Please do continue to talk about these issues, because they matter.
This impact on people who are trans is relevant to all this, too. Especially on trans people of color from the working class.
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Seconded. This is not something I would have thought of on my own.
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If you are familiar with the story of The Civil Rights Movement, and specifically the story of Selma, Alabama and “Bloody Sunday”; you know that great sacrifices have been made on behalf of voting rights. Good men and women were assaulted, beaten and even killed. We should not…we cannot, allow voter suppression laws to spread. Just the opposite - we need to repeal these terrible laws.
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I am so glad that you appreciate me constantly talking about this!!! 
and yes, trans people who are poor and/or of color are even more affected!
I feel like I should wear a badge in real life, though, to warn people:
“This person may begin talking about how political and social issues affect transgender people at any time”
Or I could just sneak up on them. It scares the shit out of people, especially because I’m not visibly trans. I’m just…bordering on threateningly queer.
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I love this! Make a badge that says this! Wear that shit with pride and be proud of who you are always.
I honestly believe that, although it’s not your or other trans people’s place to educate the rest of us who are/identify as cisgendered, it helps us to better understand what it’s like to bring these issues up. I feel like I have a better understanding of the struggles of transgendered people now than I did a few years ago, mainly because people here have shared their experiences, but also because there has slowly been better discussions in popular culture and in the mass media lately around these issues. but that’s probably because I seek out the kind of culture that is more willing to engage seriously on outsider perspectives.
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Others have answered this well, but I’d add that just because your parents were issued a little card at birth does not mean you as an adult have easy access to it.
I’ve had to replace my social security card, and even though I had all the other necessary documentation and worked in the same building as the office I had to go to it was still at least as bad a pain in the ass as going through the DMV usually seems to be.
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I agree with everyone else who has chimed in.
It’s very hard to see things from a perspective you don’t have much information about (which is almost a textbook definition of “privilege”). Any information you can provide about different perspectives shows me something that I can’t see, telling me more about the world as it is. Hopefully, I can take that information and become a better person.
You are not responsible for breaking down the walls in people’s heads, but by no means should you be stopped from speaking just because you make people uncomfortable from where they crouch behind those walls.
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Here’s an example, complete with citations, that I found with a simple google query.
And here’s a cite for the 31 instances number, which was just as easy to find. That number doesn’t appear to be from a comprehensive analysis, but comes from someone researching in an attempt to find any documented instances of impersonation at the polls since 2000.
(This article also points out exactly the problem with Voter ID laws - that they target a single, slow, extremely risky and inefficient method of vote fraud and do absolutely nothing for methods that would actually have value)
Speaking of things being blithely tossed around… You are aware that a fair number of people have been convicted under Federal law and sent to prison over vote buying and other incidents, right? If there are no effective controls, then how do you think that happened?
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@nimelennar @Mindysan33 I am so glad that the internet is giving people the opportunity to talk and listen! I try not to believe that anyone is inherently awful, and systems of oppression aren’t the fault of individuals, they’re systems, and they affect everyone, so it is really nice to hear confirmation that a small community like this can actually make a difference! Even if it’s just a small demographic. 
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hope you don’t mind a rant.
This is fucking voting fraud! Preventing people from getting a ID or from registering to vote just because you know that they will vote against is fraud! All of the bullshit that the GOP screams about people using other identities and illegals voting is there to distract you from seeing the right wing fucktards taking away the the one thing that scares them the most!! Every one of these dipshits who do this to people should be dragged out in the street, covered in tar and feathers and run out of the country on a rail! Or better yet, throw every fucking one of them into Texas and then kick the state to the curb!
rant over, thank you for your attention.
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A fucking men!!!
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If you would like to take a look at fraud, look at the congressional districts of Texas: Texas Congressional District Map
Pay particular attention to District 33 (Dallas), District 20 (San Antonio/Austin), and District 29/22 (Houston). These districts have been specifically distorted to disenfranchise minorities.
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There’s a recent 11 minute video, The Black Belt, by Margaret Brown that deals with voter suppression in Alabama that is hands down the best thing on voter suppression I’ve even seen/read/heard. This: https://vimeo.com/164225355.
Yes, there are some funny bits. The Seat Belt Safety demonstration going on in the background is hilarious. Yes, it’s remarkably condensed. Even though it’s crystal clear what’s going on–straight up voter suppression from the rural DMV office to the AL Secretary of State’s office–I’d bet the second you finish watching you’ll go right back to the beginning and watch it again. Nothing I’ve seen shows voter suppression in action and features the people pushing and implementing the law(s) admitting, straight up, that it’s bullshit . . . The Black Belt does that.
Margaret Brown is from AL and she somehow manages to get people to talk to her, on camera, as if she was a peer, regardless of race or creed. That’s not easy. Her most recent feature is The Great Invisible which is a real life Deepwater Horizon but without Marky Mark. If you have even a passing interest in voter suppression laws, watch The Black Belt right now.
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My original Social Security card looked like this one:
Notice that last line on the bottom there?
“NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION”
And, no, I wasn’t issued one at birth, despite being a native-born citizen. That was not always the practice.
Plus, of course, it’s stupid easy to counterfeit.
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That doesn’t appease both sides.
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The difficulty is that there’s a huge cognitive disconnect between “If it’s one vote per person, it just makes sense to be able to identify whether someone has voted.” and “Identifying people is voter suppression!”
With one vote per person, it does make reasonable sense to ID voters and for people in favor of voter ID it’s just a minor inconvenience (if any), so they naturally think that those against it must be trying to cheat the system. And because the system makes it ridiculously hard to get ID for some people, they quite reasonably see it as an institutional suppression of their rights and that the others are cheating the system. Because the lines of reasoning are not even about the same concept, neither side’s arguments (both of which are perfectly reasonable) apply to the other.
The questions are, why is it so hard to get an ID (but only for some people) and how can that be solved? Or better, how could we do away with IDs and voter registrations and go back to anonymous secret ballots?
In most cases, it’s hard to get an ID for some people because those people are systemically dehumanized, so it’s intentional.
Where it’s not intentional, it’s often a result of poor funding - it costs tax dollars to put DMV employees to work at odd hours, for instance. And tax money for decent public transporation. And tax money to make and print and develop the required ID’s. And because half of the country has made a fetish out of lowering taxes on the wealthy, there’s not a lot of money left to do that with.
The fact is, cases of voter fraud are nearly nonexistent, so a process that doesn’t involve ID’s works peachy fuckin’ keen. Anyone who thinks they need ID’s to ensure vote reliability is either a liar or a fool.
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What happened to Latinx? That was only around for like three months!
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Vote fraud may happen, but it’s wholesale. Hacked machines, ballot boxes dumped in the river, that sort of thing. Voter fraud on an individual level is absurdly impractical. It’d be like robbing a hundred banks for one roll of pennies each.
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