@GeriAQuin

What is even the supposed logic here? What have voter databases got to do with immigration enforcement?

Are they not bothering with cover stories any more now that everyone knows what they really are?

@FediThing @GeriAQuin

I read the letter on the NYT. The request was apropos of nothing. Completely out of the blue even in the context of Bondi railing against liberal policies.

Could someone explain to people who know little about the US voting system, what it means/implies if a state "turns over its voter database" to the federal government?
@GeriAQuin

@martinrust @GeriAQuin

It's a step toward voter suppression. It's a list of all people registered to vote, how they registered (Republican, Democrat, socialist, green, independent...), where they live... it can be used in many nefarious ways. Think anything from having fewer voting stations in areas that skew one way, making voting lines incredibly long and voting more difficult, to actually targeting individuals for investigation, arrest, and harassment.

I see. It's hard to imagine how registering for a specific party is compatible with secret ballot. That's the downside of a country being a historical pioneer in democracy, that others can learn from its flaws, but the pioneers themselves have a hard time turning off their flaws. #Gerrymandering #ProportionalRepresentation
@DejahEntendu @GeriAQuin
@WellsiteGeo
Also in reply to https://masto.ai/@WellsiteGeo/115956816707839883

@martinrust @GeriAQuin @WellsiteGeo

I don't know if other countries do this, but we have primaries where voters select who will represent the party in the main election. In many states, you have to be registered with the party to vote in their primary. In some states, if you're registered as non-affiliated, you can vote in the primary of your choosing, but only one of them. It's supposed to keep Dems from skewing the Repub primary and vice versa.

@DejahEntendu @martinrust @GeriAQuin The whole concept of being registered to vote looks anti democracy to me

The catalan government has 8 political parties, 12 for the Spanish government.

Democracy is like riding a bus, you take the one that goes closer to where you want to go, and if changes it's path, you get down and ride another one.

The US IS NOT and never has been a democracy.

@Johns_priv @martinrust @GeriAQuin

If we want to get pedantic about it, we're a Republic. If we want to talk about what's really going on, we're an oligarchy with a two-party system where both parties are corporatist, hoping to keep fooling the plebs that what they (we) want matters.