Please contact us at contact globalcitizen. The US lags far behind most other developed countries when it comes to voter turnout. Only They might believe voting is their civic duty and that their ballot has the power to make a difference. Others just want to fit in with their peers, or their anger about a certain issue drives them to the polls. While full voter participation helps maintain a fair and functioning democracy, everything from logistics to socioeconomic status can get in the way.
After being released from prison, Brown is cut off from voting due to a vaguely worded law that state election officials interpret very strictly. Image: Stephen B. Hundreds of thousands of nonvoters would vote if they could. Financial barriers, lack of access to transportation, and limited information can make it difficult for older people, people of color, and low-income people to obtain an ID. Former and current prisoners convicted of felonies are another group of people who are often disenfranchised during elections, especially if they are African American.
Maine and Vermont are the only states that do not prohibit those convicted of felonies from voting, even when they are in prison. Research shows that nonvoters are more likely to be low-income, young, Hispanic, or Asian American. Some people might be indifferent or simply not care, but many who forgo voting have legitimate reasons. Over the past decade, through my extensive research on civil rights and oppression, through my observations of social media comments and through my conversations with hundreds of college students, I have concluded that such reasons are both important and, generally, unnoticed.
Republican-led efforts to diminish participation in voting and voter registration have greatly contributed to the number of nonvoters. Since , 25 states have adopted measures specifically aimed at making voting more difficult. Such measures include additional voter identification requirements. Sometimes lawmakers said these were necessary to curb illegal voting, which research shows is an all-but-nonexistent problem.
Some counties and states have also created confusion and uncertainty about how to initially register or re-register after a voter has moved. In other cases, people might not know where to vote, due to the distribution of deliberately false information. Since the U. Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder in that key aspects of the Voting Rights Act of were unconstitutional, states have closed over 1, polling locations, half of these in Texas.
I hear again and again that sometimes people make such choices because they were intimidated by friends, by family members or by people at polling places.
As anyone who has watched Veep knows, if no candidate gets a majority in the Electoral College—which none of them would if no electors voted—the presidential pick would go to the House of Representatives, with each state delegation getting one vote to be doled out to any of the three presidential candidates who got the most electoral votes.
But wait! There wouldn't be a top three if no electoral votes were cast. In that case, according to Berg-Andersson, the legislature would have to get creative. And at this point, it's also likely that the courts would be getting involved.
People would be deeply unhappy with the democratic shitshow playing out on the news, and there would be lawsuits galore. It wouldn't be long before a court case that Berg-Andersson called " Bush v. Gore on steroids" would be making its way to the Supreme Court. Photo via Wikimedia Commons. Donald Palmer is an attorney who was Virginia's top election official from to He told me that Berg-Andersson is right about Congress choosing the president independently of the American people.
But if they don't pick anyone, the presidential line of succession kicks in, just as it would if the president were assassinated. But remember: Our fictional parasite premise says no one can vote: not the general population, not the Electoral College, not Congress, and not the Supreme Court. There's no president pro tempore of the Senate either, so that means the presidency falls to the secretary of state—and that's John Kerry, who would remain at his post even as the terms of Congress and the president expire.
So there you have it, Jeb.
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