If they vote Democrat, stop them!
The outrage meter here in The Cesspool of Sin is pegging this morning.
Brad Friedman‘s X-post-factoid Sunday was pretty eye-catching. Ohio Republicans really, really don’t want the majority of state voters to cast ballots in the Aug. 8 special election. Their ultimate goal is to prevent a popular constitutional amendment securing abortion rights from passing in November.
Early voting is ongoing for the upcoming Aug. 8 special election on Issue 1 that asks voters to make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution by raising the threshold to 60%.
To get to the ballot box, voters need to keep in mind changes made to voter ID laws last year, in a late-night legislative move approved by Gov. Mike DeWine at the beginning of 2023.
Those changes, made through House Bill 458, mean different identification allowed at the polls, and limits to the absentee ballot dates.
While a driver’s license with a different address is still allowed (as long as it’s not expired), voters must be registered with the Ohio Secretary of State at the correct address before voting.
Along with unexpired driver’s licenses, a state of Ohio ID card, interim ID form from the BMV, a US passport or passport card, US military ID card, Ohio National Guard ID or ID from the US Department of Veterans Affairs counts as valid photo identification.
Under the changes, voters can no longer use a Social Security card, birth certificate, insurance card, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document, according to the Secretary of State. Even a “registration acknowledgment notice” from the county board of elections is no longer acceptable, according to the new rules.
No one is fooled by the obvious efforts by the Democracy-Optional Party™ to stifle voting by groups with which they disagree.
As of April 7, those without a driver’s license from Ohio or any other state can obtain a photo ID through the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles free of charge, an ID that can be used at the polls.
The deadline for absentee ballot applications is now Aug. 1 at 8:30 p.m., another change made by the legislature.
“Ballots now must be requested a full week before Election Day – the previous Tuesday by 5 p.m. – as opposed to the previous Saturday by noon (the previous deadline),” according to information sent out by the ACLU’s Ohio chapter.
It’s getting steamy around the Tar Heel State, and not because of the temperature.
At a public Democratic event here on Sunday, my state senator advised North Carolina voters to vote in person, early, and to avoid using absentee voting in coming elections if at all possible. The NCGOP has erected barriers to acceptance similar to Ohio’s that render absentee voting iffy.
Funny, the NCGOP was down with voting by mail so long as it was mainly Republicans using it. You could repeal Obamacare from the comfort of your own home! (2012 mailer above.)
NC’s absentee voters must now include with their mailed ballots a photocopy of their approved photo IDs. Or else include a Photo ID Exception Form. As if everyone who wishes to vote from home has the equipment and computer savvy for doing any of that. And even I can’t locate that Photo ID Exception Form on the state board’s website!
That’s because, thanks to the GOP-controlled NC general assembly’s foot-dragging and refusal to fund their election-suppression mandates, it doesn’t exist yet!
BTW, one can get a free photo ID at your NC county Board of Elections office. Except the software for producing it on the printing equipment the boards have on hand is still unavailable! (See previous paragraph.)
I’m going to bastardize a Ronald Reagan quote to suit MAGA Republicans’ view of popular sovereignty: If they vote Democrat, stop them. If they keep voting, regulate them. And if they stop voting, give the rich another tax cut.