@cookiesinheaven

OK. I'm in this boat and keep seeing this but just as a meme. Is there any more evidence of how this might work? Has democracy docket said anything?

@futurebird @cookiesinheaven No reputable sources apparently posting about it, just one JPEG-artifacty social media screenshot that looks like it was cobbled together in MS Paint? Let me get my pitchfork.

@MisterMoo @cookiesinheaven

If it's real we need to act. If *not* it might discourage people from voting.

@MisterMoo @cookiesinheaven

We must not spread vague unease. The unease must be very specific and actionable.

@futurebird here's the full bill text. It is a real disenfranchisement bill, but I can't analyse it right now https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr22/BILLS-119hr22ih.pdf

@futurebird
I found this which makes it sound like the bill is real, and it's bad (like all this BS, it's claiming to solve a problem that's not real and creates a lot of other problems in doing so) but it's "massive inconvenience for everyone, worst for people who've changed their name, thereby lowering turnout" and not "mass statutory disenfranchisement." It's death by a million paper cuts, not a boot to the head. https://thedispatch.com/article/assessing-claims-about-the-save-act/
@cookiesinheaven

@chillicampari @futurebird it has *NOT* passed the house according to https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/22/text/ih

This seems to me like a weird troll like the RWBland rather than something that has a chance to pass the house, much less the senate.

@simrob @chillicampari @futurebird
I'm happy it didn't!

I think this is how the GOP works:

• low-status GOP legislators want higher status
• Status can be gained by out-MAGAing each other
• They one-up each other to see who can propose the most ultra-MAGA bills (extrapolating from what MAGA has already done)
• SOMETIMES THAT SHIT PASSES

Most of it doesn't pass, but some of it does. I am firmly in favor of keeping a close eye on the bastards, because they will keep churning out increasingly hateful stuff, and Congress will keep passing a portion of it. This is one way things keep getting worse.

@guyjantic in principle this is a great idea, but as @futurebird said, misrepresenting the status and likelihood of these bills can *discourage folks from voting* which is doing the white supremacists’ work for them

@simrob @futurebird
What is the not-great idea? I don't think I suggested any course of action.

@guyjantic @simrob

I think the impression the original post could leave "this has already passed and now you probably can't vote" with no mention of anything to do to stop it or clarity about how likely it really is or what sort of help is really needed isn't the best.

It's vague unease. We are in a torrent of sewage, that's part of the tactics of the right to make it feel like so many things are broken all you can do is curl up and try not to get hit by all the flying ... shit.

@guyjantic @simrob

They message that the right is deliberately clumsy and indiscriminate and people who think they aren't next in line are closer than they think is fine.

But, I worry that as presented many people will just remember "I might not even be allowed to vote" and give up on what is already a needlessly difficult and limited form of influence.