This is where I think we are headed (the future)

[RoyGBiv]

I've noticed that if you call one political group out on that it's called racism, but if you call the other political group out on it, it's called voter fraud.

Something tells me that the times are a 'changin.

I know I'm not gonna let the race silencers silence me any longer.
And the push back is starting to cross political causes.
Did you see Rand Paul push back on "Right to Life = War on Women" the other day?
People are fed up with the divisiveness the president (small p for a small guy) has given us.... Gender and race shaming are losing their power.
Illegal aliens are "Illegal Aliens".
ISIS and AlQ are Islamic Terrorists. Progressive correctness be damned.

[Seven_Sicks_Two]

Come on, really? Is there a residency requirements in this country, for everything from hunting licenses to college tuition, where military personnel don't get special treatment? And then everyone thinks they're in the right, obviously, so everyone thinks any requirement that excludes them is wrong. Anyway, changing the rules of suffrage is a lost cause for folks like me that think the bar needs to be raised. And this probably isn't the thread for that discussion, anyway - I wasn't trying to drift the thread that way.

What I was trying to get at is a more specific idea, about local issues like water rights and environmental protections and designating land as "wetland" vs "farmland" and stuff like that. It's tough to maintain a balanced set of policies when non-trivial numbers of fully-enfranchised voters move into an area, bringing with them not only different values and priorities, but also a whole set of knowledge and assumptions that don't necessarily mesh in the context of their new home. It seems reasonable to me that a voter should take some time to assimilate into a new environment, to get to know the context and history and mechanics behind the local issues, before voting on those issues. To stretch Tam's idea of repurposing agriculture inspection stations: it seems like a tax-and-spend electorate is a main export of the big cities. Since we can't realistically test those exports for parasites or invasive species, maybe we can keep them in a virtual sort of quarantine for a while.

I think that a discussion about the rules of suffrage actually meshes nicely with the entire thread. We all see issues with where the country is headed. Based on LL's links, I get the impression that most folks here are justifiably upset about bureaucrats making decisions about the "common good" and placing it ahead of individual rights. Additionally, many of you have personally dealt with the consequences of demographic changes in your area. Voting is one of the more impactful ways that we can change the direction the country is headed. Since we can't vote out the directors of agencies like the EPA or BATFE, we have to vote for (or against) the politicians that put them in power.

However, I'm not sure that disenfranchising voters by "politically quarantining" them is the best solution either. If I moved to a new area, I'd be very hesitant to vote in local elections until I had either lived there long enough to get the lay of the land or done extensive research on local issues and politicians. I'm not sure that we need a law for this. In fact, I think it would be terrible to keep someone who was truly informed about local issues from being able to cast a ballot. "There oughta be a law!" shouldn't be the rallying cry for those folks that care about personal responsibility.

I'm 30, and while it might be stretch, I lump myself in with the "younger generation", I was a recent college grad in the 2008 election season. I saw (as we all did) the consequences of the Rock The Vote/Vote Or Die mentality. People in my age group and social circle were voting for personality and not policy. In my opinion, it isn't suffrage laws that need to change, it is the culture of voting. I seem to remember Stossel saying something along the lines of, "Don't know? Don't vote!" We would still have to deal with the hard-core "tax and spend/free stuff for everybody crowd", but it would keep casual voters and the uninformed from jumping in on the side of temporarily popular issues or politicians.

My apologies if that was a little rambling or incoherent. I'm tired and haven't had any coffee.

[Tamara]

Many states used to require people to have lived in the state for one year before they could vote (usually with a military exception). Then the Supreme Court held that such restrictions violated the Constitutional "right to travel." (Try looking that "right" up in your pocket version of the Constitution...)

The Founders probably felt it was too obvious to have to spell out, but then nobody expects the Rehnquisition!

[DocGKR]

Well played madam.

[MDS]

If I was going to wrestle that alligator, I'd make voting eligibility based on whether you pay taxes.

Paid Federal Tax. If your tax return says you owed the IRS > 0 each of the past 4 years. You get to vote in federal elections.

Paid State Income/Property/? tax. If your tax return says you owed any State (maybe you moved) > 0 each of the past 4 years. You get to vote in federal elections. Modify for States with no personal income tax... General concepts here. Don't be an DERP and tell me why it won't work in some states.

Pay local school/property (even via a portion of rent)/vehicle/etc tax. Vote locally (in every jurisdiction where you own real estate! if I own a second house in another State, why can't I vote in local and State elections in that second State? That's BS.)

Collect Social Security, Retirement, Pensions, etc? Things that were paid for in advance (as opposed to unemployment, welfare and other public assistance) earn voting rights too.

Hmm, where have I heard a very similar idea? Great minds think alike...

[Jeep]

Something tells me that the times are a 'changin.

I know I'm not gonna let the race silencers silence me any longer.
And the push back is starting to cross political causes.
Did you see Rand Paul push back on "Right to Life = War on Women" the other day?
People are fed up with the divisiveness the president (small p for a small guy) has given us.... Gender and race shaming are losing their power.
Illegal aliens are "Illegal Aliens".
ISIS and AlQ are Islamic Terrorists. Progressive correctness be damned.

I think a lot of people are getting tired of the use of political correctness to shut down opposing viewpoints and of an administration that treats opponents as enemies to be smashed (while real enemies as aggrieved parties to be appeased).