Virginia does not have to restore the registrations of 1,600 voters, some of whom appear to have been wrongly removed, ahead of next week’s election, the US supreme court said on Wednesday.

The court made the decision on its emergency docket and did not give a rationale for its decision, which is customary for rulings on an expedited basis. All three liberal justices on the court – Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – said they would not have halted a lower-court ruling earlier in October ordering the state to restore the voter registrations.

The legal dispute centers on a 7 August executive order by the Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, directing the state to run its voter registration rolls against DMV data on a daily basis to check for non-citizens. The justice department and civil rights groups sued, saying that the state was violating a federal law that prohibits systematic removals of voters within 90 days of a federal election.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Holy shit. That’s. I don’t have words. The entire reason for the 90 day period is to prevent fuck ups that stop citizens from voting. Fuck ups we already know have happened. They have 275 days a year to purge the rolls. And this fucking court is going to let them purge in the 90 day period?

    I’m not going to be surprised when a state like Virginia “accidently” purges 50,000 Democrats who voted in the last couple elections. Just enough to put the thumb on the scale and still call it an oopsie. This is yet another way they plan to make sure red states stay red. And why Trump says he’ll use the military. Because in any functioning democracy this would result in immediate riots.

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    You know what will happen if Harris wins decisively?

    The SCOTUS will say Trump won anyway, just like in 2000 when they were far less emboldened. And what they say will go again.

    And the feckless people will allow it yet again instead of justly rioting for having their voice silenced in the name of the profiteers our Federalist Society SCOTUS works for.

    I’m voting for Harris to say I raged against the dying of the light, but this country is over, because our people are beaten dogs more concerned with preserving the continuity of their fast food and social media capitalist opiates than being a society.

    • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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      If there was a strong unified labor force we could use general strikes and other collective action to fight back. I don’t know why the American left isn’t trying to organize something like this.

  • killea@lemmy.world
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    That is… unadulterated plain and simple clear as day election interference. If I didn’t know better I’d say our whole system is in collapse.

    • 418_im_a_teapot@sh.itjust.works
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      When Kris Kobach was able to go through Kansas voter rolls and remove “foreign sounding” names with no real consequences, I knew it would start a trend. Here we are.

      Given this ruling I wonder what other voter registration purges we will see this week.

      I’m tired.

  • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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    The Supreme Court just straight up violated Federal Law. I’m floored right now. Just absolutely floored. I thought this was SO clear-cut, that even THIS court could not possibly justify a ruling like this. What…what do we even do at this point?

    • IamSparticles@lemmy.zip
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      Technically they didn’t make a ruling. They stayed the injunction. My favorite part is that the majority offered absolutely no justification for the decision.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        They usually don’t for an off schedule fast ruling. But that also means they knew they wouldn’t need to explain themselves.

    • P_P@lemm.ee
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      Soap Box

      Ballot Box

      Ammo Box

      or something along those lines.

      They’re taking the ballot box.

  • raynethackery@lemmy.world
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    We’re done. Someone turn the light out.

    I won’t survive a civil war. I’m in my early fifties, overweight, have other health issues, have never held a gun, and don’t have any particularly special skills or training that would allow me to emigrate. I’m sure I’m not the only one with these kinds of issues. Everything for me is in this country. I vote and am in a deep blue state but if violence tears us apart, I’m not sure what I could do.

    I fucking hate all the people that think they are better off in a dictatorship. God is not coming back because he was never hear in the first place. But assuming I am wrong, how arrogant of you to think you could force his hand and accelerate his return. Also, the height of arrogance to think you would be “Raptured.”

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      You don’t need to emigrate. Look at the Ukraine war. Most people in the actual fighting areas didn’t leave until days before the Russians arrived. Although if that happens, a civil war is pretty much instant refugee status anywhere in the western world.

      Also, while SCOTUS has clearly cast their ballot, Virginia wasn’t a state on the Democratic party path to victory. So all is not yet lost.

      In the case it does happen and you’re not in a safe zone; what you need to do is pay attention, and be ready to move away from the fighting. Keep a go bag of all your documents, 72 hours of non perishable food, changes of clothes, and weather gear. Figure out what you need to walk, (I need a walking stick these days). The primary method of evacuation is usually walking because if you’ve waited too long then cars become targets. If you can’t walk then figure out the helper organizations. They will exist, they will give rides with drivers who voluntarily and often drive into the bad areas so they’ll have the experience necessary. If you have to shelter in place, plan to have weeks of non perishable food on hand. The Russians kept a 24 hour curfew in Bucha for over a week. It’s a war crime to do so, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.

      Normally I would say follow all directions from soldiers of either side, but the Republicans have been open with some very violent tendencies. So I would hide from them and follow all instructions from friendly soldiers, no matter how weird they seem. (Walk on this path 50m to the left of the road being a common one for everyone’s protection)

      I sincerely hope you need none of this advice, we’re not there yet, but if it comes to an actual civil war you can survive.

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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      In the American revolution only one third of the population contributed to the war effort, a much smaller subset actually took up arms.

      The Civil War, only one tenth of the population fought.

      In any upcoming civil unrest, know that you’ll not need to fire a gun. Reach out to your local community. Talk to your neighbors. Mutual aid and collective security are what we need to fight fascists. Not necessarily guns.

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      Hang in there. I’m hopeful that the numbers seem to be trending back down towards small cult status. But a lot has to change, rapidly, if we get through this next election time stop this slide into hell.

      I always hoped we’d have a Star Trek type future minus World War 3, not Hunger Games being historically accurate.

  • P_P@lemm.ee
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    SCOTUS is irredeemably corrupt. Do you want a civil war? Because this is how you get a civil war.

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        No they don’t, bullies believe they will never need to actually fight because everyone else is weak which is why they’re the best.

        • P_P@lemm.ee
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          The thing about these losers cosplaying as soldiers with their AR-15s is they always talk about how they have 10x as many guns as the rest of us. So. Fucking. What. We all have the same number of trigger fingers.

          People forget that when a liberal picks up a gun they god damn mean it.

          It was liberals that freed the slaves. It was liberals that founded this country. It was liberals who beat the Nazis. It was liberals who kicked their traitor asses the first time.

          Keep pushing, conservatives. We’ll give you a war you won’t believe.

          • InverseParallax@lemmy.world
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            So 2 points:

            1. I am not a liberal, I am a moderate who just has a sense of morality

            2. If the rednecks come, I will not pick up a weapon. I worked on drones for a living.

            What they don’t understand is that not everyone is as proud of their ignorance as they are. It’s 2024, a gun is basically a loud stick compared to the tech we actually can have.

            • P_P@lemm.ee
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              I’ll just leave this here. Here are definitions of liberalism from Merriam Webster:

              1. “inclination to be open to ideas and ways of behaving that are not conventional or traditional”
              2. “a political philosophy based on belief in progress and stressing the essential goodness of the human race, freedom for the individual from arbitrary authority, and protection and promotion of political and civil liberties”
              3. “a political philosophy based on the belief that freedom of the individual is paramount and that government’s role should be largely limited to protecting that freedom”
              4. “a theory in economics emphasizing individual freedom from restraint and usually based on free competition, the self-regulating market, and the gold standard”

              As opposed to fascism (today’s Republican party):

              1. “a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition”

              A moderate is a liberal if they still believe in traditional free markets, individual liberty, democracy, and civil rights.

  • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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    John Roberts’ SCOTUS. Never forget his crocodile tears as he flushed all legacy from the judicial branch.

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    Thankfully Virginia has same day voter registration, so at least some of them will be able to re-register on the spot. I’m sure some will be impacted by not having identification, etc, but this is better than many states that don’t allow same day registration when voting.

    Still, fuck those asshats. Is so telling when you see people trying to take away one’s chance to have their voice heard.

    • FlowVoid@lemmy.world
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      You don’t need ID to register to vote in Virginia. You just need to fill out a form.

      You do need ID to actually vote, though. So bring it to the poll regardless.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      Thankfully Virginia has same day voter registration, so at least some of them will be able to re-register on the spot.

      Will would-be voters be TOLD that or will they just be turned away because they are told they aren’t registered to vote.

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        … after standing in line for four hours.

        And how many of those won’t be able to get that time off work again or be able to get a babysitter again.

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        It would hopefully go like this - “It doesn’t look like you’re registered, let’s do that now” but I’m not 100% sure.

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    FTFY: Demonstrably unimpartial, conservative-stacked, publicly bribed court* rules in favor of the people who gave them money, to ensure they get more money.

    *except three of the nine members

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      *obviously fucked up at something they’re not even allowed to attempt in the first place under the plain text of federal law, but whatever.

      • GroundedGator@lemmy.world
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        And you get twice as many votes if you have kids. But only 1.6 times if any of your children have a parent that is an immigrant. And if both parents are immigrants your vote only counts as .6. If you have 5 white males you get 3x each.

    • leftzero@lemmynsfw.com
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      It’s the USA; you need to own a truck, a house, 30 acres of land, at least 70 pounds of firearms, stocks in no less than five companies, and at least one testicle to be eligible for citizenship.

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    Virginia has in person early voting up to 45 days before the election, it’s possible that someone who has already cast a ballot for this election could be removed from the voter registration.

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      Virginia isn’t really in play, and the number of votes in question won’t change that. I’ve got a bad feeling that this ruling was intended to serve a larger purpose than is immediately obvious. Perhaps a signal to state courts in other states? There is another shoe.

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        Wisconsin, Georgia, Montana, and Nebraska all have contentious races and Republican run election systems.

        Also this could be a sign they’re backing State Legislature Independence theory where the legislature is the sole controller of sending delegates, representatives, and senators to Washington.

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        IANAL, but either the vote is counted or not counted, but it’s an absurd possibility showing that it’s too close to the election to be doing these purges. Hell a particularly evil prosecutor could probably charge someone with voter fraud.