Most of this year the news from the election front has been really bad, that from the point of view of a Dem, that is, Biden was polling horrible especially after the dismal debate performance then the Dems turn against him and forced him to drop out at this late stage of the game….then the focus on the GOP side was on the Heritage tome, Project 2025, that most see as some form of authoritarianism….the news just kept getting bad….
Then a glimmer of good news came out….voter registration was up….
The group behind a popular get-out-the-vote technology platform said Friday that it’s registered more than 100,000 new U.S. voters since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, a surge that came amid mounting Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote.
Vote.org said that 84% of voters registered in the new wave are under age 35. Nearly 1 in 5 new registrees is 18 years old. Andrea Hailey, the group’s CEO, said that “since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history,” with more than 7.8 million people registered.
After dropping out, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face former Republican President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the November election. The new presumptive Democratic candidate has already earned endorsements from many Democrats in Congress and groups advocating on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.
Vote.org’s success comes as Republicans at the federal level are proposing and passing legislation creating obstacles to the ballot box.
Earlier this month, U.S. House Republicans passed Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections. Republicans claim the bill is meant to fix the virtually nonexistent “problem” of noncitizen voter fraud.
However, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) slammed the bill as a “xenophobic attack” meant to silence “Black voices, brown voices, LBGTQIA+ voices, [and] young voices.”
Lee said the SAVE Act underscores the need to pass her recently introduced Right to Vote Act, “which would establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, ensuring every citizen may exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-voter-registration
This indeed does sound like good news….there is always a ‘but’….
Those thousands of new voters that were registered is NO guarantee that they will get off their butts and actually vote.
In a country where less that half of the registered votes actually vote this is not all that positive in my book….I hope I am wrong….and we shall see….
Let’s not forget the words of the Lord High Master of the Right…..
During a recent campaign rally, former President Donald Trump appeared to suggest that voting in elections will be a thing of the past if he gets a second term in office.
The 45th president of the United States made the remarks while addressing a crowd of evangelical supporters at the Turning Point Action summit in West Palm Beach, Florida. After former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson introduced Trump, he launched into a speech that culminated with him calling on evangelicals to vote for him. The former president insinuated that 2024 would be the last election they would have to participate in because society would be “fixed.
“And again, Christians: Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore,” he said. “In four years you don’t have to vote again, we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not gonna have to vote.”
https://www.alternet.org/trump-supporters-vote/
Do you think this will make a big difference?
Is that what you want? Never to have to vote again?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
“Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote”
You mean a simple verification of personhood is a plot to make it harder to vote ? Huh ? There is robo register at the DMV . Walk into any republican small town headquarters or call staff of your congressperson and they will take care of you. Probably will help get that photo ID too. Many towns have a voter registration day each week at city hall. If a vet, any VA facility will help as so will many homeless shelters. So why do people continue to spread the falsehood about republicans preventing voting ? That’s from every pundit and politician on CNN and MSNBC too – the lie about voting registration. Every republican I know has always wanted to see everyone who’s a citizen get registered.
I do not see the p[roblem that the GOP keeps railing about….where have illegal immigrants or any immigrant that is not naturalized voted….where….I mean to the point of it being a problem….I am sure there is a handful of cases….but not the dire emergency that Repubs keep going on about…nothing about Trump’s prediction? chuq
On this one , I hope I’m wrong and you’re correct.
I mean you need an ID to register and you need an ID to vote….always been that way at least in my area. chuq
No evidence of voter fraud ? That’s been going on in Miami for decades esp local elections. Miami is also the capitol of Medicare fraud too running in the million$. I’ve personally watched both. So “non-existant voter fraud” is another lie.
Maybe in Miami but there is a whole bunch more room than that sleazy place. chuq
Trump is more or less saying there will be no more elections if he wins this year, presumably intent on passing down the ‘dynasty’ to his children. If voters fail to heed that warning and sit on their arses, they deserve what they get.
Best wishes, Pete.
He never said that. Please give me the citation. He did say Christians may not have to vote and get into politics because he’ll fix everything. That’s a lot different than your claim re no more elections. I would agree either statement if made by Trump is ridiculois and plain silly.
“You won’t have to vote anymore” sounds very much to me like he means there will be no more voting, Carl. He said that quite a few times on the BBC report I saw on the news. This is the text included in his speech.
‘The former commander-in-chief continued: “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”‘ But I suspect Trump fans will interpet that in many different ways.
Regards, Pete.
Carl this was the first one I came across….https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-christian-voters-turning-point-action/ chuq
I agree chuq
I understood he was speaking to a fairly closed captive Christian audience at religious venue and referred exclusively to Christians in that they won’t have to tolerate the anti-Christian abuse anymore. So perhaps your quote is correct but taken out of context. . I may be wrong but even if my understanding is correct I concede it is a dumb thing to say. It won’t be his first time. Nothing is more astonishing than the Biden administration’s spokespersons three years of nonsense that “the border is secure”. I am sure things will be more and more bizzare from both sides in the next hundred days. . I wish you well, stay safe.
This election will be a bigger circus than any so far….it would be pathetic if it were not so sad. chuq
No more worries about voting. Trump is going to fix it so that we never have to vote again. He already said it publicly.
We will see….it was a stupid thing to say….he should have known it would be used against him….chuq