comment: >
  
  From the article, it looks like these are many of the policies:
  
  automatic voter registration, create a permanent mail ballot list, allow for pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, require voting materials be distributed in multiple languages, and restore voting rights to felons on probation or parole. Additionally, the bill would increase voter intimidation and deception penalties and create a publicly funded system of small campaign donation vouchers modeled after similar programs in Seattle, Washington, and Oakland, California
context: “New York historically has been a state that did not keep up with other states’ election administration and voting reforms,” Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a nonprofit that works on democracy-related issues, said. >
  
  Worse than that, in the dem proposed voting rights bill CA & NY would be placed on preclearance while many red states that were on it would be released.  This is due to the formula being updated to recent violations. >
  
  5 states already have universal vote by mail.
  In 2020, 85% of eligible voters cast ballots in WA, because you get mailed a ballot, fill it out at home, mail it back. Makes it as easy and convenient as possible.
  I recommend that every state implement universal vote by mail to increase participation of the electorate in choosing representatives. >
  
  Since it bypasses one of their major forms of vote suppression (creating multi-hour long voting lines,) I suspect Republican states will be resistant. >
  
  I had an online chat with someone who said that long lines weed people out who shouldn’t be voting. >
  
  I've seen this same sentiment on this sub from certain users.
  Edit: There's comments in this very post that have that belief. >
  
  Some people are really only a step away from saying only land owners should vote. >
  
  As an old white male landowner, I think every eligible voter should vote. >
  
  Problem is when people want to change what an “eligible voter” is. >
  
  "And then there are the states where a Democratic win in 2022 prevents the passage of laws making it harder to vote. That is the case in Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina and Wisconsin, where Democratic governors hold the veto pen over their Republican-run legislatures."
  In Kansas the Republicans have a supermajority and can override a veto though. >
  
  I’m from NC. We are a 50/50 R/D state. We’re red because of brutal gerrymandering. I think 10 of 13 districts are red, despite being 50/50. When asked why that’s the case, the R official said, “because we couldn’t find a way to draw 11/13 Red” >
  
  I think it's only 7/13 districts that are red this time since the courts stepped in, but a new gerrymandered map will be passed before the next election since Republicans now have a majority on the state supreme court. >
  
  As long as the filibuster's in place, state-level politics are the biggest game in town.
  Michigan is getting amazing things done for voting rights because of ballot initiatives.  A 2018 initiative guaranteed independent redistricting.  On non-gerrymandered maps, Dems won back the State House and State Senate, and they're gearing up to pass major voting rights reform (and a ton of other great policies).
  The next state to watch, without a doubt, is Wisconsin.  On April 4th, there's a State Supreme Court election.  The Court is currently 4-3 R, and has upheld their gerrymandered maps.  If the Court switches to Dem control, there's a great opportunity to sue for fair maps, win back control, and pass some incredible policy. >
  
  I'm so proud of what Michigan has accomplished in the past 5 years! >
  
  Me too! And I’m proud of Gretchen Whitmer for all she has done, and helped to accomplish. >
  
  "Accomplish" >
  
  I'd also have a hard time accomplishing very much if people were trying to kidnap me. >
  
  Wasn't that a ploy by the FBI to spark civil unrest? >
  
  Nope. >
  
  Source? >
  
  In NV, there's a voter initiative to introduce ranked choice voting for elections.  It has to pass twice to amend the state constitution.  It passed once in 2022 and has to pass again in 2024.  Both dems and republicans oppose it.
  In CA, the current and last governor vetoed bills to allow standard cities to adopt ranked voting.  
  I applaud the efforts in the article but sometimes even dem lawmakers are the ones against good reforms.
  In those cases the voters can bypass them in around 24 states with voter initiatives. >
  
  ^
  
  Major voting rights bills are on the move in states like Minnesota, where Democrats won complete control of state government for the first time in five years, and New York, where Democrats held on to their majorities. In Michigan, Democrats will now implement and possibly expand on voting rights reforms enacted by voters after winning full control in the state for the first time in 40 years. And in other states, like Arizona and Wisconsin, Democratic gubernatorial wins will thwart any Republican laws rolling back voter access.
  
  ....
  
  “There is a big opportunity this session to take action on democracy reforms that we haven’t had in the last 40 years,” said Lilly Sasse, campaign director for We Choose Us, a coalition of grassroots, advocacy and union organizations in Minnesota backing democracy reform.
  On the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Democrats in both chambers of the Minnesota legislature introduced the Democracy For The People Act and announced the formation of a Democracy Caucus to work together to pass legislation to expand voter access.
  
  Article continues... >
  
  Gooo Minnesota and Michigan!  If the Midwest pulls through and resists what happened to Wisconsin, it will be because of Minnesota and Michigan.  
  I've been on the edge of my seat the last few elections, and it's still an "everybody vote every election" emergency, but I'm hopeful the voters have gotten tired of the GOP's schtick and the worst danger has passed. >
  
  We voted for a independent districting committee as a ballot measure a couple election cycles ago. Has to have two democrats and two republicans and two independents on the committee when drawing up districts. Dems then handily won because the vast majority of the population live in the cities and those lean heavily left. The more people vote, the more progressive policies win, because they’re actually popular. >
  
  Voting rights should be the primary goal. If they accomplish nothing else, they need to solidify and expand voting rights. If they don’t, nothing else will matter. >
  
  Mail-in voting is a boost for Dems because the more people who vote, the more times we win. But it would be nice if not these new Dem majorities went on to eliminate gerrymanders by requiring the ONLY factor to be considered in drawing districts is population. Any use of any other factor renders the map invalid, and leaves it to the State Supreme Court to decide a legitimate replacement.
  It does no good for Democracy if 70% of their State legislators represent 51% of the population. One Man, One Vote >
  
  That would allow more freedom in drawing districts. >
  
  MORE freedom! Exactly - the ones drawing would not need super computers to make sure they had given the absolute minimum Reps to the losers of the last election. They would be FREE to follow the Constitution's intent instead of having to follow the orders they get from the GOPeerLords. >
  
  
  expand voting rights
  
  Everybody wins...except Republicans >
  
  Republicans think that only their friends should be allowed to vote >
  
  I had a conversation with a conservative that was going off about how democrats are purposely expanding voters rights be they know that only uninformed voters vote for democrats. They also blamed social media influencers for the lost because they tricked gen z into voting for democrats because the influencers were paid off by the democrats to lie. Basically every reason under the sun they could come up besides admitting that the only real platform they have is hatred and helping the rich stay rich. >
  
  Every citizen has a right and obligation to vote. That's where it begins. 
  They're not really "expanding" rights. 
  Voting is an inherent part of citizenship. >
  
  Now do ranked choice voting. >
  
  Vote by mail is so much nicer, especially in US elections where you have to vote for dozens of things on one ballot. Making it as easy and error-proof as possible should be a priority for democracy-loving states. >
  
  The red wave? More like a red trickle. Might wanna get that looked at >
  
  I wonder if Republicans will notice that this will protect their voting rights as well as everyone else's.  That's the difference.  Dems aren't trying to game the system so they can win.  They're helping as many Americans to vote as possible....which ironically leads to Blue wins. >
  
  Republicans: Oh no! Look what happens when people are allowed to vote. (said while wringing hands) 
  Democrats: Yes, isn’t it great!
  Republicans: Nope, we have to stop them at all costs!
  Democrats: Get behind me Satan! >
  
  We know why the GOP doesn't want eligible voters to vote. We know the lengths they will go to to stop or discourage them. We know that Democrats try to help people live their lives and that human beings need some fundamental things to do so, such as food, shelter, education, transportation and health care. The GOP does not share these views. It's an uphill ordeal but people are worth it. >
  
  2023 where the constitutional right to voting is still controversial and headline news. >
  
  How many major GOP politicians, including Moscow Mitch McConnell, have publicly stated "If we allowed everyone to vote in the elections the REPUBLIKKKANs would never win another election?  That's very telling all by itself!! >
  
  I don't like this headline, actually. We have our voting rights. Dems are increasing voting accessibility, which is much more neutral. >
  
  My first time voting, i went to the polls cuz I was excited. The next 24 years, mail in. Haven't missed an election thanks to mail in. And after having worked one election at a polling center and getting the training, it seems to be one of the most secure ways to vote too. >
  
  More like taking back the right to vote. >
  
  Here in Chicago vote by mail is great.  We often have long slates of judges and commission candidates, and it is much easier to vote at the kitchen table than to carry lists around. >
  
  we do in Nevada!  even for procrastinators, you can fill out your ballots on election day, and simply drop it off at a polling station. >
  
  Dems have a very good chance to win across the board in the 2024 election. >
  
  How bout protecting the voting rights we have first? Democrats have been losing this battle in like 34 states in the past 5 years. They had their chance to protect voting rights on a national level and did fuckall while Republicans made voting harder, elections unstable in their states. 
  File this under: too little too late but thanks for pretending to care. >
  
  Yes let's all sit around with our dicks in our hands because the bad guys made things hard.
  All is not lost until you give it all up. Any attempt at better things should be looked at positively, because it starts with one step forward. >
  
  Taking 5 steps back before announcing you’re thinking about talking about maybe taking a half-step forward is hardly progress. But whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep is not my business. >
  
  The Gov for next VP >
  
  Agreed >
  
  Get it done. Don't talk. Action. >
  
  Will she ever run for president? >
  
  Oh look it's a Communist... >
  
  Get it done! >
  
  And that we all love. It is the best way of keeping a person like Trump from ever getting a hand in polaticks. Oh yes he studied and listened to the right wing talk shows. for 2 years before he would run for president. So he had a big head start on the rest. He knew that white Americans mostly men and some women that thought they were saving babies. Oh he hammered away at immigration, a easy issue, oh he hammered away at crime, another easy issue. He knew if he had hammered away at the blue states he would get the votes to win. He did and we all payed a heavy price. We will be paying that price for many years. >
  
  Governor of Michigan and CEO of T-Mobile >
  
  
  The Democracy For The People Act would include provisions to establish automatic voter registration, create a permanent mail ballot list, allow for pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, require voting materials be distributed in multiple languages, and restore voting rights to felons on probation or parole. Additionally, the bill would increase voter intimidation and deception penalties and create a publicly funded system of small campaign donation vouchers modeled after similar programs in Seattle, Washington, and Oakland, California.
  
  What of that are you "not good" with? >
  
  I disagree with felons not having voting rights while on parole.  They've served their time (with conditions) and they should have a say in how the community they are living in functions like everyone else.  As long as they are meeting the conditions of their parole, they should be able to vote.  Besides, the quicker we get them integrating back into society, the less likely they will break parole or commit more crimes. >
  
  Parole, is early release...meaning they have not served their time. >
  
  Why should rights be removed from criminals serving their sentence? I can see privileges being removed but voting is a right. >
  
  This is another reason why I do not agree with the current interpretation of the 2nd ammendment ignoring the "well regulated melita" part. Go back the the interpretation that was accepted before the 70s and this is not a problem. >
  
  What does it mean to “expand voting rights?”  Citizens have the right to vote.  Hard Stop. >
  
  If politicians throw up enough barriers people will choose to not vote even though they still have the right to do so. That could be closing polling places, requirements for a special ID, limited hours, and whatever else the imagination can come up with. >
  
  There is no reason why, among other things, making holiday just  for voting, even over multiple days, can't be implemented.  Of course, that would likely mean more people would vote which is exactly the opposite that Republicans want, particularly from minorities and those in the lower end of the economic spectrum.  I think it is discriminatory not only for minorities but also people with limitations due to disabilities and those who care for them.
  Early voting by mail is great.  Why is isn't adopted everywhere- oh wait, never mind. >
  
  By "voting rights" do you mean "consolidation of power and legalizing ballot harvesting"? >
  
  I read the article and I didn't see a single mention of either one of those things >
  
  Weird. That's what those terms usually mean.