Worse getting the card is a major pita with the documentation and photo and having to mail it for first time.

It always seems to me that this wouldn't be such a big problem if the US had a working bureaucracy. I know $30 can be a significant sum (plus the pictures and other expenses) but it would be less of a hurdle if

• relevant offices were within reasonable distance
• they were sufficiently manned
• all or part of the process could be done online
• the government actually strives to make these processes as user-friendly as possible

This is something Americans rarely talk about because it's just assumed that everybody knows? Maybe somebody could explain to a EU dweller.

edit: maybe I didn't phrase this properly. I'm fully aware that preventing people from voting has a long "tradition" in the US; my question was more general I guess, and meant as an "in addition to the points already mentioned".

Consider this too. A woman has all of her ducks in a row with her married last name, and then divorces her POS republican husband. Now she needs to re-establish her identity all over again.

For the ladies out there (or anyone getting married) keep your last name. My partner kept theirs, and it tickles them pink when the systemic chauvinism gets reversed and I get called by their last name.

Because we expect that from Republicans. It’s the democrats defecting that is the worrisome part.

The fact that Republicans want to take away peoples' ability to vote isn't really news, but the fact that any Democrats supported it is.

Try to primary them and see how fast the Democratic establishment is to come to their defense. "Democrats" is fair. Not all Democrats, but the party establishment is rotten.

Everyone already knows all the republicans supported it; anything under their jurisdiction is already a lost cause. What I want to know is how many people from the "left" party can't even keep their own votes on the right side of history. It's not news when villains are villains - it's news when the people who say they're here to fight back against the villains are caught supporting them, and it's important not to drown out that important detail among a bunch of already-known regressives. People need to see that the current democratic party isn't a viable defense against conservativism, and that we need to do something more to get things moving in the right direction again than simply trusting democrats to fix everything.

My initial reaction to this headline was: "what now?", and my first reaction on reading the article was "oh, it's a continuation of the horror show that calls itself US government - not actually something that four democrats are responsible for"

So I'm totally with you. Stop the sanewashing of the continued and systematic madness rising to ever new heights of depravity, should be the headline.

Republicans built the foundation for what's happening now for decades, and it was always like you said in your other comment: "Conservatives have survived on their ability to never be held accountable for what they do." Well, slightly more differentiated.

This bill is yet another voter supression tool. This is what they ultimately want: you have to be rich, male, of a certain ethic, and "white" to have a say. And they're almost there. If voting was really made easy for everyone, do you really think the GOP would still win?
This is yet another piece of codified and systemic racism, misogyny, homo- and transphobia, richism.
The hollowing out of what was once a working, relatively democratic system to a point where even the empty shell is starting to break up.

All that said, Democrats should start wielding what power they have (both in the government and in media, public opinion etc.) way more decisively. Between elections we must talk about how fucked up both parties are.

This comment (from this post) puts it best imho:
https://lemmy.world/comment/16414382
https://feddit.org/post/10702307/6001640

People expect the representative they voted for to vote how they want. Conservatives' representative voted as they wanted. Whereas Democrats' representative voted against their wishes. Hence the outrage.

This is a simplistic explanation, 4 Democratic representative might have voted as their constituents have demanded.

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez sold out the US on another important vote at some point in the recent past. Her name was unique enough to remember. Are the other three also habitual free agents?

It passed the house a few days ago, from my understanding it is less likely to pass the Senate

Fuck vetting. We need a way for citizens to recall these lying fuckers.

Or at least vote for the progressive in the primary first.

It still would have passed. 208-212