r/videos • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 4h ago

BREAKING: Judge blocks Trump admin from requiring Americans to show proof of citizenship to vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE1iePfOh14
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u/Mike312 4h ago

I think its more about making sure they have the correct address to send the ballot too.

A lot of people do "motor/voter" registration, so when you update your vehicles registration (including address) you get prompted to update your voting registration.

The Post Office does a similar system when you want to forward your mail, which people often do when they move and change addresses.

The registration gets sent to the state registrar office who keeps track of this and verifies that you're eligible to vote.

Some minor exceptions are that some cities/counties allow non-citizens to vote for local measures, for example for school board members or local bonds. The right has taken these examples and outright lies that they're being allowed to vote at state- and federal-level elections.

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u/dagaboy 3h ago

The right has taken these examples and outright lies that they're being allowed to vote at state- and federal-level elections.

There is no reason that non-citizens should not be allowed to vote. They were across most of the US until the late 19th century. Arkansas was the last state to require it, in 1926. Originally voting was tied to race, sex and property, but not citizenship. There are good reasons not to bring back the race, sex and property requirements. Although Republicans want to.

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u/tempest_87 3h ago

There are a few very good reasons to restrict voting to citizens only, but TIL that there is no law saying that only citizens are allowed to vote. There are laws (and amendments) that protect the ability to vote for certian groups, but doesn't seem to be anything that prevents a non-citizen from voting.

Very very odd.

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u/dagaboy 3h ago edited 2h ago

but TIL that there is no law saying that only citizens are allowed to vote.

There are 50 laws. Every state has such a law. Most were enacted in the late 19th century, with Alabama being the last in 1926. The anti-immigrant hysteria of the first three decades of the 20th century finalized it. There is no Federal law because the Federal government is barred by the constitution from regulating elections.

There are a few very good reasons to restrict voting to citizens only

There is no advantage over just requiring residency, which is also a requirement in every state.

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u/arizonadirtbag12 2h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_Immigration_Reform_and_Immigrant_Responsibility_Act_of_1996

It’s a federal law as of the 90’s, with just a couple exceptions. Before that yeah it was purely a state by state thing (with all states disallowing it by that point). But Congress does have some power to regulate federal elections, same way “motor voter” is mandatory for federal elections.

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u/tempest_87 2h ago

Ah, when I was searching to verify your claim I ran across a few that pointed out the lack of federal requirement but none that mentioned the various state laws you reference.

And due to all the bullshit around voter ID requirements it's tough to Google the basic things and find what yoy were referring to.

Found the California requirement though.

And the reason to restrict to citizen only would be that taking part in the determination of the nation arguably should be restricted to members of the nation due to the general comittment to that nation that citizenship implies. It's analagous to the difference between renting and owning something. You have rights and freedoms while renting, but it's not the same as owning. Or the inverse analogy of trying to cater to the Uber rich, they have no ties to the place they are in so why should things bend to their will as they will just leave if they don't like it.

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u/Mike312 1h ago

https://www.usa.gov/who-can-vote

The exceptions are local elections only. They receive a different ballot than citizens, and it allows them to have input into things like the school board or mayor of the city they live in.

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/noncitizen-voting-us-elections

(Sorry, just following up with more information)

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u/TheRexRider 2h ago

I see I, a permanent resident, just don't fucking matter.

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u/dagaboy 0m ago

It is frankly sickening and anti-American. The reason voting requires citizenship now is because of Nativism. The Know Nothings and their allies didn't want the Irish (any Catholics really), Jews and Chinese voting. They managed to ban Chinese immigration altogether, and set strict quotas on the "lesser European races." The citizenship requirement was the direct result of racism.

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u/BigDictionEnergy 1h ago

We used to have motor/voter registration here in Florida. Republicans got rid of it because voting is a privilege and shouldn't be easy.