‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

Unknown number of Texas voter registrations went unprocessed due to DPS error

106 points · 195 comments · hn_acker

  1. agos · · focus · HN ↗
    the entire concept of "voter registration" (and associated shenanigans) is so alien to my European brain that I fail to see any reason why the richest country in the world does things this way other than voter suppression. What am I missing?
    1. oilkillsbirds · · focus · HN ↗
      You think there’s no voter fraud in Europe?
      1. thinkingtoilet · · focus · HN ↗
        Yes. Just like there is basically zero fraud in America. This isn't a problem. It is only for the dumbest people who believe Trump that 'millions of illegal immigrants voted' yet they haven't produced a single bit of evidence to prove it, but I'm sure it's real.
        1. zahlman · · focus · HN ↗
          I can literally prompt ChatGPT with

          > What examples of American voter fraud (real or alleged) have been promoted in right-wing media within the last 28 days?

          and find multiple results with considerable detail. If you want to hear anecdotes from ordinary people who've witnessed it (or at least had good reason for suspicion), it's not hard to find the right circles for that, either. But by its nature, few have access to the information that would be needed to evidence it properly.

          More importantly, though, there are plenty of people who can point at how insecure the system is and how cheap and easy it would (or should) be to fix that. It's hard to understand how there can be such strenuous objection to fixing it if there is actually no problem. It's hard to understand how there can be so many people who are definitely following the law, but would face a hardship if expected to prove it even minimally.

          Canadians must identify themselves in federal elections (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elections.ca&#x2F;content.aspx?section=vot&amp;dir=ids&amp;document=index&amp;lang=e" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elections.ca&#x2F;content.aspx?section=vot&amp;dir=ids&amp;do...) and normally register in advance (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elections.ca&#x2F;content.aspx?section=vot&amp;dir=reg&amp;document=index&amp;lang=e" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.elections.ca&#x2F;content.aspx?section=vot&amp;dir=reg&amp;do...) which is usually as simple as ticking a checkbox to give consent for the CRA (equivalent to IRS) to pass on your data to Elections Canada (which is independent of the government). None of this is even slightly controversial here; even our most left-wing parties (and the centre of gravity of our entire system is generally considered to be well to the left of the US&#x27;s) are not trying to eliminate the requirement.

          1. thunderfork · · focus · HN ↗
            The Canadian comparison is apples to oranges when you look at and compare the ease of identification and registration (can register at the polls; a massive number of verification methods - vs - sometimes can&#x27;t, very few verification methods)
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.