# Here's how the Republicans stay in power **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 12, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958 "2018-06-12T13:07:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/1 "2018-06-12T13:07:53Z")
[“Supreme Court Upholds Ohio’s Purge of Voting Rolls”](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/us/politics/supreme-court-upholds-ohios-purge-of-voting-rolls.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Ohio’s aggressive efforts to purge its voting rolls, siding with Republicans in the latest partisan battle over how far states can go in imposing restrictions on voting. > > The court ruled that states may kick people off the rolls if they skip a few elections and fail to respond to a notice from election officials. The vote was 5 to 4, with the more conservative justices in the majority. > > On one level, the decision sought to make sense of tangled statutory language. But it was also a vivid reminder that measures placing obstacles between people seeking to vote and their ability to cast ballots — including cutbacks on early voting, elimination of same-day registration and tough voter ID laws — present dueling visions of democracy. > > Republicans have pushed for such restrictions, arguing without evidence that they are needed to combat what they say is widespread voter fraud. Democrats have pushed back, countering that the efforts are part of an attempt to suppress voting by Democratic constituencies, particularly minorities. > … My emphasis. > [@](#): > > Justice Alito wrote that Congress had good reason to urge states to clean up their voting rolls. Citing a 2012 report from the Pew Center on the States, he wrote that some 24 million voter registrations were estimated to be invalid or significantly inaccurate, and that 2.75 million people were registered to vote in more than one state. > > In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote that the goal of ensuring the accuracy of voting rolls did not justify erecting obstacles to prevent eligible voters from casting ballots. “The purpose of our election process is not to test the fortitude and determination of the voter, but to discern the will of the majority,” he wrote, quoting a Senate report. > … My emphasis. Gee, the purpose of the voting process is to find out what candidates the voters want in office?? Nah. That idea will never catch on. The purpose of the voting process is to get your people elected and then create so many obstacles to opposition voters that it becomes difficult to impossible for the them to replace your people. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/2 "2018-06-12T13:08:56Z")
[“3 Countries Where It’s Easier To Vote Than the United States”](https://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/countries-easier-vote-united-states/story?id=17625616) > [@](#): > > 1. Sweden > > Voting in Sweden (unlike constructing Ikea furniture) is not a huge headache. The Swedes have a virtually automatic enrollment system, which tracks every citizen’s name, address, birth, and marital status. Voting registration is automatic, and for every election, proof of registration material is sent to the homes of every eligible Swedish citizen in the national database. Read more here about Sweden’s voting practices. > > 1. Australia > > So, yes, voting is compulsory in Australia (at risk of roughly a $20 fine\*), but their government also ensures that their citizens vote by making it easier to do so. Aussies, like the Swedes, keep a federal list of its eligible voters, which they then use to put together local voting lists. The Australian government is also much more persistent in ensuring that all citizens register. > > … > > 1. Estonia > > This tiny Baltic nation is making waves for introducing something that seems completely logical in the digital age – online voting. In Estonia, a national ID card (required for every citizen in the country) can be used to vote remotely. > … \*Compulsory voting with a fine?? That would never fly here. "Murricans don’t like being told what to do. Even when it’s the right thing. Geez, Australia is that country where people turned in their guns, anyway. Bunch o’ wimps. > [@](#): > > …The United States ranks 138th out of 172 countries in voter turnout, with less than half of Americans turning up to vote in the last presidential election. It could be nothing more than old-fashioned apathy, but a complicated set of voting rules probably doesn’t help much. > > Aside from the three aformentioned nations, which all have higher voter turnout than the U.S., other countries have made voting easier by holding election day on a holiday or a weekend, instead of a day of the working week, like we do in the United States. > … ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/3 "2018-06-12T13:56:08Z")
Sorry, but here’s the deal: to be purged in Ohio, you had to accomplish the following: 1. You fail to vote, or do anything else vote-related for two years. 2. You fail to return a pre-addressed, stamped postcard verifying you continue to reside at the address. 3. You fail to vote for four more years. So that’s six full years you have to have been silent as a voter, AND you have to have failed to return the card. I have no problem with removing such people from the voting rolls. I think the focus should be on the other end: what does a person have to do to get ON the roll, and vote in an election. But if you aren’t voting, and aren’t keeping the local authorities apprised of your continued residence and eligibility to vote, it’s not unreasonable to clear the voter rolls of the dead wood. There might be \* better ways to do it (almost certainly are), but it’s not Darth Vader evil to do so. And keep in mind, one alternative would be a national database of registered voters, tracking your every movement, accessible to any poll worker checking your eligibility to vote in a given election, tied in to all other databases of people and their claimed residences. Is that really the preferred option? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/4 "2018-06-12T14:14:22Z")
Doesn’t it cost more-- in both time and money-- to do this purging process than just leaving everyone be? What is the public benefit to it (political motivations aside)? It’s not like having long lists of eligible voters costs Ohio anything. I may be missing something obvious (non-political), but I just don’t see what the point is. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/5 "2018-06-12T14:32:18Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Doesn’t it cost more-- in both time and money-- to do this purging process than just leaving everyone be? What is the public benefit to it (political motivations aside)? It’s not like having long lists of eligible voters costs Ohio anything. I may be missing something obvious (non-political), but I just don’t see what the point is. The federal law in question in the decision actually requires states to remove ineligible voters, and to undertake practices to identify voters no longer eligible at their registered addresses. So the issue wasn’t, “should this be done?” It was, rather, “how should this be done, given that we have to do it?” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/6 "2018-06-12T14:35:47Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Doesn’t it cost more-- in both time and money-- to do this purging process than just leaving everyone be? What is the public benefit to it (political motivations aside)? It’s not like having long lists of eligible voters costs Ohio anything. I may be missing something obvious (non-political), but I just don’t see what the point is. This. What is the benefit, besides political? There isn’t a any. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/7 "2018-06-12T14:39:00Z")
There’s theoretical value in keeping people who’ve moved from voting in multiple locations. But they’re only purging people who didn’t vote the last time or two - also theoretically. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/8 "2018-06-12T14:53:04Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > There’s theoretical value in keeping people who’ve moved from voting in multiple locations. But they’re only purging people who didn’t vote the last time or two - also theoretically. “Well, darn. We can’t seem to find any records of these Democrat voters voting in the last two elections. I’m sure we can clear this up, it’ll just take a few weeks. I imagine the records were just misplaced.” ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/9 "2018-06-12T14:58:23Z")
Oh, be serious. Voting records are public records. Knowing whether or not a person voted in the last six years isn’t particularly hard to determine. It’s not like the Republicans in Ohio who initiated this process had to resort to skullduggery to remove thousands of voters from the rolls. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/10 "2018-06-12T15:01:32Z")
What I heard about this case is this: In the time period in question, Ohio removed approximately 20% of voters from the rolls. In the time period in question, approximately 4% of people move to a location that’s in a new precinct. Ohio’s voter roll purge disproportionately affected black and Hispanic voters. The first two factors point to this being an inefficient method for updating voter rolls. The third factor points to the possibility that this method was chosen for racist and/or partisan purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/11 "2018-06-12T16:18:10Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What I heard about this case is this: > > In the time period in question, Ohio removed approximately 20% of voters from the rolls. > In the time period in question, approximately 4% of people move to a location that’s in a new precinct. > Ohio’s voter roll purge disproportionately affected black and Hispanic voters. > > The first two factors point to this being an inefficient method for updating voter rolls. > The third factor points to the possibility that this method was chosen for racist and/or partisan purposes. Your facts are close, but I think a little off. According to Justice Breyer, Ohio sent _notices_ to approximately 1.5 million voters (or 20%). Roughly 300,000 people responded to the notice (and were either not removed or removed because they did in fact move). 1 million (13%) did not respond at all. I don’t see in Breyer’s opinion any information regarding how many people were actually removed, but I may be overlooking it. (He also claims that 4% of Americans move outside their county (not precinct) each year. That number is, apparently, 10% if you include people who move within their county. My county appears to have over 200 voting precincts, but that may be unusual. Breyer seems to think that intra-county moves don’t count.). It seems to me, though, that your real complaint (and Breyer’s) is that the no-response+no-voting procedure established by the NVRA is inefficient. And I don’t know if the NVRA (which was passed largely along partisan lines) was designed for partisan or racist purposes. But I don’t see how any of these arguments relate to the manner in which Ohio implemented the NVRA (i.e., its use of non-voting as the notice-sending trigger). ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/12 "2018-06-12T16:41:27Z")
I’m sorry, but I’m not seeing a problem here. Here in the UK if you don’t complete your voter registration you don’t get to vote. And you have to do it every few years; if you don’t you get dropped and lose your right to vote until you do register. So Ohio is striking off those who haven’t re-registered? Sounds perfectly normal to me. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/13 "2018-06-12T16:50:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What I heard about this case is this: > > In the time period in question, Ohio removed approximately 20% of voters from the rolls. > In the time period in question, approximately 4% of people move to a location that’s in a new precinct. > Ohio’s voter roll purge disproportionately affected black and Hispanic voters. > > The first two factors point to this being an inefficient method for updating voter rolls. > The third factor points to the possibility that this method was chosen for racist and/or partisan purposes. I think the more pertinent stats were the fact that, in Cincinnati (IIRC), some 10% of (mostly-minority) voters were purged, whereas in an outlying suburban county, only 4% (mostly non-minority) were purged. So it definitely has a disparate impact. Interestingly, Justice Alito’s opinion specifically points out to Justice Sotomayor (who seemed to raise this disparity in her dissent as a reason for finding the scheme either illegal or unconstitutional) that the plaintiffs did NOT raise the issue of disparate racial impact in their lawsuit, despite the fact that the federal law in question has a specific provision regarding that issue. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/14 "2018-06-12T18:18:11Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m sorry, but I’m not seeing a problem here. Here in the UK if you don’t complete your voter registration you don’t get to vote. And you have to do it every few years; if you don’t you get dropped and lose your right to vote until you do register. So Ohio is striking off those who haven’t re-registered? Sounds perfectly normal to me. Re-registration isn’t a thing here. You register, and you’re good to go unless the state knocks you off the list for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/15 "2018-06-12T19:57:31Z")
One issue this woud have to bring up is how hard it may or may not be to re-register. Back in PR repeated failure to show up makes you an “inactive” voter and you have to go to the registration office to get “reactivated” — but not registered de novo, rather more like a change-of-address or lost-ID process — or would be set aside with a provisional ballot while that’s worked on. Of course our reg offices (a) are in every municipality (b) open year-round and weekends in the months leading to the deadline and © issue free of charge a voter photo-ID. In some other jurisdictions in the US, though, you may be fully struck from the rolls and have to rustle up at your own expense of time and money proof of identity, age, citizenship and residence as if you had never voted. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/16 "2018-06-12T20:36:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > \*Compulsory voting with a fine?? That would never fly here. Estonia’s system wouldn’t fly very well here either. It’s based on having a government mandated identification card and using that ID to validate yourself when voting. It’s not Republicans that typically have an issue with mandatory identification for voting. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/17 "2018-06-12T22:17:51Z")
Here in Wyoming, you get purged if you don’t vote in a single general election. If I fail to vote in November this year, I’ll have to re-register to vote in 2020. Not only that, I have to register in front of either a county clerk or a public notary. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/18 "2018-06-12T22:23:18Z")
If Ohio didn’t widely advertise that they were doing this, I can imagine it being easy to ignore or dismiss a post card, when you know you are already registered. I get one before each election, verifying where my polling place it. I see that blue post card, check the name of the church, and toss it away, without reading the whole thing. I also want to see what those post cards send out look like. Just how clear is it, that it’s not junk mail. Wisconsin did the same thing, and in their March primary found that yes, they had incorrectly removed people from the voting rolls. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/19 "2018-06-12T23:08:48Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Re-registration isn’t a thing here. You register, and you’re good to go unless the state knocks you off the list for some reason. Not requiring periodic reregistration seems a little foolish to me: people move quite often - IIRC it’s about every 7 years on average in the UK. I suppose it’s a holdover from times when people didn’t move as much. Your country, your rules. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958/20 "2018-06-13T00:34:18Z")
Removing voters from the polls isn’t enough to complicate voting. Republicans who are interested in suppressing the vote take it one step further: **prosecuting people who unintentionally violate voting laws.** [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-how-the-republicans-stay-in-power/815958.md?page=2)