# The Republican War on Voting Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 11, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723 "2021-03-11T17:30:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![SingleMalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/singlemalt/32/3961_2.png) [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/521 "2021-07-27T19:31:34Z")
The machines are actually _de_-certified. The Secretary of State basically says that those particular machines, these particular serial numbers, can no longer be used for elections. What becomes of the machines themselves would be up to the various voting jurisdictions responsible for the control of those machines. In Arizona, that would be Maricopa County, for instance. Since voting machines are often leased, I imagine the county would end up returning them to the manufacturer. Local and state laws would dictate whether wiped and recertified machines are permissible for use. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/522 "2021-07-27T19:46:03Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > American democracy will die and by replaced with fascism sometime between 2024 and 2028. Not to pick a fight, but we’ve heard this for years and years now. It seems that the fascism predictions just keep getting postponed by an election cycle each time. “Fascism is coming by 2018” “Fascism is coming by 2020” And then it’s 2022 and 2024-2028. If Biden is reelected, we’ll just hear about how, when or if a Republican does retake the presidency, fascism is coming by 2030-2034. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/523 "2021-07-27T20:00:31Z")
Your “point” only makes sense if you decide one side isn’t at least partially advocating for fascism. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/524 "2021-07-27T20:29:34Z")
Asahi, will probably disagree with me on this, but I think the danger of out and out Fascism lives and dies with Trump and Trumpism. Pre-Trump, the GOP was content to let elections happen they just wanted to make tweaks at the margins to discourage the wrong people from voting, and to make it that when they did vote, those votes counted less. Their ideal would be to the 1950’s, where we were still a Democracy just not one with full participation. It is really Trump, his followers and his acolytes that are pushing the full on dictatorship model where elections don’t matter, and an autocrat can bring the full power of the government to bear against his enemies. If we can successfully put Trump back in his box, and discredit his movement, then I think we can get back to a semblance of normality. Still dysfunctional, partisan, and often undemocratic, but at least lacking secret police and reeducation camps. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/525 "2021-07-27T20:33:46Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > If we can successfully put Trump back in his box, and discredit his movement, then I think we can get back to a semblance of normality.- I sort of agree. But any ideas about how “we” can realistically do that? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/526 "2021-07-27T21:11:26Z")
There may not be a lot that we can do to affect things much one way or another beyond what we are already doing. {carefully affixes rose colored glasses} It might be that sometime in the next four years, the nation as a whole decides that listening to blustering old man rant about the same damn election just gets boring, and people get tired of waiting for the mass arrests of child molesters that never come. It could be that Trump is the turning point that catapults the United States into a hundred year dictatorship, but it could also be that he is just the next Tamagochi. I can see 20 years from now people making movies set in the “crazy 2020’s” where everyone was wearing masks and people actually believed what they read on facebook. Boy were we stupid ha ha. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2021, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/527 "2021-07-27T21:25:40Z")
I like your stories! Tell me the one about the bunny and the kitten and how they have a tea party in the garden. Wait-- let me get my blankie first. 🥰 Sorry, my cynicism overcame me. I wish I could overcome **it**. 😬 I hear ya, and hope the nation comes to its senses. Maybe someone will start making utopian future movies instead of apocalyptic ones… ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/528 "2021-07-27T21:26:27Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > It is really Trump, his followers and his acolytes that are pushing the full on dictatorship model where elections don’t matter, and an autocrat can bring the full power of the government to bear against his enemies. > > If we can successfully put Trump back in his box, and discredit his movement, then I think we can get back to a semblance of normality. Still dysfunctional, partisan, and often undemocratic, but at least lacking secret police and reeducation camps. I’m afraid I disagree. I actually think Trump is done as a politician, but the Pandora’s box of idiocy he mainstreamed is a force that isn’t weakening and doesn’t ultimately need him. Roughly a third of voters live in an alternate reality and the GOP has learned exactly how to harness their power. The only way things get back to normal is if Democrats win big in '22 and '24, despite everything the GOP is doing to make sure we can’t. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/529 "2021-07-27T21:49:58Z")
Advocating Fascism? Like vaccine passports? Show us your papers. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/530 "2021-07-27T21:50:50Z")
These have existed for decades, if you want your children to attend school, among other things. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/531 "2021-07-27T21:53:00Z")
Not ones you’re supposed to carry around to go to work, board an airplane, embark on a cruise, or enter a business. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/532 "2021-07-27T21:54:53Z")
Private entities can do what they want with their own property. If a business owner wants to see your vaccination card before letting you into their property, that’s their prerogative as a property owner. Or do you think private entities should no longer have this right with their own property? That seems a bit fascist to me. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/533 "2021-07-27T21:58:27Z")
Um, the airplanes, mass transit, and schools are regulated by the government. Show us you papers. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/534 "2021-07-27T22:05:21Z")
So you’re taking back what you said before? I’m not clear on your position. Are you saying schools requiring vaccines is fascist? Or private property owners? Or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/535 "2021-07-27T22:07:03Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Um, the airplanes, mass transit, and schools are regulated by the government. Show us you papers. Vaccine passports are a good idea. If you don’t like it, stay home. You don’t have the right to spread disease. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/536 "2021-07-27T22:08:46Z")
Free people absolutely have the right to go about their business without showing papers. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/537 "2021-07-27T22:10:45Z")
Not if there is a pandemic going on. Your right to enter movie theaters and spread disease is trumped by someone else’s right to not die. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/538 "2021-07-27T22:15:41Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Free people absolutely have the right to go about their business without showing papers. I recommend you make that argument the next time you’re pulled over. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/539 "2021-07-27T22:21:03Z")
So you think it’s wrong for schools to require vaccinations? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723/540 "2021-07-27T22:23:47Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@D\_Anconia](#): > > > > Free people absolutely have the right to go about their business without showing papers. > > I recommend you make that argument the next time you’re pulled over. “Sorry, officer. I’m a Free Man of the Land™. Your cruiser has no gold frill. You may not impede my meanderings as ordained by GOD.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-war-on-voting-thread/937723.md?page=28)