Trump’s executive order on voting rights. I may be misinterpreting this (correct me please if I am), but it sure sounds like you won’t be allowed to vote if you didn’t opt for a “RealID” version of your license. A regular driver’s license contains no information regarding citizenship status, at least in my state, so it wouldn’t count. A lot of low income people in rural America have skipped getting a “RealID” because it’s more expensive. If this order goes thru, that decision may cost them their right to vote. This could disenfranchise millions of low income voters.
Out of all the things this administration has done, this one almost seems somewhat logical.
I can understand not having a RealID or passport, since both are mainly for travel. Not everyone has a need or desire to travel.
Section D says a government-issued ID and proof of citizenship is okay. Doesn’t everyone at least have a state ID (probably a drivers license) and a birth certificate?
Nope. Especially in poor communities. Not only may someones parents be shitty and getting the documentation alone be hard, but working multiple jobs, not driving, and needing to spend hours (and money) getting to a DMV (and, in some cases, on the ID itself?) isn’t an easy task.
No. I do not have a birth certificate, I lost it several years ago and haven’t obtained a replacement. More importantly, this is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Voter fraud is almost entirely non-existent. As I recall, the only instances of voter fraud that were uncovered in the massive amount of litigation after the 2020 election, were a tiny number of Trump voters, encouraged by his lies about how easy it was, and found out by his insincere attempts to prove Democrats were doing it. The risk of imprisonment is sky high, the payoff of one vote is rock bottom. But you know what does actually influence elections? Voter suppression. Trump wasn’t legitimately elected. It’s very clear from the statistics that if everybody who had a legal right to vote, had been able to vote, and have their vote counted, he would have lost, by a lot. And this measure is just designed to suppress more votes.
Oh, it’s very logical; but the goal absolutely is to reduce voter turnout even further (and our turnout is disturbingly bad already). But honestly, you ought to spend some time looking into ways of disenfranchising voters. You really might be surprised how devious they tactics have become. Just saying
And that will be enforced selectively.
There is some context missing here. Other posters have pointed out some things, but what I want to point out is that there are several states where the GOP is actively fucking with the voter rolls. It is very easy for someone’s voter registration to be “challenged” for bullshit reasons, and often these challenges are made strategically to target likely Democratic voters in poor places, who may not have the spare cash to get the additional RealID proof that this EO demands.
So, even though it might seem reasonable on its face, in combination with other GOP priorities it’s obvious that the end goal is to harass poor voters.