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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • even then you don’t need this recurring manual registration mess.

    There is no recurring manual registration. You only need to register once in your lifetime.

    If you move, you have to update your ID within 60 days, and every time you update your ID, they update your voter registration automatically. (unless you decline).

    That has been federal law since 1993, and is pretty much equivalent to European standards.

    You really have to go out of your way to not be registered to vote.


  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todaytoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldGoddammit Texas!
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    21 days ago

    But it’s very difficult for a lot of people.

    It is, indeed, but the proper solution here is to lift them up to the bar, not lower the bar down to them.

    Lack of ID prevents you from getting and keeping a job, attending school, accessing the banking system, getting a PO box, getting licenses. Being unable to vote is the least of your problems.

    The proper solution is not to figure out how to make voting accessible to those without an ID. The proper solution is to get them an ID.


  • Yes, there are people who can’t obtain an ID card, for whatever reason. A European citizen who couldn’t obtain an ID card would have the exact same problems voting that an American citizen does. I don’t have a systemic solution for that. This would seem to be something that would need to be handled on a case-by-case basis, possibly involving the judicial system and a court order. It also doesn’t seem to be a particularly common problem. I’d bet all the money in my pockets that OP does, indeed, have some sort of ID card.

    We have a remedy for this: Provisional ballots. Cast your vote now, and resolve any clusterfuck with registration later.


  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todaytoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldGoddammit Texas!
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    21 days ago

    That’s called privilege. You literally don’t realize what a burden it is for some people to comply with voter registration requirements, because your life is such that it’s easy for you.

    The “privilege” you are talking about is the exact same privilege the parent comment assumed:

    I just have to show up with my ID, doesn’t matter if it’s for the EU parliament or the local city senate.

    The “privilege” you are talking about is “having an ID card”. Every time you obtain, renew, replace, update, or otherwise contact the state bureau handling ID cards (usually, the DMV), they are required, under federal law, to update your voter registration unless you specifically decline.

    The European standard is “get an ID card, show up and vote”. We implemented the European standard back in 1993.


  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todaytoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldGoddammit Texas!
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    21 days ago

    What I’m describing has been federal law for over 30 years. The European criticism about ID cards is nonsensical. Every time you obtain, renew, or amend your drivers license or ID, you update your voter registration.

    Remember the context of my comment: I am replying to European criticism of registration. The European approach is for everyone to obtain a government issued ID card and present it at the polling station. The NVRA already does this. We have already adopted the European solution to this problem.


  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todaytoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldGoddammit Texas!
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    21 days ago

    It’s overblown. It’s mostly propaganda.

    I just have to show up with my ID

    My ID is good for 5 years, and I am required to update it within 60 days of changing residences. Every time I’ve renewed or updated it, they have asked me if I wanted to register or update my voter registration. My registration is updated every time I vote, and I don’t get de-registered unless I skip voting for about a decade straight, without re-registering when I renew my ID card.

    ALL of the problems with voter registration are about people who either can’t or won’t get or renew their ID card. Every time you read about voter registration issues in the US, you should imagine going to your polling station without a current ID card.






  • There’s room for batteries in the rail industry.

    Diesel electrics rely primarily on dynamic braking. To save wear and tear on friction brakes, they convert kinetic energy to electrical, and then to heat in a giant resistor bank.

    Add a couple battery cars, and dynamic braking becomes regenerative braking.

    Theoretically, you could back feed the grid with that electrical energy, but if you do that, the train’s primary braking system is now dependent on a connection to the grid, and that doesn’t seem like a particularly good idea to me. All of the “stop” systems need to be far more reliable than the “go” systems.








  • Rivalarrival@lemmy.todaytoMemes@lemmy.mlZen Z
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    3 months ago

    The watches/clocks they are talking about listened to WWV, a set of radio stations transmitting from Fort Collins, Colorado. The system long predates the Network Time Protocol you’re referring to. Radio controlled clocks/watches had no means for accounting for latency.