"“If President Trump committed a heinous act worthy of disqualification, he should be disqualified for the sake of protecting our hallowed democratic system, regardless of whether citizens may wish to vote for him in Colorado,”

  • mateomaui
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    6 months ago

    Should amend it so that people who write-in a candidate disqualified from the ballot for such reasons should also be disqualified as voters for the next two cycles.

    edit: that goes for these buttholes as well

    https://lemmy.world/post/9831042

    • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      If he’s disqualified for the office, those ballots will be void.

      You can write in Arnold Schwarzenegger and he could get a majority, but those votes would all be void, since he is not a natural-born citizen.

      What’s the saying that the Republicans love so much?

      The US is not a democracy, it’s a constitutional republic.

      There is only one way to peacefully change the constitution - and that’s through an amendment.

      • mateomaui
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        6 months ago

        Congrats on missing the point.

        Also

        There is only one way to peacefully change the constitution - and that’s through an amendment.

        So did you miss the part where I started the statement with “Should amend”?

        • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          So everyone gets a ballot with their social security number on it or something?

          I know you jest, but chill dude. Not every reply is an attack.

          • mateomaui
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            6 months ago

            Not every jest requires a educational response. I’m still pretty sure you missed the point.

            edit:

            So everyone gets a ballot with their social security number on it or something?

            This seems like a question from someone completely unfamiliar with how some people in some states, such as felons, lose their right to vote, and not only can it be tracked, but some of them have been sent back to jail for voting even though they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to vote.

            Do I agree with that last part? Depends on the felon and the felony, but the point in this reply is that you don’t need ballots with social security numbers for such enforcement.

              • mateomaui
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                6 months ago

                Not in every state. Hawaii and other states send you a ballot with a unique number, associated with your voter registration, so you can track if your vote was counted properly, and for election officials to enforce various measures (as well as possible) like preventing someone from voting twice.

                Anyway, since it apparently needs explaining for you, the point of my original comment is that if someone casts a write-in vote for a convicted insurrectionist, who was removed from their ballot because the state or country judged the candidate guilty of insurrection activity to overthrow the government, then that voter should be considered complicit in or supportive of insurrection activity, and similarly disqualified from voting for a period of time.

                This is a personal opinion of something that will probably never happen, even though entirely possible, so since you’ve already identified it as a jest, take your own advice and chill about it.

                I’m done here.

                • candybrie@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  They’ll generally have a 2 envelope scheme if things are marked with a serial number. One envelope to track that you voted that contains a sealed envelope with your votes. Its unlawful to open the second envelope until they’re unable to tell whose vote it is. Sure, you could figure out who someone voted for, but you are not allowed to.

                  • mateomaui
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                    6 months ago

                    And since we’re talking about a proposed measure that will likely never come to pass, we can also imagine that if such an amendment were to be made, it could include a loophole allowing for ballots casting votes for disqualified insurrectionists to be investigated to find out who those voters are. Really not that big of a leap.

                    Goddamn y’all are exhausting.

          • abbenm@lemmy.ml
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            6 months ago

            I know you jest, but chill dude.

            I was with you, but you completely lost me here. It’s also the most bizarre place to rush in and take a side. There’s some interesting points being made about whether your vote should have legal consequences, about what it means to be it be disqualified as a candidate versus whether that should manifest in the act of voting.

            And, of all the subjects, you’re choosing to weigh in in favor of the idea that people should have a blank check to misinterpret statements without correction.

            Maybe it’s the philosophy major in me, but this degree of casual disregard for truth, and viewing other people’s desire for truth as an unwarranted overreaction, it leaves an awfully bitter taste. I go back and forth on how I feel about Lemmy as an offer of hope and improvement upon Reddit, and this is a moment where my optimism fades.

            • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              If you are not jesting and seriously want to void the secrecy of the ballot and criminalize the act of voting…

              Then you are as much a threat to democracy and the constitution as Trump is and I really wouldn’t mind if you went back to reddit and stayed there.

      • Pregnenolone@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The naturalization clause of the constitution for presidential eligibility has never been tested, and actually is quite a complex interpretation, so it’s not absolute to say Arnie would be ineligible.

          • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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            6 months ago

            it absolutely is a hard requirement.

            So how was John McCain not hassled for being born in PCZ and not getting citizenship until he was 11 months?

            How was Canadian and famed Zodiac Killer Tedward Cruz able to run in 2016 without issue?

            the nonsense over Obama’s birth certificate

            was racism.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              not hassled… without issue

              But they were. The difference w/ Obama and Cruz was Trump.

              Just because it wasn’t plastered all over the media (and it kind of was) has nothing to do with whether it was a big issue. They have to get their candidacy approved by numerous bodies, and meeting the minimum requirements (age and citizenship) is absolutely part of that.

              The interpretation most use is this:

              Among the qualifications to run for president of the United States is the requirement that a candidate must be a “natural born Citizen”. Most legal experts have interpreted that to be anyone who is a citizen at birth and who did not need to undergo a naturalization process to obtain citizenship – a definition under which Cruz would qualify.

              In a Harvard Law Review article, two former solicitor generals, Neal Katyal and Paul Clement, wrote: “Despite the happenstance of a birth across the border, there is no question that Senator Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a ‘natural born Citizen’ within the meaning of the Constitution.”

              If you are born to an American parent, you are legally a US citizen unless you renounce, even if you don’t do the paperwork until later. That was true for McCain, Obama, and Cruz, and it’ll be true for the next candidate that runs, provided they were born to at least one American parent. That’s how the law has been consistently interpreted.

              • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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                6 months ago

                If you are born to an American parent, you are legally a US citizen unless you renounce

                Natural born.

                McCain wasn’t granted citizenship until a 1937 act of congress, and never had to produce a long-form birth certificate nor argue what “natural born” means in court.

                The trouble Obama was given was racism, not the application of a “hard and fast” rule.

                  • FfaerieOxide@kbin.social
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                    6 months ago

                    has been interpreted

                    By whom? Has it been tested?

                    Where are you getting the “hard and fast” descriptor when ‘natural born’ is not defined in the statute.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      I strongly disagree. Voting should never be illegal or have legal repercussions. Ever. Not only is it protected speech under the first amendment, it’s more importantly a critical part of our democratic system.

      There should be stiff consequences for running for an office you know you are disqualified from, but casting a vote should never be illegal for legal voters.

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The US seems to disqualify quite a lot of voters for reasons that don’t apply in most other “western” countries though.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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              6 months ago

              Fair point, but I think that only applies to felonies (you can generally vote if it’s just a misdemeanor), and most states restore voting rights as soon as they’re released.

              Do other countries allow currently incarcerated people with felonies to vote?

              • LoveSausage@lemmy.ml
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                6 months ago

                Yea , that is more a 3rd world country way. Most countries do not remove basic rights besides you freedom when jailing them. Can’t think of any examples actually.

      • mateomaui
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        6 months ago

        Noted, we can agree to disagree.

        Also noted is that the 14th Amendment is inherently undemocratic by design, preventing anyone from being able to vote in Confederate insurrectionists.

        And, as said before, there are already instances in our country where voting illegally gets you jail time, so, like many other rights, it’s not completely unabridged at present time.

        What’s amazing to me is that my original comment could be distilled down to “sure would be nice if treasonous voters supporting treasonous, disqualified candidates were also penalized for being treasonous”, with a measure that almost certainly would never happen, and you’re wasting your time arguing over this.

        I didn’t even suggest they go to jail or face fines, just temporarily lose voting rights for a period of time to think about what they did.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          my original comment could be distilled down to “sure would be nice if treasonous voters supporting treasonous, disqualified candidates were also penalized for being treasonous”

          And I completely disagree with that notion. Voting for a treasonous person isn’t treason, it’s a wasted vote because a treasonous person is ineligible to hold office.

          The only crime you could commit when voting is fraud, meaning you’re voting more times than you’re allowed to. You should be allowed to cast your vote however you want with no fear or reprisal, and it’s on you to make that vote count.

          • mateomaui
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            6 months ago

            Noted, still don’t care, you’re welcome to your opinion.

      • abbenm@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        Right, I don’t agree that it should be a legal consequence.

        I do however think it should be a moral consequence, a judgment visited on those who would cast such a ridiculous vote. The best way I’ve heard it termed, is that Trump isn’t merely unqualified, he’s unqualified squared, which is to say, if you think he’s fit to be president, then you also aren’t qualified.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          6 months ago

          With votes being anonymous, I’m not sure who is going to provide any sort of moral consequence here. Those who support him likely mostly watch media that supports him. The government shouldn’t have a say in morality, they deal in law.

    • PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      Agreed, as long as liberals like you are also disqualified after voting not for what you believe in, but for voting against what you you find offensive.