out for themselves how to register to vote, they don't deserve to. There should be a bare minimum of intelligence and responsibility required to vote

66 comments