As disgust with the Trump administration accelerates, the GOP’s efforts to suppress the votes also accelerates.
For example, Trump wants Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which would disenfranchise millions of women. The focus on women is hardly a shock; this administration is “out and proud” about its bigotries. They’ve gone beyond accusations of “woke-ness” and claims that DEI programs discriminate against those poor, powerless White Christian males. Hegseth recently, pointedly refused to promote highly accomplished women and Black officers. Other examples are too numerous to list here; virtually all of the GOP’s vote suppression efforts are aimed at women and minorities.
We Americans like to believe that we lead the world in democracy, but our restrictions on who can vote place us far outside the majority of democratic regimes.
As Democracy Docket has reported, their team recently analyzed the legal provisions governing access to the vote in all 38 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and found just how far behind the United States is in realizing the right to vote for all citizens entitled to cast ballots.
Their key findings:
- The U.S. stands alone among OECD countries in having no nationwide requirements for any of the following pro-voting policies: automatic registration, paid time off to vote, election scheduling on a weekend or public holiday, early in-person voting, standardized poll hours, or widely available postal voting.
- We’re one of just two of the 38 OECD countries to schedule elections on a non-holiday weekday, without providing paid leave for voters.
- Though around half of U.S. states automatically register voters, we’re among the 18% of OECD countries not to do so nationwide.
In every other wealthy democracy, government tries to make voting easy. In the U.S.–while it depends in part on where you live–government makes it harder.
Election scheduling provides one example. Being unable to get off work is one of the most commonly cited barriers to voting in the U.S., especially for lower-wage workers. Two-thirds of OECD countries, by law, schedule their elections for a weekend day or a public holiday. The U.S. is one of just 5 OECD countries to schedule Election Day for a weekday by law. Among the other four — Canada, Israel, Norway and South Korea — three offer paid leave for voting, reducing barriers for the majority of workers.
Automatic registration provides another. Youth, lower-income citizens, and people of color have lower voter registration rates in the US, and practical barriers are a major contributor. Across the OECD, 82% of countries automatically register citizens to vote using existing government records such as civil registries, tax filings or citizenship databases. In the U.S., thanks to the Motor Voter law, roughly half of states have eased the process of voter registration through opt-out systems that use data collected through contact with a government agency, most commonly the DMV. While opt-out approaches have been shown to significantly increase voter registration, impacts vary across states with different policy designs — and half the states have yet to take any approach.
Early voting and voting by mail increase participation, which is why Trump recently signed an Executive Order attempting to limit vote by mail options. Those limits are already in place in 13 states — nearly all in the South — that require a documented excuse (such as a medical emergency) for mail-in ballots.
The U.S. stands alone among OECD countries for having no nationwide protections for automatic registration, paid time off to vote, election scheduling on a weekend or public holiday, early in-person voting, standardized poll hours, or widely available postal voting.
These gaps help explain why our voter turnout is so much lower than peer countries and varies so much across states. Indeed, our analysis found that among the OECD countries that have adopted at least two approaches to making it easier for registered voters to vote, turnout in parliamentary elections is substantially higher: 82%, on average, compared to 68% among countries with one or no approaches.
It’s true that in the U.S., elections are handled by the states, but Congress has the authority to remove barriers to voting across states, as it did with the late, lamented Voting Rights Act, and as it could do with the John Lewis Act that the GOP-dominated Congress refuses to pass. Congress could make Election Day a public holiday, could make mail-in voting universal, and make near-automatic registration a reality nationwide. Congress could also outlaw gerrymandering, which is probably the most successful vote suppression tactic.
But if it was easier to cast a ballot–if we encouraged every citizen’s participation–the cult that has replaced the once-Grand Old Party would lose…
The vast majority of married women already possess updated, compliant government-issued IDs, driver’s licenses, or passports reflecting their married names for daily life, employment, and travel, making the transition to voter registration less disruptive.
States like Arizona already require proof of citizenship for state voter registration. In those states, election administrators routinely resolve name mismatches by allowing women to submit a marriage license alongside a birth certificate, showing that the system can function without mass disenfranchisement.
We saw 43,000 votes dropped in California w/o votes going to one of the candidates. Statistical evidence of mail-in ballot harvesting. Oh but there is no evidence… right.
Foreign elections do allow for people to go to the polls on election day. Combining the Save Act type of legislation with these measures other countries take would create integrity, but instead no one is believing in elections like California is holding. If you do, your side is benefitting from the fraud.
Voting yes, but Musk and company are coming for your social security, too. What is the oligarchy afraid of? Why are they scared to let the serfs vote?
For the same reason, our Founders trembled at the sound of democracy. What if the people all got together and decided to take away our wealth, or vote us out of office, or won’t let us rule?
“People’s power is not to be promoted in an oligarchy.”
Our existing oligarchic structure is the antithesis of a democracy. A democratic republic requires a very well-informed citizenry. B. Franklin warned us.
We’ve never had an informed citizenry. While many of the colonies promoted reading so that all citizens could read, how could they know all the candidates or proposed bills?
So, when we developed communications over radio and then TV, guess who used it to manipulate the masses? I’ve read stories where some of the Trusts would have paid reporters at multiple TV or radio stations to ensure the Trusts’ interests were upheld over the people’s interests. The CIA has replaced the Trusts.
While it’s rather obvious when Trump’s Criminal Family does it, both parties are guilty. The Republicans use their dark money networks, and so do the Democrats.
I just wrote about the Hopewell Fund and Arabella Advisors (now Sunflower Services), using their deceptive network to build up “citizen journalism,” or independent journalism, in 37 state capitals, such as the Indiana Capital Chronicle. Obviously, these are being used to drown out true independent voices while appearing like local news agencies. They will not hold the Oligarchy accountable.
For the same reason, our Oligarchy manipulates the media; they also manipulate the voting process. Elon Musk famously stated that he couldn’t wait to get his hands on all those fraudulent voters Biden let cross the border to vote for Democrats. He got the chance but couldn’t find any. I’m still waiting for my DOGE Refund Check. LOL
p.s. Trump and the Republicans want to make a national voters list after all the states send their voter registration data to Washington. This national list will be the only one that counts on election day. I’m hoping a judge weighs in on that demand.
John S appears to swallow the right wings “creative” excuses and misdirection to imply fraud is widespread, at least in the California election. Never mind that LA is 4 or 5 to 1 democrat to Republican and the lead Republican was obviously unqualified to govern. Voter suppression is how Repubs win nationwide. Their policies are unpopular and serve only the wealthy and well connected and most people are realizing that. I left the GOP after 40 years as I realized the refusal to work with democrats was a feature, not a bug, in the overall party leadership. Trump was just the final straw. SAVE is nothing but voter suppression, many people, right wing claims to the contrary, do not have the documents and getting them will cost money ( a poll tax substitute) . Repubs benefit when voting is harder and less accessible, that we know, time to fix the problem and make voting easier and more representative.
Because votes post-marked with the correct date continue to be counted after the polls close – duh, mail delivery isn’t instantaneous, who knew? – that constitutes fraud? What it does do is provoke impatience, which is understandable, but also becomes fodder for moronic conspiracy theory accusations, thoroughly lacking in any intelligent forethought. Sheila’s last line tells the story, and unless those voting restrictions are squelched, this country will continue to be run by a minority.
In indiana the number of passport holders is not “a vast majority”. It’s around 38% of the population.
California’s vote counting is frustrating to watch from the outside, but it’s a well documented and orderly process that is scrupulous in its precision.
Kansas used to have a proof of citizenship requirement but dropped it after only a few years and more than 38,000 people were denied the right to vote.
There are only a handful of states that have implemented the “real ID” law in such a way that complies with the proof of citizenship requirements in the SAVE act. Indiana is not one of them. Your Indiana Real ID does not comply with the SAVE voter act.
There has been a generally accepted principle in the law about timing of something deposited . It is called the deposited accepted rule. Using that rule then if a ballot is deposited the day of the election
It is considered accepted. There follows the idea that it should be counted even if not received until after a the election. So ?
Once again, the US is shown for what it is…a “two bit” advanced country compared to the world…
If you can’t win honestly…cheat! It’s the GOP mantra.
In Florida we have the Villages, a place for white men of privilege to retire with their wives. It’s also a place where voting is so easy a few of them will do it twice. In the event they get caught, they will get a slap on the wrist.
On the other hand, we also allow ex convicts to vote post probation, if they have paid any monetary fines or fees associated with their incarceration. Shortly after that legislation passed, a black woman registered to vote. Her registration was processed, and nothing was provided to her to make her believe she wasn’t eligible. She went to vote. Officials at the polls couldn’t verify her registration so she voted on a provisional ballot. She was charged with voter fraud. They wanted to send her back to prison for five years.
Turns out that the state was guilty of far more wrongs than the voter. A provisional ballot is contingent on verification of status and is not a crime. The state had a duty to review and advise the voter of any impediments to her registration. They failed to do either. The state that required payment of fines and fees, never tracked the money and couldn’t tell anyone what they owed.
More cases of voter fraud can be laid at the feet of Republicans than immigrants, ex convicts, or any other group.
Any man who thinks proof of citizenship is so easy to do assumes the privilege of patriarchy. Unless they have been adopted or subject to custody orders at some time in their lives or have initiated a legal name change for any reason, their surname has never changed. The “vast majority” of women in Indiana do not have a passport. The cost alone would be prohibitive, let alone the time and effort to obtain certified documentation, including marriage licenses, divorce decrees, custodial decisions, etc., to say nothing of presenting the documents to the required agency for acceptance.
Those requirements would be compounded for naturalized citizen women and men who have already gone through rigorous vetting and education in civics to be sworn in to citizenship. Do you suppose that Musk or Melania and others like them actually went through the whole process or just bought their way in? Somehow, I can’t imagine anyone like them standing with the common folk at a naturalization ceremony.
My mother, a lifelong Eisenhower Republican, worked the polls for almost as long as I can remember. She never made a big production of it, never really talked much about it to her children. It was the norm for the family. I don’t know what she would think about how things have evolved since then. Interesting to note that most of her children/grandchildren are actively engaged in politics or are, at the least, registered voters and active in every election. Her mother, my grandmother was a suffragist. Grandma once told me to vote in every election I could. She was in her early 30s when the 19th Amendment was passed. She voted in every election for the rest of her life.
The privileged and entitled who think only they should have to right to decide who governs us make a mockery of the guarantees of the Constitution.
As always, it is all about the money and the power it provides.
VOTE.
Trump just wants to go back to the founder’s idea of who should be allowed to vote: white men of property.
I would suggest that each state should be required to retain a record of a birth certificate with a DNA analysis (or other bio marker that can be easily checked for in an adult) for every birth. As per the 14th Amendment, except those born to foreign diplomats not subject to U. S. jurisdiction (both legal and illegal immigrant parents
are subject to U. S. laws, sorry Donald). Naturalized citizens (including adopted foreign-born children) should be automatically registered to vote (again with a bio marker to ensure that their vote will count even if their name changes). Many are registered at their citizenship ceremony. That way, any questioned vote can be validated and one should also be able to apply for a photo voter ID the first time you vote (with a proviso that the first vote will be provisional — not as big a problem as one may think since most elections are won by large enough margins that provisional votes won’t matter). Although a law against gerrymandering also might help.
Stepchildren who grew up using a stepparents last name. If the parents never married or they can’t get proof of a marriage. How will the adult stepchildren prove they are the person on the birth certificate?