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@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io@georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
I'll give just 2 examples.
1) Black voters in Milwaukee were targeted with racist voter ID laws.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/
This caused a 20 point electoral swing to Trump.
2) 17 million voters purged from rolls between 2016 and 2018. Disproportionately Black, in places where Black voters have been intentionally disenfranchised.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/purges-growing-threat-right-vote
The purging was 4 million voters more effective than during Obama's election. 4 *million*. Not a typo
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io@georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
The reason that people like Rachel Bitecofer, me, and most Black folk, are so often right about who's going to win a US election, and people like Nate Silver are so often wrong, is that Nate looks at the stats and polls, which tell you how people *intend* to vote, while we look at turnout/suppression, which tells you how people *are able* to vote.
Voter turnout is all about suppression. And suppression is all about racism. 
@mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Ohio is going to be bright red this year and maybe cost the Dems a Senate seat and the national media is going to cover it as if the state electorate suddenly got Even More Conservative instead of looking at the effects of new voter suppression laws. (Voting now requires a state issued photo ID, and getting one of those is more difficult and more expensive than in 2016 or 2020)
@q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
When WI made voter ID mandatory, the courts mandated a free option, as well as a way to vote without proper id if the voter was unable to get one. It's not ideal, but not as dire as you fear.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io@MHowell @q_aurelius @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
It is as dire as we fear.
I honestly don't mean to sound harsh, but I need to be very clear about something:
The whole game of voter suppression efforts, is to design attacks to look innocuous, common sense, not racist, and "not that dire" to gullible white citizens.
Meanwhile, Black voters, and white folk that do understand voter suppression and want less of it, try to point out how it will have a huge negative effect.
@mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
EXACTLY.
I remember ten years ago a white libertarian I knew was arguing with me "I looked it up, a state id is $5. Stop making a big deal of this."
(The cost listed on the website does not include 'fees' which are assessed at the county and city level and are higher in urban areas.)
The whole thing is about providing plausible deniability for white people who don't want to think about it too much.
@q_aurelius
@mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
It's frankly ridiculous, getting an ID should be free. For non-driver's IDs they should let public libraries process paperwork so you don't have to go all the way to a DMV. Post offices could be a good option too.
@neckspike @mekkaokereke @q_aurelius @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Funny how you can get a passport at the post office but not a regular ID! 
Everything becomes predictable once you grok that almost every time something is stupid and onerous it’s because of racism.
Similarly: https://hachyderm.io/@LauraLangdon/110294310940422714
@LauraLangdon @neckspike @mekkaokereke @q_aurelius @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life right but you need like a bunch of things to get the passport.
@neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
At some point I was having a conversation with someone who is in favor of voter ID, and their argument was "well, Canada requires it!" Let's go see what Canda allows for voter ID, shall we?
https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=ids&document=index&lang=e#list
There are 48 things on this list, including library cards, transit passes, utility bills, letters from homeless shelters, etc.!
The laws being passed in the US are about reducing turnout among certain populations, full stop.
@ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
just the us registration requirement process is 
most of europe, you get your coupon by mail, and you are "required" to vote ... or else explain why you did not ...
the us complication of simple problems is just a further technical excuse to suppress voting ...
guess the pip usury kkkristians are scared of prople that vote ...
@ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Look up just above where you linked to where it talks about if you don’t have ID. If you don’t, you can have someone vouch for you and that’s good enough to cast a ballot.
We most definitely don’t require ID to vote in Canada. It’s certainly recommended and almost everyone provides it, but my wife counts ballots in elections and she typically gets a couple people each election who don’t.
@michaelmelanson @ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life do scrutineers as a thing exist in US elections? In Canada a couple of people with party affiliation supervise the ballot counting process to make sure it's fair -- but I'd assume a thing like that here is a loaded prospect.
@klausfiend @michaelmelanson @ricci @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
There's something like that but it varies wildly from state to state. It's a bit of a mess.
@klausfiend @ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Yes, scruineers are a thing in Canada and often come to polling stations, especially closely contested ones, both while ballots are being cast and while they’re counted.
They have very limited rights, merely to observe and to lodge a complaint if they disagree with a poll worker’s judgment on eligibility of a voter or how a ballot is counted.
@michaelmelanson @ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life yes, I've been one, what I was wondering is if a similar function exists in US elections but it doesn't sound like it.
@ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life That's federal level in Canada. Elections on other levels may not even require any ID, as long as you are already on the voter list. It depends on the jurisdiction, but in various places in Canada you can just show up, state your name and address, and if you're on the list and haven't voted yet, you can vote.
@newstik @ricci @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
That's also how it works in the state I live in, they have you sign the roll to verify you voted. If you want to vote from somewhere other than your registered polling place you can but they have you fill out a provisional ballot so it's slightly more hassle. They could definitely make this easier, but you don't have to show ID.
I presume they look into your eligibility when processing your registration, so it's taken care of long before you get to the polls.
I do my voting by mail these days because I'm disabled and at higher risk for Covid and other junk. It's very convenient and should be more easily accessible.
@ricci @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Canadian elections require proof of ID and proof of address. Some of the items you mentioned only cover the “proof of address” half.
However, I believe all provinces provide a non-drivers ID card if you want. It covers all “government issued ID with photo and address” requirements, just like a drivers license. I know at least one person who cannot drive and don’t have a passport who use one.
You also have provincial health insurance cards, which can be used as ID in some circumstances, though this is discouraged under the idea that showing off your health insurance info is bad and can lead to fraud.
In Ontario ID and insurance cards are issued through “Service Ontario” which means a (sometimes long) line, but there are enough of them that there is always one that will be accessible.
@mikemacleod @neckspike @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @MHowell @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life
Thanks for filling in these details! USA voter ID requirements are generally 'thing you get from the DMV or a passport'; when looking at the lists, it seems clear to me that the (federal) Canadian list was designed to include things that pretty much everyone can be assumed to have, or to get without a lot of hassle. The USA lists are clearly designed to be "things middle class/rich people can be assumed to have, and things that poor folks can theoretically get by going through a lot of hassle."