Now, just imagine this NY Times article was about Republicans passing legislation that makes sure that the person voting is who they say they are. How would that go? (Free at Yahoo News)
Democrats, Feeling New Strength, Plan to Go on Offense on Voting Rights
For the past two years, Democrats in battleground states have played defense against Republican efforts to curtail voting access and amplify doubts about the legitimacy of the nation’s elections.
Curtail = one person one vote. Might I remind the NY Times about the caterwauling from Democrats over 2000, 2004, and 2016?
Now it is Democrats, who retained all but one of the governor’s offices they hold and won control of state legislatures in Michigan and Minnesota, who are ready to go on offense in 2023. They are putting forward a long list of proposals that include creating automatic voter registration systems, preregistering teenagers to vote before they turn 18, returning the franchise to felons released from prison and criminalizing election misinformation.
Criminalizing? I’d like to read more about that. Surely the Times’ reporter will ask questions on that, right?
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a fellow Democrat, said that while her office worked to carry out the election changes approved by voters, she would like to see sweeping new rules and penalties for disseminating and amplifying misinformation that interferes with voting — things such as flyers or mailers with the wrong dates for an election or deceptive language on petitions that are gathered for proposed ballot amendments.
“The greatest threats to our democracy right now continue to be the intentional spread of misinformation and the threats and harassment of election officials that emerge from those efforts,” Benson said. “We owe it to voters on all sides to ensure we are seeking accountability for anyone who would intentionally try to essentially block someone from voting through misinformation.”
Benson said she believed the measures she was seeking would withstand any challenges on First Amendment grounds.
So, if I make a joke about election day being on a Wednesday, that’s not just room for being permanently suspended from Twitter, but, being prosecuted for a crime? Deceptive language has always been a part of politicalspeak, including petitions, mailers, etc. You can bet that prosecutions will only go one way. And what else will they try and do? I doubt this survives lawsuits. But, this is what Democrats do: attempt to stifle Wrongthink, even criminalize it.
It’s a long piece, with all sorts of attempts by Democrats to make it easier to vote, some of which aren’t bad, such as
And in Oregon, the first state in recent years to institute a host of methods to expand voting access, including universal vote-by-mail, Tina Kotek, the governor-elect, said she would aim to enact limits on campaign contributions from people and corporations. Nike founder Phil Knight spent millions in an effort to defeat her.
I’m all for enacting monetary limits. I’d like to see donations from outside of the state blocked to virtually nothing. Why should other states have a say? And then there’s bad
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at the recent governors’ gathering that she was considering backing automatic registration and making it easier for out-of-state students attending Michigan universities to register to vote. (Republicans in some states have sought to make it harder for out-of-state college students, who tend to lean Democratic, to vote, arguing that they should cast ballots in their home states.) (snip)
In Pennsylvania, Shapiro has rare powers to appoint the top election official, in contrast to most other states, where elections are run by other elected officials or appointed boards.
He pledged to pick someone “pro-democracy” and said he was optimistic that Republicans would agree to change the state’s law that forbids the processing of absentee ballots and early votes before Election Day.
Students should vote in the state where their license says they live. That used to be common sense. The Pa. law forbids vote by mail expect in very specific cases, even though Dem leaning judges have allowed it. Of course Democrats want to legalize it and expand it. It makes cheating easier, just like voter ID makes cheating harder.
Read: State Democrats Are Super Excited To Criminalize “Election Misinformation” »