If you live in Texas, make sure to register to vote! The deadline is coming up in a few days on the 7th. Note that for Texas you must register either in person or by mail, you cannot register online unlike most states


Find information on how to register to vote anywhere https://vote.gov/

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      77
      ·
      1 month ago

      Gonna repeat what I said in a different comment:

      Encourage people to try to vote early everywhere. Texas has early in person voting from Oct 21 – Nov 1

      If you vote early, you’ll have time to come back again in case there’s some last minute changes to the polling places open or some other problem. Plus you also don’t then have to worry about something like being sick on election day

      • ATDA@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 month ago

        These are all excellent reasons. If I may add one.

        I want to fuck Donald day one. So bad. Fuck him. My rage seethes waiting to be released into my ballot.

        But otherwise spot on!

  • petersr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    73
    ·
    1 month ago

    I have never understood why you need to register ahead of time to vote in US. It seems like an unnecessary blocker. In Denmark you just show up on the day, state your SSN, show ID and get a ballot.

    • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      70
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      You need to do it because it’s an unnecessary blocker. That’s the point. Poor people disproportionately struggle to jump through the hurdles in place for voting, and Poor people disproportionately vote D. R loves to make voting harder under the auspices of “fraud prevention”.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 month ago

        Also a lot of federal centralization didnt happen until the great depression, we are a federation of states meaning that historically it most shit was handled by the states and not in a states rights way but a who runs the local library sort of way. It was easier bureaucracatically as well allowing the feds to focus on other things.

        This is also why random bits of bureaucracy is not standardized across all states, like the DMV sure most states got the memo but then you have whatever the fuck Washington is doing.

        • RupeThereItIs@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 month ago

          It really is also a states rights thing. The federal government, by design, has no say in how elections or driver’s licenses work.

          That they have stepped in to the driver’s license space is an overstep of their authority, honestly.

          The federal government is not the sovereign entity, the many states are.

          • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            1 month ago

            That’s no longer true, the 14th amendment effectively made the constitution sovereign over all the states, period. That’s how incorporation works, otherwise states could have handgun bans again like in the 19th century.

          • shalafi@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 month ago

            The feds have nothing to do with driver’s licenses. States have agreements to honor each other’s licenses.

      • MouseKeyboard@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 month ago

        R loves to make voting harder under the auspices of “fraud prevention”.

        They say, while their supporters are the ones committing all of the fraud.

    • barsquid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      35
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      I have never understood why you need to register ahead of time to vote in US. It seems like an unnecessary blocker.

      No, you absolutely do understand perfectly.

    • bartvbl@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yes, it’s utterly stupid. One reason I can point to is that the US never really had a national ID system. The social security number is a hack to get something along the lines of an ID, but it’s not reliable enough to make it viable for elections.

      • morphballganon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 month ago

        It’s not “stupid.” To call it stupid is to gloss over the fact that it’s a calculated, deliberate, malicious tactic of targeted voter disenfranchisement meant to swing elections.

      • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        That’s because a national ID requirement is illegal.

        I can’t find the law because I now suck at searching and searching has gotten worse.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      We don’t have national ID or election systems. So with early voting it would be legitimately possible to register and vote multiple times in multiple places without the deadline.

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 month ago

          The SSN isn’t an identification. In fact, it specifically says on the back of mine that it is not to be used for identification.

          It was intended intended to do one thing only: track lifetime earnings to determine retirement benefits. The thing is since there isn’t a national ID everyone is required to get, businesses started using it to track people.

    • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 month ago

      gives all the smaller governmental departments(like the municipal courts) time to assimilate your info for future contacts like jury duty

    • Pika@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      it is, and if you notice the states that make it difficult, it’s clearly the intent behind it as well. The goal is to make it hard for specific demographics to be able to vote because they very regularly vote in favor of the opposition of that state.

    • usernamesAreTricky@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      48
      ·
      1 month ago

      Encourage people to try to vote early everywhere. Texas has early in person voting from Oct 21 – Nov 1

      If you vote early, you’ll have time to come back again in case there’s some last minute changes to the polling places open or some other problem. Plus you also don’t then have to worry about something like being sick on election day

      • baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        1 month ago

        you can vote at any polling place within your county if you vote early

        Early Voting Locations

        Voting during the early voting period couldn’t be easier and more convenient! Registered and eligible voters may vote at ANY early voting location located in their county of residence. Whether you are at home, work or out running errands, you will be able to find a polling place near you. Early voting locations will be populated in our search site “My Voter Portal” two days prior to the first day of early voting. Here, you can enter your Name, County, Date of Birth and ZIP code to look up your registration information and find your nearest polling location. You may want to contact the Early Voting Clerk for State and County Elections in your county for early voting locations. Also, many newspapers publish early voting polling locations.

        Note: Polling place hours vary at each early voting location.

        source

        • LimeZest@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 month ago

          My entire county only has one early voting location. I miss the convenience of voting in a random place like a nearby store when I lived in a more populated area instead of having to drive halfway across the county.

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 month ago

            Could be worse, atleast Texas doesnt have a san Bernardino sized county. Biggest county in the US and thats after it was shrunk down, pretty sure Riverside and Kern used to be part of it.

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 month ago

      AG Paxton’s new rule would be that the entranceway of every polling location in Texas can only be open once every 10 minutes for 30 seconds at a time, to prevent voter fraud of course.

  • TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    45
    ·
    1 month ago

    I encourage people not only to check your registratio, but full on order a new ID, confirming it j’s your correct name, address, and a updated picture it poseible.

    Understand, Texas has realistically been blue since at least 2000. Voter turnout is an existential threat to the Texas republicans, and they know it.

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      Check your voter registration? Yes, absolutely. Order a new ID? Not sure about that.

      It takes time for things like that to process. I recently updated my driver’s license online and it took several weeks before the new card arrived. In the interim, I was supposed to print a piece of paper to serve as my license. Sure, it’s supposed to be a legal document, but in an election where Republicans will nitpick anything in order to disqualify voters, it’s easy to imagine a registered voter being turned down for using a flimsy piece of paper instead of a driver’s license.

      I’m not saying not to update your ID if you need to. Absolutely make sure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. But if your existing ID is accurate, what would be the point of ordering a new one?

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    33
    ·
    1 month ago

    Yeah. That’s how population growth is…

    It’ll be newsworthy when total votes/voters go down over time, this is like being surprised 12:30 pm happens after noon everyday.

      • baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        1 month ago

        This is great to see. Texas isn’t so much a red state as a non voting state. The more people vote, the better democrats do generally. It’s why Republicans are always pushing for voter roll purges.

        • TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 month ago

          Republicans lose the popular vote, period. When people actually vote, on every level, Republicans lose.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            1 month ago

            12/15.5=77%

            18/22=84%

            Saying that 18 million more registered voters is more I formative than the percent of registered voters has increased 7% is just ridiculous to me

            One shows real useful to information, the other doesn’t fucking matter.

            If you think that’s “wrong” then I’m not sure how to explain this in a way you can understand.

            But I’m pretty sure youte assuming I’m saying something else

    • flying_gel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 month ago

      Also younger voters, especially young women are much more invested in politics and more likely to vote than ever.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 month ago

        Eh…

        In the 1960s it was like 50%, I don’t think we’re there yet

        And people talk about how today’s violence, extremism, and division is new like the Civil Rights movement never happened and Malcolm just had that AK for a photo OP.

        You’re “than ever” isnt accurate.

        • flying_gel@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          The 1960s had political engagement and division, no one’s denying that.

          However it was surpassed in 2020 which was a record year for turnout of 66.8% of eligible voters. Specifically, 90.6% of eligible women were registered, and about 68.4% of them actually voted. Women outpaced men in both categories. Young voters, especially young women, were a big part of that surge.

          Trump lost big then, imagine now with all the news about record registrations how much he might lose by now. Personally I think it would be very funny to see Harris break 100M votes,. Can you imagine how angry Trump would be :)