…and in other misogynist news…
Another solution in search of a problem.
MSNBC this morning was fluffing the idea that this order would also look into voter suppression. I suppose that Paragraph (3)(b) could be read in a way that allows the Commission to look into voter suppression, but it doesn’t seem to me to be part of the charge.
Sec. 3 Mission. The Commission shall, consistent with applicable law, study the registration and voting processes used in Federal elections. The Commission shall be solely advisory and shall submit a report to the President that identifies the following:
(a) those laws, rules, policies, activities, strategies, and practices that enhance the American people’s confidence in the integrity of the voting processes used in Federal elections;
(b) those laws, rules, policies, activities, strategies, and practices that undermine the American people’s confidence in the integrity of the voting processes used in Federal elections
As we already have a Federal Elections Commission, what is this group going to do that the FEC and Department of Justice don’t already do?
My greatest hope is that no one gives them the time of day.
For starters, how about the fact that we have nearly 50 different ways of voting for members of Congress and the president? As these are elections for federal office, why aren’t the procedures of how we all do this uniform? This is something, it seems to me, that the FEC could simply dictate. There are no states’ rights involved because it isn’t a local matter.
Yeah, the commission isn’t actually barred from looking at voter suppression, but all the details in it at about people casting in-person ballots that they shouldn’t oughta be casting, or about registrations that shouldn’t be accepted. There’s not even anything in it (explicitly) about the absentee ballot process, which is way more vulnerable than in-person voting.
I bet right when that picture there was a large sucking sound being made by Donald inhaling.
Actually, it is a local matter. The Constitution is silent on matters of districting and methods of voting. It does specify who is eligible to vote (and that has been amended several times), but it does not specify how the voting process is accomplished. The IX and X Amendments reserve those rights not specifically assigned to Congress to the states or the people.
Because Article I, §4 says "The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.
Congress hasn’t exercised its prerogative in 230 years and I can’t imagine it coming to anything close to agreement now.
Being a chronic cynic I think the purpose of the commission is to find every real and imagined instance of improper voter registration, improper voting, fraudulent voter registration, and fraudulent voting then fashion a draconian solution that maximizes voter suppression.
Cynic is a label invented by optimists for use in bashing realists. With this particular crowd, I’d be surprised if that were not the real agenda.
A new age of white christian racist tyranny is upon America. The Constitution is hanging by a thread.
Would it were so simple. This fishing expedition and fishing expeditions like it ARE the problem. Voter suppression is the aim and this is the name of the game.
Not exactly. Amendment IX concerns unenumerated rights of the people. Amendment X refers to powers of the people and the states.
States don’t have “rights.”
If the Constitution says nothing about determining national voting procedures, therefore there is no prohibition to establishing uniform voting practices. Again, voting for members of Congress and the president is a federal matter, not local. Therefore, there can be no local jurisdictional control over the process.
This is a toasted crap sandwich covered with crap gravy.
Trumpp wants it to produce a number that he can claim will validate his tweet about illegal voting. If the commission does that one thing for him, he will let notorious vote suppressors like Kris Kobach and Hans von Spakovsky drive it wherever they want to go with it.
The three big problems with it (aside from the overall problem that it is a Trumpp-initiated commission with 100% of the members selected by Trumpp:
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The inclusion of “improper voter registration” as a topic for a commission on “election integrity.” There will be large numbers of those “improper”, or, more accurately and neutrally, “erroneous” registrations. As the EO defines the term, it will include any delay in or failure to record: an in-county change in address that moves a voter out of any district on a ballot; an out-of-county move, with our without registration in the new county; removal of deceased voters from registration lists; removal of voters due to felony convictions; and removal of duplicate registrations due to errors in recording name changes (such as with marriage) or inadvertent multiple registrations under minor variations in name (with/without middle initial or name, or with/without use of nicknames, etc.). Some clerical errors, such as in a street address, also will result in erroneous registrations. Very, very few erroneous or outdated registrations arise from intent to register illegally or will result in illegal votes.
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The commission’s report will focus on changes that will enhance people’s confidence in the integrity of our election processes, but it will not even look at the overwhelming cause of reduced confidence: bullshit scare stories that overstate actual voting fraud by multiple orders of magnitude or that deliberately mislead people to assume that large numbers of erroneous/outdated registrations means that there are large numbers of illegal votes.
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Per the topics and terms the EO lays out for the commission, “election integrity” will completely ignore acts, laws, and other factors that suppress voting by eligible voters by increasing the difficulty or expense of registering or of casting a ballot or by removing an eligible voter from the rolls. For example, if a state purge of 50,000 registrations it believes are not valid, but actually includes 2000 valid registrations, the EO would have the commission report the purge as a positive for election integrity.
i agree with this…verbatim @ottnott. This is scary shit. This is a takeover. A methodical take over. Also, if the courts step in and keep overturning his EO’s, how long before he moves to reduce their power? Moreover, he has weak and identity-less blind loyalists that would welcome a place at his feet as a joyous option to carrying on with their feckless, feeble existences, where whites have lost their station atop the food chain (in their minds). This is mustache-twirling movie villain shit right here. I can’t believe its come to this.
I keep thinking about one of those awful Star Wars prequels were Natalie Portman’s character says “This is how liberty dies–to thunderous applause.”
Many Republicans would disagree with that statement.
It is their mantra, in fact.
Trump should just ignore his voter mandate and do the best possible job for his American people. Hey, surprise us.
Fix health care. Prevent N Korea from going nuclear. Sign on to the Paris Accords. Admit as many immigrants as necessary to meet his economic growth targets. Ignore the Laffer curve (which has NEVER WORKED), and get real. Deal with Education - it’s in America’s interest to have as many well-educated people as possible, not saddled with terminal debt. Grow the State Dept., instead of the Defense Dept. If nothing else, it’s CHEAPER to talk than fire off weapons.