They tried to keep my sister from voting. [View all]

[TygrBright]

Last edited Tue Mar 5, 2024, 08:26 PM - Edit history (2)

(edited to correct: This was at last week's primary vote.)
Recently retired and a lifelong Democrat, my sister moved from southern Illinois to Ann Arbor last summer. Ann Arbor is in Washtenaw County. It's the principal campus of the University of Michigan. It is reliably Democratic in its voting patterns, and my sis felt right at home there. Nice people, nice place.

Washtenaw County is surrounded by some of the reddest MAGAt-holes in Michigan, county-wise. But she knew that although Michigan is a swing state, it had a long progressive tradition, too - one of the wellsprings of America's labor movement, the home of Louis Brandeis. So she wasn't too worried.

Until the card dropped into her mailbox a couple of weeks ago.

It said "We have reason to believe you no longer live at (her address, which she'd used in registering to vote just LAST SUMMER). Unless you request and complete a verification form, you will be removed from the list of registered voters."

She didn't just request the verification form, she went, in person, to the county registrar and completed and submitted the form.

Nevertheless, when she went to vote last week, her name was "flagged" on the voter roll for her polling place. Fortunately, she had brought extra identification verification - not just her State ID but recent utility bills bearing her address, and her auto registration with the address. And eventually she was allowed to vote.

Were you, gentle reader, under the impression that such articles as this coverage were hyperbole? Isolated incidents? Anomalies?

No.

They have shown their hand. The attempts to fuck up the 2024 election by any means necessary (especially suppressing the vote in reliably Democratic areas) are already underway. Well-coordinated and well-funded. Happening to ordinary people, in ordinary places.

Make no mistake, we ARE at war, to save our democracy. Fight voter suppression any way you can. Start NOW.

Verify your registration. If you live in a swing state, verify it again, every few weeks, right up to the election. Prepare to be challenged. Gather your documentation. Report suspicious incidents. Do not go quietly. Write letters to the editor. Show the evidence. Shine light on the weasels who want to work in the shadows.

Save our democracy.

determinedly,
Bright