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Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

nytimes.com

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Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#41

Post by xythian »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #18
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't find out you need to re-register until it's too late.

Don't most places allow same day registration at the polls? Every state I've voted in does. Edit: ok, 2/5ths isn't most but it's still a lot. Chill with the down-votes, it was an honest question, not an attack on your ideology.

Most do not.

> As of June 30, 2019, a total of 21 states plus the District of Columbia have enacted same day registration (SDR), which allows any qualified resident of the state to go to register to vote and cast a ballot all in that day.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/same-da...

And, same day isn't necessarily the best solution. For example, Oregon does vote-by-mail. This process would make it difficult to allow for same day registration. But, Oregon also has nation leading voter turnout. No polling places, no hassle, just an envelope in the mail.

* Oregon also does automatic registrations when interacting with the DMV.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#42

Post by pknopf »

biomcgary wrote: post #35

According to the article, moderate Republicans in Ohio insisted on transparency for purging voter rolls. They sent out the proposed list to various voter advocacy groups across the political spectrum, which reviewed the proposed changes and flagged mistakes. 80% were purged correctly. 20% were not. Rather than condemning Ohio, they should be praised for bringing transparency to the process (as long as the mistakes ar…

I still don't think it's a coincidence that the 20,000 were in a democratic strong-hold.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#43

Post by aaronbrethorst »

maxerickson wrote: post #19
not_a_cop75 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it really for a voter to reregister? You guys are making it sound like it they're taking away driver's licenses or something. All you have to do is hit the website. If you don't have internet access hit a library.

Why do people have to register to vote at all? The state has a sort of pretty solid idea of where they live...

To make it more difficult for prospective voters who are perhaps not white, poorer, younger, are working multiple jobs, or are a single parent, just to name a few examples.

You can connect the dots on why groups like these are disenfranchised by the state.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#44

Post by [deleted] »

dd36 wrote: post #17
wbronitsky wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think instead of framing this issue as "how easy would it be to re-register" we could instead ask "why should anyone have to register to vote at all?" In the US, voting is a right, which is something that cannot and should not be taken away. Invalidating voting registration, especially in a targeted way, is deplorable.

That’s actually a good argument for registering guns. I have to register for my voting rights, you have to register for your gun rights.

[deleted]

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#45

Post by Accujack »

spamizbad wrote: post #20
not_a_cop75 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it really for a voter to reregister? You guys are making it sound like it they're taking away driver's licenses or something. All you have to do is hit the website. If you don't have internet access hit a library.

Because this is HN and you're probably young-ish: When you're older and you've set down roots the last time you updated your voter registration was probably a few decades ago. Chances are your polling place hasn't likely changed either. So you know when elections come, you go to your usual polling place, give your name, get your ballet and "pull the lever" so to speak. You're not thinking "Oh I better double-check my…

>The US is strange: It will wring its hands over low voter turnout while also actively making it more difficult to vote.

Hint: the people wringing their hands and the people making it more difficult to vote are not the same groups.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#46

Post by microtherion »

wbronitsky wrote: post #8
not_a_cop75 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it really for a voter to reregister? You guys are making it sound like it they're taking away driver's licenses or something. All you have to do is hit the website. If you don't have internet access hit a library.

I think instead of framing this issue as "how easy would it be to re-register" we could instead ask "why should anyone have to register to vote at all?" In the US, voting is a right, which is something that cannot and should not be taken away. Invalidating voting registration, especially in a targeted way, is deplorable.

In most democratic countries, voters are registered automatically. Requiring a manual registration step and placing maintenance of voter rolls in the hand of political appointees is just an invitation for shenanigans.

In addition, penalties are highly asymmetric. Denying an eligible voter their right to vote is virtually risk free. Casting a vote while being ineligible is subject to harsh punishments. Even with the current, political, process, government officials would think twice about illegally purging 20,000 voters if the penalty for that would be equivalent to the one for illegally casting 20,000 votes.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#47

Post by wbronitsky »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #40
spamizbad wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because this is HN and you're probably young-ish: When you're older and you've set down roots the last time you updated your voter registration was probably a few decades ago. Chances are your polling place hasn't likely changed either. So you know when elections come, you go to your usual polling place, give your name, get your ballet and "pull the lever" so to speak. You're not thinking "Oh I better double-check my…

I update my voter registration sometimes twice a year to match the party I most like at the time, It's always been online - easy peasy. I expect to get downvoted to hell but I also don't get why showing an ID to vote is such a big deal. After all, I have to look up the numbers in my drivers license to vote. Also, how is it hard to vote? Absentee ballots are totally easy to get. If I was blind, I might have to plan ah…

US history is why its a big deal to show your ID to vote.

Wikipedia has a great summary of the racist policies voter ID laws were made to enforce, and that voter fraud is "vanishingly rare" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_ID_laws_in_the_United_St...

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#48

Post by zapita »

spamizbad wrote: post #20
not_a_cop75 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it really for a voter to reregister? You guys are making it sound like it they're taking away driver's licenses or something. All you have to do is hit the website. If you don't have internet access hit a library.

Because this is HN and you're probably young-ish: When you're older and you've set down roots the last time you updated your voter registration was probably a few decades ago. Chances are your polling place hasn't likely changed either. So you know when elections come, you go to your usual polling place, give your name, get your ballet and "pull the lever" so to speak. You're not thinking "Oh I better double-check my…

> The US is strange: It will wring its hands over low voter turnout while also actively making it more difficult to vote.

It's not strange, it's divided. One group is worried about low voter turnout. Another group is actively making it more difficult to vote. There is virtually no overlap between the two.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#49

Post by dsfyu404ed »

dd36 wrote: post #17
wbronitsky wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think instead of framing this issue as "how easy would it be to re-register" we could instead ask "why should anyone have to register to vote at all?" In the US, voting is a right, which is something that cannot and should not be taken away. Invalidating voting registration, especially in a targeted way, is deplorable.

That’s actually a good argument for registering guns. I have to register for my voting rights, you have to register for your gun rights.

There would be an uproar if we regulated voting the same way we regulated guns. Imagine if everyone who smoked weed and voted was committing a felony (to name but one example). Imagine if states had laws saying you need to take a class, pay a hundred bucks and get the police chief's permission before you could vote. Imagine if there was a federal agency that could unilaterally make rules about voting. Imagine if polling places were required to keep records of who voted for what when. Imagine if certain cities and states all but required extensive political connections to get a voting license. Trust me, you really don't want to regulate voting the way we regulate guns. There's a reason people like to compare various gun laws to poll taxes.

Edit: The down vote to reply ratio indicates that what I am saying is factually correct yet inconvenient.

Re: Ohio Was Set to Purge 235,000 Voters. It Was Wrong About 20%

#50

Post by microtherion »

biomcgary wrote: post #35

According to the article, moderate Republicans in Ohio insisted on transparency for purging voter rolls. They sent out the proposed list to various voter advocacy groups across the political spectrum, which reviewed the proposed changes and flagged mistakes. 80% were purged correctly. 20% were not. Rather than condemning Ohio, they should be praised for bringing transparency to the process (as long as the mistakes ar…

They should be both praised for bringing more transparency, AND condemned for purging nearly 50k eligible voters.
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