Ohio Senate advances bill that could deter college students from voting.

[Beet]

Just another plan to funnel more power to elites and disenfranchise the marginalized (in this case, college students with unclear residency) in the name of "rules" and "order".

[Beet]

Incidentally, thanks to the Republican-passed REAL ID act, in order to get my D.C. driver's license, I needed
(1) valid Virginia driver's license
(2) original copy of my passport
(3) original social security card
(4) original copy of my lease signed by my landlord (not easy since my landlord lives in Nevada)
(5) original mail sent by the federal or D.C. government only (not including Virginia or Maryland government official mail) and not including my voter registration card and not including anything older than 60 days
(6) a $40 fee

As the result of this it took like 4-5 trips to the DMV to get it done, since they are closed on Mondays and on Saturdays when the following Monday is a holiday. The thing is, if you just move to D.C. and never get a driver's license, no one knows or cares.

[Beet]

Incidentally, thanks to the Republican-passed REAL ID act, in order to get my D.C. driver's license, I needed
(1) valid Virginia driver's license
(2) original copy of my passport
(3) original social security card
(4) original copy of my lease signed by my landlord (not easy since my landlord lives in Nevada)
(5) original mail sent by the federal or D.C. government only (not including Virginia or Maryland government official mail) and not including my voter registration card and not including anything older than 60 days
(6) a $40 fee

As the result of this it took like 4-5 trips to the DMV to get it done, since they are closed on Mondays and on Saturdays when the following Monday is a holiday. The thing is, if you just move to D.C. and never get a driver's license, no one knows or cares.

You can't get a DL in DC if you don't have a passport?  That seems odd (and highly unlikely).

Err, you're saying I'm lying or something? I need a passport, since I wasn't born in this country. If I was, an original birth certificate could have been accepted as well.

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Yes, that was before D.C. started complying with REAL ID.

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Little barriers to participation add up. $75 is not a lot of money for me for the right to vote, but for a college student racking up debt every day, it can be the difference between voting or not voting.

[Beet]

You know, if Democratic PACs really cared about this issue, rather than fighting it tooth and nail on laws, they can use money and resources to help poor and disadvantaged people get state IDs.

That's like saying if Democrats really wanted to help the poor, they should just give to charity.

[Beet]

You know, if Democratic PACs really cared about this issue, rather than fighting it tooth and nail on laws, they can use money and resources to help poor and disadvantaged people get state IDs.

That's like saying if Democrats really wanted to help the poor, they should just give to charity.

Eh. Not really. I think having a state ID is a good practice for everyone. The motivations behind these laws are obviously suspect--if it were up to me, state IDs would be free for low income people--but having a state ID is important.

I do think it's important to prevent people from committing voter fraud by voting in two different states, I'm not not convinced such behavior is nonexistent - but at the same time, as someone who has lived in 3 different license-granting jurisdictions in the past 2.5 years, I think "state ID" and other such concepts are flawed. One could easily imagine a college student who keeps their car at their parents' house, and hence has a primary driving state different from their primary residence state. What harm is there then, from keeping their license and registration in their primary driving state?

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Sure, by itself it's not large. This, plus REAL ID is not large. This, plus REAL ID, plus disenfranchising released felons, is not large. This, plus REAL ID, plus disenfranchising released felons, plus gerrymandering, is not large. This, plus REAL ID, plus disenfranchising released felons, plus gerrymandering, plus whatever else they think of next...

The point is, it's wrong on principle. As jfern said, everything they do is done to make it harder for people to vote, with a special target on marginalized groups. IMO this is right-wing politics in its most pure form. It has nothing to do with policy, it's solely about restricting the franchise and targeting a vulnerable group.

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Well, they'd see that it's an easy way to force Democratic donors to spend money on something they otherwise wouldn't spend money on, so they'd just do it in every state.