CPAC 'GOP minority outreach' panel goes as well as you'd expect

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Okay. I agree the penalties are excessive, but what is so damned difficult about turning in the forms the day (or even the day after) they were filled out? Indeed, why wouldn't they have been doing that already?

Ummm... had you heard of these registrations being a problem?  No?  They why the need for a bunch of new laws?

Who said I thought this change was needed.  All I said I didn't see where they would cause a problem.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/us/judge-to-block-changes-in-florida-voter-registration.html?_r=0

So if you do voter registration on a college campus on a Friday night and turn in  the forms first thing Monday morning when the office opens... congratulations you are a felon!  Seems reasonable.
[/quote]

If the law truly was a literal 48 hours instead of two business days, then yeah, the law was screwy.  But without seeing the actual text of the law, I'm highly inclined to think it was the latter than the more dramatic former.  I suppose it is a slight inconvenience to have to turn in forms daily instead of weekly, but not so much as to prove a significant burden.

[Link]

So don't do the drive on Friday. You can't adjust your schedule to show up on another day or do the drive on a different day? There aren't exceptions for people registering to vote on Friday that you can turn the papers in on a Monday?

A lot of things like music festivals have voter registration drives.

In an allegedly free society why can't Rock the Vote set up a booth on a Friday evening at a music festival?  What kind of country do you want to live in?

[Brittain33]

I suppose it is a slight inconvenience to have to turn in forms daily instead of weekly, but not so much as to prove a significant burden.

Let's assume it's only a slight inconvenience to do that. (I disagree, knowing how shoestring many volunteer operations are, but neither you nor I can say for sure.)

The outcome of this law would be that many applications that, for whatever reason, can't get into Uncle Sam's hands within 48 hours would have to be thrown out or else 5 years of jail time. Which requires checking the time and date of all of them before submission. Which takes time away from registration. And it also means having to throw out any registration form that has past this arbitrary deadline, which means people who think they're registered to vote, aren't, and you can't fix that problem because how would they know they didn't register? All of this adds up to a situation meant to shut down registration drives. It worked.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I suppose it is a slight inconvenience to have to turn in forms daily instead of weekly, but not so much as to prove a significant burden.

Let's assume it's only a slight inconvenience to do that. (I disagree, knowing how shoestring many volunteer operations are, but neither you nor I can say for sure.)

The outcome of this law would be that many applications that, for whatever reason, can't get into Uncle Sam's hands within 48 hours would have to be thrown out or else 5 years of jail time. Which requires checking the time and date of all of them before submission. Which takes time away from registration. And it also means having to throw out any registration form that has past this arbitrary deadline, which means people who think they're registered to vote, aren't, and you can't fix that problem because how would they know they didn't register? All of this adds up to a situation meant to shut down registration drives. It worked.

Uncle Sam?  Uncle Sam has nothing to do with the running of voter registration offices.  The idea that checking the information on the forms is valid before accepting them to be turned in is an intolerable burden is laughable.  If they don't want to be responsible for checking them, they could simply hand the forms out and include a SASE so that it's all the voter's responsibility but without the slightest bit of cost to the voter. (Including a SASE would be a bit of an expense to be sure, but certainly far less than the fine they claimed to be worried about.  They could even just make it a SAE without a stamp to save on costs.)

[Indy Texas]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

It would be very nice.  Indeed, judging by what was on the Florida voter registration website, right now the only thing that would be a bar to this right now in Florida is the legal requirement for a hardcopy signature on paper.

[Indy Texas]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

It would be very nice.  Indeed, judging by what was on the Florida voter registration website, right now the only thing that would be a bar to this right now in Florida is the legal requirement for a hardcopy signature on paper.

No reason we should be bound by that.

We can file tax returns online without a physical signature. Seems like a PIN-based system for voter registration would be doable.

[pbrower2a]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

Millions of people, including the poor and elderly, lack such technological tools.

Democracy may have to be low-tech to succeed.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

Millions of people, including the poor and elderly, lack such technological tools.

Democracy may have to be low-tech to succeed.

Well obviously, it can't go high-tech only, but I agree with IT that there is no reason a system like that could not be done, nor a reason why it should not be done.  My previous post was only pointing out why it currently isn't done in Florida.

[Link]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

Millions of people, including the poor and elderly, lack such technological tools.

Democracy may have to be low-tech to succeed.

Well voter registration people can go door to door with cellular tablets and register people.

But I think the main point is Florida didn't have a problem with third party people using pencil and paper and turning in the registrations a week latter... or even two weeks later.  I mean who really cares?  Obviously there is no point to this law other than to discourage young people and minorities from voting.

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http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1184871/florida-lawmakers-gop-packed-ballot-with-unnecessary-initiatives-to-lengthen-lines-and-suppress-votes/

So let's stop pretending that voter registration laws need to be overhauled and "fixed."  It's just an attempt by Republicans to suppress voter participation.

[pbrower2a]

I'm going to sound like a Moderate Hero/Serious Person/TED Talks Shill, but isn't this one of those situations where "innovation" and "harnessing the power of technology" and "Big Data" and all those buzzwords come into play?

What if we could all simply register to vote online? What if workers at a voter drive could do something as simple as swiping your driver's license and using a smartphone/tablet app to pull up your info, do an instant verification and have you registered and then you'd get an email within a few minutes confirming you're registered, with the option to print out your voter card?

Millions of people, including the poor and elderly, lack such technological tools.

Democracy may have to be low-tech to succeed.

Well voter registration people can go door to door with cellular tablets and register people.

But I think the main point is Florida didn't have a problem with third party people using pencil and paper and turning in the registrations a week latter... or even two weeks later.  I mean who really cares?  Obviously there is no point to this law other than to discourage young people and minorities from voting.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/11/13/1184871/florida-lawmakers-gop-packed-ballot-with-unnecessary-initiatives-to-lengthen-lines-and-suppress-votes/

So let's stop pretending that voter registration laws need to be overhauled and "fixed."  It's just an attempt by Republicans to suppress voter participation.

Without question -- the Florida GOP wants to suppress the Democratic vote. That's the only way in which it can allow an unpopular governor to get re-elected and prevent Democrats from making gains in the US House of Representatives and the State legislature.

The GOP increasingly looks as if it needs a distortion of likely results in elections to win. It needs a new agenda if it is to win fair and square.