#voting laws

[fantabulisticity]

The SAVE Act, H.R. 22, is a direct attack on voting rights, and we must stop it from passing. This bill would create unnecessary new barriers by forcing voters to show documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, just to register to vote and will require faulty voter roll purges that will lead to eligible voters being disenfranchised. It's a bill based on lies about widespread voter fraud and it threatens to block millions of eligible Americans from voting who lack easy access to these records due to financial or systemic barriers. Fill out this form to email your Representative and urge them to VOTE NO on the SAVE Act—take action today to protect our democracy and our rights! If passed, the SAVE Act would: - Create Barriers for Millions of Voters: Over 21 million Americans lack easy access to the documents this law would require for voter registration. - Target Marginalized Communities: Voters of color, naturalized citizens, young and older voters, and individuals with low incomes would face the biggest hurdles. - Increase Erroneous Voter Roll Purges: More frequent and erroneous purges of registered voters, even in some cases voters who have been registered and voted for years. - Impede Election Administration: This bill imposes significant burdens and costs on state and local election officials—who are already vastly underfunded and understaffed—and imposes criminal and civil liability to their everyday activities. - Repeat Past Failures: Kansas implemented a similar law over a decade ago that disenfranchised over 35,000 eligible voters before courts struck it down as unconstitutional. The SAVE Act isn't about safeguarding elections. It's about silencing voters, and we need you to tell Congress to vote NO on this bill. Congress should be expanding our voting rights, not rolling them back.

[democraticelectorateoflivonia]

Ministry of Internal Affairs

[gothicvalentine]

Is 2024 the Last Election Women Can Vote If this Plot To Strip Women Of ...

This has some really important info. 

I was not aware that voter ID laws disproportionality affect women. In some states, you can be asked to present your birth certificate alongside your driver’s license, but if your birth certificate doesn’t match your ID exactly, you can be turned away.

Most married women take their husband’s last name and thus would be affected by this. Also, it is apparently required by law to formally change your name with your state even when you’ve been married. It’s technically illegal (this may vary by state) to just start using your husband’s last name. 

Apparently it’s never enforced, but this content creator is concerned that in the states with the strictest voter ID requirements, the states might start enforcing this type of thing in order to keep women from voting. Considering, of course, that women are expected to be the ones who will turn up to vote in droves due to all the anti abortion laws being enacted and the talks of a nationwide ban being the next step in the republican playbook. Because they think those damn women should just shut up and do what they’re told. And it’s not right that some of them can still travel out of state to get an abortion. /s

[ausetkmt]

https://x.com/LqLana/status/1702044194422866153?t=Qf8T3he5bFxB_oms4lIJJA&s=09

[nobody-2024-dao]

The State of Voting in America 2024

What do you think about the current state of voting in America? Voting is the cornerstone of any democracy, serving as the primary means by which citizens influence government policy and leadership. In America, however, the state of voting is increasingly dire. Voter suppression, outdated infrastructure, and political resistance to reform are pervasive issues that threaten the integrity of the…

[inkskinned]

"don't make it political!" .... what proportion of death and suffering must occur before politics are involved. if this isn't political, what is even the point of any politics, ever. of democracy. the words are "by the people for the people." if i am going to be left alone by my elected representatives to "figure it out" - to undergo damage, hardship, fear. what the fuck did i elect them for. what was their job. the entire point is that they handle this shit. this is why we were supposed to be electing leaders.

poverty is political. misogyny is political. gun control is political. climate change is political. how much aid a community gets is political. what the fuck are you talking about. it's been political this whole fucking time.

[natecoumbe31]

Mississippi elections are broken

Tuesday was the Mississippi Primary Election, and like a good citizen, I turned out to vote.  I hate voting in primaries in this state. But this week, it was especially humiliating.  As usual, I drove to the church, walked inside, and approached the table to check in. And like usual, I had to identify as either Democrat or Republican (even though I was hoping things might have changed). Now,…

[destielmemenews]

"The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, said the band was also objecting to Trump’s use of the song because members Jack White and Meg White “vehemently oppose the policies adopted and actions taken by Defendant Trump when he was President and those he has proposed for the second term he seeks.”

Several prominent musicians have previously criticized Trump for using their songs at rallies. Last week, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled that Trump and his campaign must stop using the song “Hold On, I’m Coming” after a lawsuit from the estate of Isaac Hayes Jr."

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[gwydionmisha]

Let's talk about Pennsylvania and a trend in voting....

[democraticelectorateoflivonia]

Ministry of Internal Affairs

[huenistar]

block me if u support trump idgaf.

im actually done with this dumb fucks who support trump for the stupidest reasons

“groceries!!” no abortion!!! no more rights!!!

“kamala harris doesn’t support god or wtv” trump has a BIBLE of his self. is that not blasphemy?

any reason u have makes no sense and if u DARE to speak about trump in a positive way on my blog you will be blocked idgaf. fuck you and fuck ur family

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

hey yeah uh. hi. big fan of the Peaceful Transfer of Power over here. no one loves the Peaceful Transfer of Power more than me. how. however comma. does anyone else think that maybe. just maybe. quite possibly. there should have been some kind of pushback or protection against the Power being Peacefully Transferred to the guy who quite literally Incited a Mob That Killed People because he didn't want to Peacefully Transfer It four years ago? does anyone else think that Maybe the guy who literally almost had a Mob of his supporters Overthrow the Government shouldn't have even been on the ballot? that maybe there shouldn't have even been the Chance of him getting into office again? that maybe he Shouldn't Have Been A Fucking Option? or does that make me a Democracy Hater or whatever

[philosopherking1887]

More good things the Biden administration is doing: OSHA heat safety rules for workers

Remember when Texas and Florida passed laws preventing local and municipal governments from implementing their own heat safety rules and said that if heat is such a big problem, OSHA should make rules that apply to everyone? If not, NPR can remind you. OSHA has now accepted the challenge, moving much faster than they usually do:

OSHA National News Release U.S. Department of Labor July 2, 2024 Biden-Harris administration announces proposed rule to protect indoor, outdoor workers from extreme heat WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has released a proposed rule with the goal of protecting millions of workers from the significant health risks of extreme heat. If finalized, the proposed rule would help protect approximately 36 million workers in indoor and outdoor work settings and substantially reduce heat injuries, illnesses, and deaths in the workplace. Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S. Excessive workplace heat can lead to heat stroke and even death. While heat hazards impact workers in many industries, workers of color have a higher likelihood of working in jobs with hazardous heat exposure. “Every worker should come home safe and healthy at the end of the day, which is why the Biden-Harris administration is taking this significant step to protect workers from the dangers posed by extreme heat,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. “As the most pro-worker administration in history, we are committed to ensuring that those doing difficult work in some of our economy’s most critical sectors are valued and kept safe in the workplace.” The proposed rule would require employers to develop an injury and illness prevention plan to control heat hazards in workplaces affected by excessive heat. Among other things, the plan would require employers to evaluate heat risks and — when heat increases risks to workers — implement requirements for drinking water, rest breaks and control of indoor heat. It would also require a plan to protect new or returning workers unaccustomed to working in high heat conditions. “Workers all over the country are passing out, suffering heat stroke and dying from heat exposure from just doing their jobs, and something must be done to protect them,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker. “Today’s proposal is an important next step in the process to receive public input to craft a ‘win-win’ final rule that protects workers while being practical and workable for employers.” Employers would also be required to provide training, have procedures to respond if a worker is experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat-related illness, and take immediate action to help a worker experiencing signs and symptoms of a heat emergency. The public is encouraged to submit written comments on the rule once it is published in the Federal Register. The agency also anticipates a public hearing after the close of the written comment period. More information will be available on submitting comments when the rule is published. In the interim, OSHA continues to direct significant existing outreach and enforcement resources to educate employers and workers and hold businesses accountable for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s general duty clause, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1) and other applicable regulations. Record-breaking temperatures across the nation have increased the risks people face on-the-job, especially in summer months. Every year, dozens of workers die and thousands more suffer illnesses related to hazardous heat exposure that, sadly, are most often preventable. The agency continues to conduct heat-related inspections under its National Emphasis Program – Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards, launched in 2022. The program inspects workplaces with the highest exposures to heat-related hazards proactively to prevent workers from suffering injury, illness or death needlessly. Since the launch, OSHA has conducted more than 5,000 federal heat-related inspections. In addition, the agency is prioritizing programmed inspections in agricultural industries that employ temporary, nonimmigrant H-2A workers for seasonal labor. These workers face unique vulnerabilities, including potential language barriers, less control over their living and working conditions, and possible lack of acclimatization, and are at high risk of hazardous heat exposure.

[reasonsforhope]

"Georgia Republicans bundled over a dozen measures that targeted the state’s transgender residents into omnibus packages in a desperate attempt to get them passed. In a stunning defeat for the GOP, every single one of them failed.

Legislators gutted bills that had passed through committee and instead stuffed them full of their anti-LGBTQ+ wishlist items.

Bills that would ban transgender students from playing on teams aligned with their gender identity, ban transgender students from bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, opt parents into notification for every book a student checks out of the library, bar sex education before sixth grade, make all sex-ed classes opt-in and expand obscenity laws to make it easier to ban books with LGBTQ+ content all failed.

“MAGA politicians in Georgia tried it all in service to their anti-LGBTQ+ agenda,” said Human Rights Campaign Georgia State Director Bentley Hudgins, “including silencing debate and gutting unrelated, popular bills that had bipartisan support to ram through policies that would have put young LGBTQ+ Georgians in harm’s way. They failed.”

“It’s undeniable that the tides are shifting, both here in Georgia and across the nation,” Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham added. “Anti-LGBTQ actors are losing their political power, and more and more Georgians who know and love LGBTQ people are standing up against their baseless fear-mongering.”

In Florida recently, nearly two dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated in the wake of Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) presidential campaign implosion, dozens of measures in Virginia were tabled [Note: In the US, "tabled" means "shelved" or "taken out of consideration - the opposite of its meaning in the UK and other places], and Ohio’s governor backed off his attempt to restrict gender-affirming care access for transgender adults and minors. 

Meanwhile, in D.C., Democrats successfully excised 50 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the two budget bills passed and signed by President Joe Biden to fund the federal government.

Even Fox News has been forced to acknowledge transgender issues are among the lowest-priority concerns among voters."

-via LGBTQ Nation, April 1, 2024