The Franchise: A Setback for the DOJ’s Push To Get State Voter Rolls

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Originally published at: The Franchise: A Setback for the DOJ’s Push To Get State Voter Rolls - TPM – Talking Points Memo

Happy Thursday, and welcome back to The Franchise.  The Franchise is our newly resurrected weekly newsletter covering elections and voting rights as the Trump administration continues its assault on election administration, the franchise and democracy.  We’re glad you’re here.  This week, we’ll be looking at updates in the Department of Justice’s floundering campaign to get…

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So will we get some sort break down on the cost of these operations? I mean the state has a copy of their own voter rolls, but the DOJ will have to assign a team to do the double checking. How will they do the checking? Will they cross check with SSA? Which means SSA workers will be pulled into this shit show.
Are the checkers in the federal gov’t agencies well versed in each state’s process? How many checks can they do in a day, week, or month?

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Being required to have a passport is a poll tax. There are also costs involved in an obtaining a birth certificate. Obtaining a birth certificate may be impossible for many people, despite having been born in the United States. And people still believe it when some politician says that this makes America great?

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Here, as a public service, is the address for the Texas tip line, in case you’d like to report small animals, space aliens, robots, or root vegetables committing voter fraud. I reported the armadillos I saw voting by mail in Houston.

illegalvoting@oag.texas.gov

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There seems to be an unspoken belief among many (Rs) that if you don’t drive a car, you’re not entitled to vote. Or maybe it’s an assumption that everybody drives a car, and also owns one or more.

It takes a little thought to realize

  • Young folks (18 or a little older) may not drive yet
  • City dwellers in civilized urban centers with mass transit don’t need a driver’s license
  • Elderly people at some point often give up (or should give up) driving and their licenses
  • Blind people probably won’t pass the driving test
  • Other handicapped (I’m sorry; “differently abled”) individuals may not be able to get a vehicle retrofitted for their use
  • Some Americans are not economically able to either buy a car or pay for driver training or licensure

And probably more reasons they won’t be eligible to vote. Let’s also remember that every “tradwife” will not have a birth certificate matching her current name.

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“Yer goddamn right.”

When I got my (first ever) passport in the summer of 2024, I was unpleasantly surprised to see it came in only good for one year, instead of the usual 10.

While I was never able to get a clear answer on what the problem was, after going through all the instructions, etc. for what seemed like the hundredth time, I guessed they hadn’t liked my 2001-era official (sealed!) copy of my Jokelahoma birth certificate.

So, I filed with OK for a couple of new/modern copies of my birth certificate—I think they were about $35 for the pair. Mercifully they arrived in what I guessed (or at least had psyched myself up) to be fairly good time, about two weeks.

Then, I resubmitted my brand new, one-year-only passport, along with one of my new birth certificates to the US State Department and, in a few weeks, received my new, full-blown passport, good for the full ten years.

All of this is just to reinforce and emphasize your (and others’) points that “oh, just use your passport” is NOT a simple, cheap, nor quick exercise and positively reeks of class privilege (even though such things are alleged not to exist :face_with_monocle::roll_eyes:).

EDIT: Also, not to mention how much longer these clunky processes will take once the nearly HALF of Americans without passports flood the system (which is now likely even less capable of handling them—“THANKS, DOGE!!” :roll_eyes:).

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Well, they’re not meant to vote in the coming Gilead scenario that these fools are slavering over.

ETA: For some months now every Thursday, there has been a sole, very dedicated woman, in a Handmaid’s cloak and bonnet, standing at the intersection of the two “major” cross-state roads in my town. I haven’t caught her sign(s)., but I doubt they’re in favor of any of the current right wing delusions. .Her grit is beyond admirable in the face of some of the weather we’ve had this winter (SW New Hampshire). I really must stop and talk with her one of these days.

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“Significant growth of the noncitizen population Continued GOP control in Texas and a pattern of partisan efforts to illegally weaponize voter registration and the voting process to manipulate electoral outcomes have created urgent risks to local, state, and federal elections,” - Paxton

Edited for accuracy.

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