this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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United States | News & Politics
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I strongly disagree. Voting should never be illegal or have legal repercussions. Ever. Not only is it protected speech under the first amendment, it's more importantly a critical part of our democratic system.
There should be stiff consequences for running for an office you know you are disqualified from, but casting a vote should never be illegal for legal voters.
The US seems to disqualify quite a lot of voters for reasons that don't apply in most other "western" countries though.
That may be true, I'm not sure on the facts surrounding that. If you have specific sources, I'd be interested in seeing them.
Well, can jailed people vote in the US?
Fair point, but I think that only applies to felonies (you can generally vote if it's just a misdemeanor), and most states restore voting rights as soon as they're released.
Do other countries allow currently incarcerated people with felonies to vote?
Yea , that is more a 3rd world country way. Most countries do not remove basic rights besides you freedom when jailing them. Can't think of any examples actually.
Some of them can, yes.
Right, I don't agree that it should be a legal consequence.
I do however think it should be a moral consequence, a judgment visited on those who would cast such a ridiculous vote. The best way I've heard it termed, is that Trump isn't merely unqualified, he's unqualified squared, which is to say, if you think he's fit to be president, then you also aren't qualified.
With votes being anonymous, I'm not sure who is going to provide any sort of moral consequence here. Those who support him likely mostly watch media that supports him. The government shouldn't have a say in morality, they deal in law.
Noted, we can agree to disagree.
Also noted is that the 14th Amendment is inherently undemocratic by design, preventing anyone from being able to vote in Confederate insurrectionists.
And, as said before, there are already instances in our country where voting illegally gets you jail time, so, like many other rights, it’s not completely unabridged at present time.
What’s amazing to me is that my original comment could be distilled down to “sure would be nice if treasonous voters supporting treasonous, disqualified candidates were also penalized for being treasonous”, with a measure that almost certainly would never happen, and you’re wasting your time arguing over this.
I didn’t even suggest they go to jail or face fines, just temporarily lose voting rights for a period of time to think about what they did.
And I completely disagree with that notion. Voting for a treasonous person isn't treason, it's a wasted vote because a treasonous person is ineligible to hold office.
The only crime you could commit when voting is fraud, meaning you're voting more times than you're allowed to. You should be allowed to cast your vote however you want with no fear or reprisal, and it's on you to make that vote count.
Noted, still don’t care, you’re welcome to your opinion.