Virginia Makes It Easier to Vote

[Milchshake]

Virginia Dems are really killing it. Passing the ERA, gun control legislation, and now making it easier to vote.

It's like one party is interested in progress and changing the status quo.

Bill allowing no-excuse absentee voting passes Virginia Senate

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On the day thousands of gun-rights supporters converged on Capitol grounds for Lobby Day, the Virginia State Senate advanced a bill that would allow no-excuse absentee voting.

Senate Bill 111, introduced by state Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) passed with a 31-9 vote on Monday. State Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), the co-patron on SB 111, shared a tweet following the vote.

In Virginia, those who wish to vote absentee can only do so if they provide an excuse out of the 20 acceptable reasons available. Before this year’s General Assembly session convened, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) backed legislation to make it easier to vote in Virginia.

“By making it easier—not harder—to vote, these proposals will ensure we are building a government that is truly representative of the people we serve. I look forward to working with the General Assembly to pass these important measures into law,” the governor said on Jan. 6.


Voting rights is key to any progressive agenda. No-excuse absentee voting is often a means to move to full mail-in voting.

[Orbitus]

Virginia Dems are really killing it. Passing the ERA, gun control legislation, and now making it easier to vote.

It's like one party is interested in progress and changing the status quo.

Bill allowing no-excuse absentee voting passes Virginia Senate

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On the day thousands of gun-rights supporters converged on Capitol grounds for Lobby Day, the Virginia State Senate advanced a bill that would allow no-excuse absentee voting.

Senate Bill 111, introduced by state Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax) passed with a 31-9 vote on Monday. State Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond), the co-patron on SB 111, shared a tweet following the vote.

In Virginia, those who wish to vote absentee can only do so if they provide an excuse out of the 20 acceptable reasons available. Before this year’s General Assembly session convened, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) backed legislation to make it easier to vote in Virginia.

“By making it easier—not harder—to vote, these proposals will ensure we are building a government that is truly representative of the people we serve. I look forward to working with the General Assembly to pass these important measures into law,” the governor said on Jan. 6.


Voting rights is key to any progressive agenda. No-excuse absentee voting is often a means to move to full mail-in voting.

No wonder right wingers are having shitfits over everything to what Democrats are doing. They won't get the state back if Democrats make it easier to vote, or institute the policies that people of the state want, including the gun control measures that they have instituted that the white nationalists protested today.

[Kokolums]

2016 was the first year that, if you had at least a college degree, you voted democrat. If you had anything less, you voted republican. In the 20th century, to be sure, it was the other way around. That's gone. Poor people are voting republican now.

So making it easier to vote actually will help the republicans.

Its not going to be too much longer before democrats start talking about voter ID as a good thing and republicans demanding that everyone vote.

[Elegiac]

2016 was the first year that, if you had at least a college degree, you voted democrat. If you had anything less, you voted republican. In the 20th century, to be sure, it was the other way around. That's gone. Poor people are voting republican now.

Correction.

Poor white people are voting Republican. You know, that demographic which is declining while the others keep growing?

Kinda forgot about your party's little demographic time bomb, huh?

[Gestopft]

Good on them!

[Fugus]

Correction.

Poor white people are voting Republican. You know, that demographic which is declining while the others keep growing?

Kinda forgot about your party's little demographic time bomb, huh?

Yep, we may disagree on other stuff, but this one is legit as hell.

The demographics support it and even the anecdotal evidence of my life supports it. The educated people I know, none of them vote Republican except for the ones over 60 and honestly don't know how taxes work outside of their own.

Out of the uneducated friends I know, got a few that vote Democrat but a good portion of them actually like to learn and debate this stuff or listen to informed people tell them stuff with a few only Democrats because their parents were.

Then when it comes to the uneducated who support Republicans, virtually all of them are white with only a few exceptions and while they love to troll and talk shit, they don't want to debate anything and when the facts disagree with them, they ignore the facts. They run into a few different types:

-Got plenty who just try and laugh because "You actually believe that? You know that can be a lie and you shouldn't be everything you read" and they use that against ALL information they disagree with. Literally had them joke that I was dumb enough to believe the DOW tracker when it came to the DOW or the official jobs reports when it came to the job numbers, even when it was coming from their own people. But they would believe stuff from the most off the wall sites if it said what they wanted to hear and took Fox like it was gospel unless it was Shep Smith or any statement actually critical of what they wanted to believe.

-Got one friend who wants to question any source as well except when you show him facts that can't be refuted, he doesn't try that stuff. Instead he just goes completely silent and starts nodding. He isn't agreeing with anything you say, he has mentally shut down rather than process that information and basically just waiting for the conservation to end, then a week later you can have them talk about the same stuff you just disproved without a shadow of a doubt. When it comes to the stuff that supports him, again he believes it implicitly no matter how insane.

-Got a few who actually take it personal when you question what they think and will threaten to attack you for questioning what they think or daring to bring out information that will disprove it.


Given my overall situation, the only educated Republicans I have met personally all end up being 60+ and one girl who is a Republican Congressman's daughter and whom I have debated multiple times and honestly lost most of my respect for her more than the others because she is very disingenuous with it and while she will try and convince you to believe what she says, she will never admit when she is wrong not matter how plain it is and instead will either drop the conversation and refuse to respond on that topic and ignore it when brought up again and/or will start trying to nitpick something minor about it to distract from it or pivot to another topic but not respond to it when brought up again. But will NEVER admit when she is wrong. Same as a situation where she doesn't want to admit to something she doesn't want to admit to. She bases a portion of her personal identity with that of the Republican father and will not admit when they are wrong or any of that it seems.

Outside of them, I haven't seen any educated Republicans. Please note, by educated, I mean college level with knowledge of taxes and stuff. I know a few tradesman who are Republicans and very skilled in what they do. But their knowledge of taxes, economics and international affairs is probably still far worse than my knowledge on how to do their trade.

[Orbitus]

2016 was the first year that, if you had at least a college degree, you voted democrat. If you had anything less, you voted republican. In the 20th century, to be sure, it was the other way around. That's gone. Poor people are voting republican now.

So making it easier to vote actually will help the republicans.

Its not going to be too much longer before democrats start talking about voter ID as a good thing and republicans demanding that everyone vote.

That is because they are gullible. And making it easier to vote, hurts Republicans, because the suppression tactics that Republicans have done to stop minorities from voting.

[Lynarii]

It's a democracy. I would rather make it easier for everyone to vote, even if that means more people who I disagree with will vote, than to win because my side did a better job suppressing the other than they did us.

[Elegiac]

It's a democracy. I would rather make it easier for everyone to vote, even if that means more people who I disagree with will vote, than to win because my side did a better job suppressing the other than they did us.

Agreed. I think society would be better off if people were more actively engaged in the political process; but in order to do that, people need to feel invested in it and that their voice matters.

[Milchshake]

2016 was the first year that, if you had at least a college degree, you voted democrat. If you had anything less, you voted republican. In the 20th century, to be sure, it was the other way around. That's gone. Poor people are voting republican now.

So making it easier to vote actually will help the republicans.

Its not going to be too much longer before democrats start talking about voter ID as a good thing and republicans demanding that everyone vote.

Correction.

Poor white people are voting Republican. You know, that demographic which is declining while the others keep growing?

Kinda forgot about your party's little demographic time bomb, huh?

Meet the median Trump voter, the Buddy GArrity republican. Well off, with out a college degree. The guy that owns the car dealership or the local Arby's. Basically, having these franchise rights in small city or suburb, makes them like a landed aristocrat.


A crucial part of Trump's coalition is made up of better-off white people who did not graduate from college.
Instead, Kitschelt and Rehm find that the surge of whites into the Republican Party has been led by whites with relatively high incomes — in the top two quintiles of the income distribution — but without college degrees, a constituency that is now decisively committed to the Republican Party.

According to the census, the top two income quintiles in 2017 were made up of those with household incomes above $77,552. More than half of the voters Kitschelt and Rehm describe as high income are middle to upper middle class, from households making from $77,522 to $130,000 — not, by contemporary standards, wealthy.

There's another word for those relatively high-income/non-college whites who were clearly the Trump base: Old. They're not making many new ones, which is why they now represent only 22% of the white electorate, down from 42% in 1952. This is another face of the generational split

You know what white people with a lot of money and paid-off houses - but no college degree - have in common? They got into the workforce before Reagan came along.

I think it was Dylan MAtthews that coined the term Buddy Garrity republican. For the fans of Friday Night Lights.

[Elegiac]

Meet the median Trump voter, the Buddy GArrity republican. Well off, with out a college degree. The guy that owns the car dealership or the local Arby's. Basically, having these franchise rights in small city or suburb, makes them like a landed aristocrat.


A crucial part of Trump's coalition is made up of better-off white people who did not graduate from college.
Instead, Kitschelt and Rehm find that the surge of whites into the Republican Party has been led by whites with relatively high incomes — in the top two quintiles of the income distribution — but without college degrees, a constituency that is now decisively committed to the Republican Party.

According to the census, the top two income quintiles in 2017 were made up of those with household incomes above $77,552. More than half of the voters Kitschelt and Rehm describe as high income are middle to upper middle class, from households making from $77,522 to $130,000 — not, by contemporary standards, wealthy.

There's another word for those relatively high-income/non-college whites who were clearly the Trump base: Old. They're not making many new ones, which is why they now represent only 22% of the white electorate, down from 42% in 1952. This is another face of the generational split

You know what white people with a lot of money and paid-off houses - but no college degree - have in common? They got into the workforce before Reagan came along.

I think the existence of this class of people really does cement arguments to the effect that the Republican party's ideals have become a form of modern Toryism with a capitalist aristocracy rather than a hereditary one.

Has capitalism and prosperity theology justifying billionaires become our modern analogue to medieval Catholicism justifying the divine right of kings? Is the internet the printing press, helping to spark a modern day reformation as people realise humans are divided more by class than anything else?

Who can say, but history really likes cosplaying as a flat circle. :shrug:

[Milchshake]

I think the existence of this class of people really does cement arguments to the effect that the Republican party's ideals have become a form of modern Toryism with a capitalist aristocracy rather than a hereditary one.

Has capitalism and prosperity theology justifying billionaires become our modern analogue to medieval Catholicism justifying the divine right of kings? Is the internet the printing press, helping to spark a modern day reformation as people realise humans are divided more by class than anything else?

Who can say, but history really likes cosplaying as a flat circle. :shrug:

Ohhh it is such a circle. Well off suburban kids cosplaying as brit tories is like 1/2 of the Trump supporters on this very board. I think in high school they had pictures of William Buckley or Andrew Sullivan on their Pokemon sleeves.

[Elegiac]

Ohhh it is such a circle. Well off suburban kids cosplaying as brit tories is like 1/2 of the Trump supporters on this very board. I think in high school they had pictures of William Buckley or Andrew Sullivan on their Pokemon sleeves.

Reformations are never a clean affair, sadly. Pour one out for the homies we're losing along the way. :\

[Somewhatconcerned]

It's a democracy. I would rather make it easier for everyone to vote, even if that means more people who I disagree with will vote, than to win because my side did a better job suppressing the other than they did us.

Agreed, this is one issue both sides need to get behind. Absolutely important that voter turnout in general is improved.

[Twdft]

I think simply voting on sunday like in Germany would make it easier for a lot of people to vote.

[Easo]

Good for the common man, I would say...

I think simply voting on sunday like in Germany would make it easier for a lot of people to vote.

I think it is like that in the whole Europe, even in my poor Latvia.
I am sure you can figure it why it is like that. Hint - it involves poor (and often darker...) people being unable to leave the work to go vote... Add the Work At Will to this.

[cubby]

It's a democracy. I would rather make it easier for everyone to vote, even if that means more people who I disagree with will vote, than to win because my side did a better job suppressing the other than they did us.

Exactly. The only people who don't want to make it easier to vote are the Republicans. Last year a GOP lawmaker was recorded as saying essentially "our last hope is voter suppression".

[Beazy]

We should use the bitcoin blockchain verification service for online voting.

It would be sooooOOOooooo fucking hard to hack and cheat and I wouldn't have to go out and stand in a line and listen to dumb fucking retards repeat Maddow and Tucker quotes for 2 hours. . . . .

[I Push Buttons]

Exactly. The only people who don't want to make it easier to vote are the Republicans. Last year a GOP lawmaker was recorded as saying essentially "our last hope is voter suppression".

Ohio implemented no excuse absentee voting back in 2005 and Republicans controlled both houses of the state general assembly and the governorship at the time.

[DarkTZeratul]

I think simply voting on sunday like in Germany would make it easier for a lot of people to vote.

The Democrats introduced a bill to make election day a federal holiday. McConnell called it partisan nonsense and killed it.