Good News From Texas
We are joining the 21st century.
House Bill 313, which received praise from committee members in a Monday hearing, and Senate Bill 315, which was voted out of committee Thursday, propose allowing voters to register online and have that application automatically authenticated rather than having to wait on local election officials to reenter the data in their systems and confirm it.
Texas will save about 80 cents her voter application by allowing online registration. Those savings, of course, will be put in a lockbox for Rick Perry to display during his Presidential run. Hungry children might be allowed to look at it but not touch it.
If you’re from around here, call your lege varmint and let them know you favor online voting registration because, dammit, these computer dohickeys ain’t just a passing fad.
Thanks to Kyle for the heads up.
Whoa! Way to go Texas Democrats!!
1Yes to online registration!
2I support anything that increases voting, but poor elderly people will still have to acquire and show an ID to vote, even though everyone affluent enough to have online acces will be able to register without leaving home. I understand that registration and voting are two different processes, but I still see a bit of irony here. I know this is a good move, but am sorry to say that I am suspicious of any voting bill that the Texas Legislature will support!
3Can’t wait to read the fine print in this bill! The large print might look almighty good but you gotta put on those coke bottle bottom glasses to really find things out.
4Both of the current bills are relatively free of fine print at the current time.
As to elderly voters, all voters over 65 have the right to vote by mail and not have to show any ids. Susan ran Fort Bend County’s first vote by mail last election cycle and the Silver Democrats are planning on expanding the program this cycle
5Thee you go getting my hopes up!
6.
I thought you were going to tell me Perry, Abbott, Cruz, Stockburn & Gohmert had gone boating and the boat sank from an overload of stupidity.
Online voter registration is the baby of Bruce Elfant, the new tax collector and guy in charge of voter registration of Travis County. I heard him talking at length about it last night at the monthly meeting of the South Travis United Democrats and he swears other states are doing it and it is safe to do and as Kyle points out, everyone over 65 can vote by mail without ID. Anywhere with a public library or a neighbor who will let him/her use their ubiquitous computers can register online. If Bruce can’t make it safe, nobody can. I have a lot of confidence in him and we do have SOME good legislators and if it will save $$, maybe the few sensible GOPs will support it. I sure hope so. Bruce pointed out that when folks fill out forms (I’m a voter registrar also) lots of times the cards are illegible and make it all but impossible for folks doing data entry. I say let’s give it a try. Also if you can get deputized to register voters, we all NEED to be doing that too. Check out Texas Secretary of State website for voter reg. application forms. Your post office, assuming you still have one, might be handing them out. You will need training to get deputized. Good luck and help get out the vote!
7The computer machine says error type a comment so I am.
8We have on-line registration here in Arizona. It is connected to DMV so that when you move you can change your address for driver’s license and voter registration at the same time. Very convenient. We also have a Permanent Early Ballot list which any registered voter can use. About 60% of our voters use the Early Ballot. I like it because I can see (and print out) my ongoing record of participation since I arrived in Arizona. It shows where I voted in each primary and general election. About 90 days prior to each election I receive a post card to confirm my address etc. If nothing has changed I just ignore the card. They also announce when the ballots are mailed out in case you don’t receive one. I really , really like this “hands off” policy. Jan Brewer and company still keep trying to mess with what works, but every time she tries, we raise holy hell about it and she backs down.
9What?
10Don’t these retards know that African-Americans can use the I’net?
As for seniors … we can register them at Senior Senters with laptops, or in the case of home bound go there.
Make a great project for Young Demos, College Dems, Grandkids and offspring.
Sorry, but this is about the explosion in Texas, was safety one of those worrysome regulations that Perry did not want to bother with?
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