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i'm very stupid -- i've never understood this whole registration system at all. why is it not just based on your ID or social security or something? (oh, so prisoners can't vote? great, i'm glad we introduced more complexity to disenfranchise more people.)
Some Americans, particularly evangelical Christians and libertarians, are vehemently against the idea of a national identification system. To them it's either the beginning of a New World Order government or the Mark of the Beast or both. So having a national ID card will never fly. Social Security Numbers aren't even supposed to be used for identification, despite the fact that they're used that way everywhere.
There's also the case that not everyone has an ID. Racist southern states, for example, enact voter ID laws and then remove all places where you can get an ID from majority black areas. Having to show an ID to vote is, therefore, going to disenfranchise some people. You could get around this by broadening valid identification to include simply bringing a piece of mail with your name and address on it.
Actually SSN’s ARE supposed to be used that way now. It wasn’t intended when the system started because it was difficult to get everyone one. But once the system was established they started pushing federal agencies to use them. Then in the ‘60’s when the digital revolution began it just made sense to use them. But the law has been changed since 1943. The new cards don’t even have that line on them anymore.
https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/ssnreportc2.html
They are terrible ids, they used to be assigned sequentially and geographically based. So you could figure out the first 3-5 digits from basic information and get in a ballpark number if you had a birthday.
You know weirdly in Australia it's mandatory to vote, all government departments exchange information and yet we still need to register to vote... you get fined for not voting and you can't get a passport if you're 18+ and not enrolled.
It seems like not having a polling location inside the prison would also address that concern.
To be fair, voting is handled by the states, so that is one reason it's complicated.
I don't know why Republicans wouldn't want prisoners to vote. The don't need to avoid consequences' group and acting overly tough to the point of making life much harder on themselves is their entire base
Because they don't want black people to vote and the majority of people in prison, are black.
I'd even argue we have laws on the books specifically for this intention. To disinfranchise black voters, by putting them in prison.
In other words, you're kinda missing the point of the prison industrial complex.
You can't be Tough On Crime^tm^ if you allow prisoners to vote. What if -gasp!- they vote to abolish all crimes! Our streets would be RAMPANT with undesirables! /s
Also, think about the demographic make-up of America's penal system, and you'll find another reason Republicans don't want prisoners to vote.
Pretty sure that is the actual reason.
Lose civil war. Have to free your black slaves.
Create laws and law enforcement culture that disproportionately impact black folks.
Steadfastly pretend you have done neither of those things.
Lock 'em up!
Sorry, prisoners can't vote. Really, our hands are tied. Someone think of the children.
Closest thing to a confession I'm aware of:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/nixon-adviser-ehrlichman-anti-left-anti-black-war-on-drugs-2019-7
Here's older evidence that goes back to much earlier.
https://timeline.com/harry-anslinger-racist-war-on-drugs-prison-industrial-complex-fb5cbc281189
When one thinks too hard about it, the whole "we can't trust prisoners to vote, they'll vote to legalize crime!" argument is pretty ridiculous too. Criminals don't just universally love crime, like a guy in for having weed isn't likely to want to legalize murder or something, he doesn't want to be murdered or see people murdered any more than anyone else, and anyone actually crazy enough to want to legalize that is going to be an irrelevant minority of the vote anyway (prisoners in general will be a minority, unless most of your population is locked up, in which case you either actually do have way too many crimes that shouldn't be illegal, or your society is so terminally dysfunctional that it's laws won't much matter anyway).
Oops, it looks like you tried having a deep thought, unfortunately thoughts deeper than surface level are dangerous to Conservative minds as they are prone to drowning, and have been subsequently banned.