We should institute compulsory voting and make it a crime not to vote: https://www.findlaw.com/voting/how-u-s--elections-work/the-compulsory-voting-debate.html threaten people with jail time and you'll see some democracy in action
Voter ID doesn’t impact me and probably 85% of the people. I do find it as a wasteful policy with essentially no benefit of reducing fraud while costly to taxpayers and burdensome to the voting process. The amount of voter fraud is probably infinitely smaller in comparison with the amount of effort to obtain and show and ID in the voting process. The only benefit might be a sense of election integrity and perhaps that’s valuable enough. Too bad for the few that can never get an id because simply some don’t have the paperwork. Rare but not as rare as actual real voter fraud. HR1 doesn’t strike down voter ID but allow any person without an ID to vote provisionally with an affidavit. Fair enough to me.
Compulsory voting in Australia--failure to vote and fine structure: https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/vote/failure-vote failure to pay the fines for not voting leads to driver's license suspension: https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/...-fine-or-your-drivers-licence-could-be-toast/
Same with me. Voter ID wouldn't affect me but given the amount of voter fraud actually found it and most of these measures appear to be addressing a problem that doesn't exist. The problem as stated by many Republicans from Trump on down is that Republicans can't win if everyone can vote.
Unlike the outrageous voter suppression Republicans are imposing on American voters in several states in their antidemocratic effort to retain power, Australia and it's "mandatory" voting system give voters a veritable host of ways with which to vote. Assisted Voting Guide Technology Assisted Voting The Electoral Act allows eligible electors to vote by means of an electronic device such as a telephone or computer. An eligible elector includes anyone who is unable to vote without assistance because of insufficient literacy skills, is sight impaired or is living with an incapacity. At the 2021 State general election the following two technology assisted voting options will be available from Wednesday 24 February 2021: 1. Telephone Assisted Voting Call 13 68 00 (or +61 8 9214 7290 for overseas callers) Telephone Assisted Voting (TAV) allows eligible electors to vote over the telephone by applying and having their enrolment checked via a call centre and then voting via a completely separate vote cast call centre. Commission staff at the vote cast call centre verbally read the voting instructions and ballot paper information to the elector who then instructs the operator how they want their ballot papers marked, whilst ensuring elector anonymity. 2. Vote Assist Vote Assist allows electors who visit the venues listed below to listen to pre-recorded voting instructions and ballot paper information, select their preferences using a special keypad and then have their completed ballot papers self-printed prior to ballot box lodgement. Vote Assist will be available throughout the early voting period and on polling day at the below locations in Perth CBD and Victoria Park. Other Voting Options Postal Voting Any elector may apply for a postal vote once the election period commences. The easiest way is to apply online here however you can also request to have a postal vote application form sent to you in the mail. Some elderly or incapacitated electors opt to become a General Early Voter, in which case postal votes are automatically sent to them at State election. Mobile Polling Depending on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of the election, mobile polling teams may be able to visit hospitals, special institutions and aged care facilities in order to provide an in person voting service to permanent residents. Mobile polling venues and visit times are available here. Early Voting Centres If attending a polling place on polling day is not convenient, from Wednesday 24 February 2021 electors may visit one of the many early voting centres across the State. Locations are available here. Voting Centres For electors with mobility issues it is possible for a Polling Place Manager to take ballot papers to a vehicle parked at the polling place for an elector to cast their vote from their vehicle. Polling places with the best wheelchair access are marked with a wheelchair symbol at polling places lists, plus in the Saturday 13 March 2021 edition of The West Australian newspaper. An Accessibility Parking Bay is established in the best possible location relative to the polling place entrance. All polling places have a desk top voting screen available where an elector can cast their vote while seated, whether in a wheelchair or standard chair. All polling places are also provided with magnifying sheets, better hearing cards and triangular pencils. It is the right of every elector to cast their vote in an environment which provides for a secret and independent ballot. However, you may seek assistance at any time. If you do not understand the process, are unable to or have difficulty writing on your ballot paper or need any other support, you may ask a polling official, carer, friend or relative to assist you. Accessibility Voting Centres In addition to the voting options outlined above, 25 voting venues will also have several other assistive devices available for use by electors who may require them. These venues are called Accessibility Voting Venues - see them here. https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/vote/elector-assistance/assisted-voting-guide
The mandatory voting laws in Argentina were interesting to see in action. I'm not sure (actually, yeah I am) anybody is equating making voting easier in America to making voting mandatory in America. But you know that.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/us-compulsory-voting-mandatory "1 In 3 Americans Didn't Vote. Should We Force Them To Next Time?" excerpts: A group of more than 20 election scholars and voting rights advocates have this year been urging Americans to think about the benefits of adopting compulsory voting. The group, led by the Brookings Institution and Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, put out a report in July making the case for what they more palatably refer to as “universal civic duty voting.” Their hope is that as more Americans consider ways the voting system may more accurately reflect the country’s makeup, compulsory voting — and all the reforms that would likely come with it — may start to look attractive. *** Experts say perhaps the greatest benefit in making voting mandatory is how it would likely force lawmakers to remove many barriers to participation that lead to widespread voter suppression. Such measures took many forms in the leadup to the 2020 election: More than 21,000 polling places were closed nationwide, Texas shuttered all but one mail-in ballot drop-off site per county, Georgia purged its voter rolls, and more than 5 million people were barred from voting due to a felony conviction. President Donald Trump also did everything he could to sow fear and confusion around voting, provoking distrust in mail-in voting and urging his supporters to “watch” polling places — prompting some of them to show up with guns, intimidating voters. All these actions disproportionately make voting harder for younger voters and people of color and overrepresent older Americans in the political process. During the 2014 midterm elections, 67-year-old voters had more than six times the voting influence of 18-year-olds, Anthony Fowler, a public policy professor at the University of Chicago, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine. “These disparities may partly explain why elected officials in the United States are, on average, older and wealthier than the populations they represent and why the policies they support often fail to reflect the preferences of their constituents,” Fowler wrote. Making voting mandatory would put the onus on the government to make voting as accessible as possible, said Nelson with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “I think it trains our focus on any state apparatus that impedes the ability of particular groups to vote,” she said. “When everyone is compelled to turn out, you’d see a barrier that’s impeding certain groups from complying with a mandate, and others don’t have that same obstacle.” Though compulsory voting has yet to become a widely discussed public issue, it did get one big vote of confidence in 2015: when then-president Barack Obama said it would be “transformative if everybody voted.” more at the link
Jet fuel tax passed in minutes to retaliate? Woh. Radical and Aggressive. Rep is sure winning over the "radical" label they've projected onto the Dem.
Infrastructure spending on high speed rail between major metros can cut down on airline demand and jet emmisions.
Yes and MSP is one of their main hubs along with one of their main service centers. Corporate headquarters are still in Atlanta.
To be clear, this was passed by the Georgia House just before the gavel fell on sine die, the end of the legislative session. The state senate didn't have time to take it up, so the House bill does not become law. In other words, a lot of noise, signifying nothing except for brute stupidity by members of the GOP majority, in my opinion. If this is taken up during the next legislative session, it could be a different story. The absurd attack on Delta, the state's largest employer, is yet another example of just how extreme the Republican dominated Georgia legislature has become. As of February 28, 2018, Delta Airlines had 33,000 employees statewide in Georgia, most in the Atlanta area, directly responsible for generating an economic impact of $43 billion dollars a year in the state. Not exactly promoting the relocation to Georgia of businesses from out of state, are they.
