2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Jaron]

Oh great. We really handing the nation over to an oligarch?

[Martinus]

In a fiery rally speech for Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday night, Glenn Beck expressed his belief that God has sent us Cruz as "a man who was raised for these times," and that God has deliberately prolonged the GOP primary season so that every state in the union will be forced to choose between "good or evil."

Beck opened his speech by affirming the importance of the Indiana primary, which many political observers regard as a make-or-break moment for Cruz.

"This is going to be a place of miracles," Beck said. "This is the place that's going to change the course of American history, and it's all going to come down to you.  The question is, are you ready?"

[Eddie Teach]

Oh great. We really handing the nation over to an oligarch?

Another one.

[garbon]

Hey, if there is a contested convention, it clearly means that the majority of Democratic voters do not want Clinton. Just ask Berkut.

How plaintive.

[celedhring]

Oh great. We really handing the nation over to an oligarch?

Another one.

But according to this, Obama is just an "oligarh". Trump will be the real deal, he has the best c's.

[Jaron]

Utah is FEELING THE BERN

[Legbiter]

In a fiery rally speech for Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday night, Glenn Beck expressed his belief that God has sent us Cruz as "a man who was raised for these times," and that God has deliberately prolonged the GOP primary season so that every state in the union will be forced to choose between "good or evil."

Beck opened his speech by affirming the importance of the Indiana primary, which many political observers regard as a make-or-break moment for Cruz.

"This is going to be a place of miracles," Beck said. "This is the place that's going to change the course of American history, and it's all going to come down to you.  The question is, are you ready?"

Cruz, meet Raz. 

[jimmy olsen]

Virginia GOP suing to stop 200,000 felons from voting in November.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/felons-virginia/480834/

[celedhring]

Is the "inmates can't vote" a blanket thing throughout the US, applied to all felons, or just in some States/only for certain crimes?

Here in Spain inmates can and do vote. IIRC it's the same for most of Western Europe.  Yeah, lots of our politicians have been revealed to be felons themselves, but I don't think it's related 

There's only several provisions that prevent some felons (terrorism, political corruption, etc...) from running for or holding office, as part of their sentence.

[dps]

Is the "inmates can't vote" a blanket thing throughout the US, applied to all felons, or just in some States/only for certain crimes?

Here in Spain inmates can and do vote. IIRC it's the same for most of Western Europe.  Yeah, lots of our politicians have been revealed to be felons themselves, but I don't think it's related 

There's only several provisions that prevent some felons (terrorism, political corruption, etc...) from running for or holding office, as part of their sentence.

It's a state-by-state thing.  Each state determines who is eligible to vote in that state, subject to the restrictions placed on them by the US Constitution.  Originally, the states had a lot of discretion on the matter, but amendments to the Constitution have cut that down a lot.  Whether or not felons are allowed to vote is one of the decisions still in the hands of the individual states, though.

[DGuller]

Is the "inmates can't vote" a blanket thing throughout the US, applied to all felons, or just in some States/only for certain crimes?

Here in Spain inmates can and do vote. IIRC it's the same for most of Western Europe.  Yeah, lots of our politicians have been revealed to be felons themselves, but I don't think it's related 

There's only several provisions that prevent some felons (terrorism, political corruption, etc...) from running for or holding office, as part of their sentence.

It's not just inmates who can't vote, it's people who have once been convicted of a felony.  In some states that's a reason to lose your right to vote for life.  As is usually the case, the democratic ideal is giving in to the selective disenfranchising that GOP likes to do to improve its electoral prospects on the margins.

[Monoriu]

It's not just inmates who can't vote, it's people who have once been convicted of a felony.  In some states that's a reason to lose your right to vote for life.  As is usually the case, the democratic ideal is giving in to the selective disenfranchising that GOP likes to do to improve its electoral prospects on the margins.

That doesn't seem right

Inmates in HK can vote, BTW.  I think it is debatable if inmates should be allowed to vote.  But it seems to me that someone who has served the full prison sentence should have his freedoms and rights returned to him, including voting rights. 

[Eddie Teach]

Inmates in HK can vote, BTW.  I think it is debatable if inmates should be allowed to vote.  But it seems to me that someone who has served the full prison sentence should have his freedoms and rights returned to him, including voting rights.

Inmates in HK can vote, just those votes don't matter for anything important.

[Lettow77]

 It has come to my attention that Jeff Sessions, at present the lone declarant for Trump on the senate floor, is much more than "Jeff Sessions." He is in fact by right of birth Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.

What a name! His grandfather was born into a world where Beauregard was yet uneclipsed in the constellation of the Confederacy's militant luminaries; Born into a world where the President yet enjoyed the adoration of his people and governed over a nation that optimistically looked forward to its untrammeled independence.

What a name! To utter it once is to bespeak the halcyon days of First Manassas; Chant it three times in a mirror and Wallace himself might appear behind you, at once barring the nearest aperture and creating a holdfast into which no black student can gain entry.

[DGuller]

It's not just inmates who can't vote, it's people who have once been convicted of a felony.  In some states that's a reason to lose your right to vote for life.  As is usually the case, the democratic ideal is giving in to the selective disenfranchising that GOP likes to do to improve its electoral prospects on the margins.

That doesn't seem right

Inmates in HK can vote, BTW.  I think it is debatable if inmates should be allowed to vote.  But it seems to me that someone who has served the full prison sentence should have his freedoms and rights returned to him, including voting rights.

It's not right, damn right, but it is the case in a few states (thankfully not that many these days, though felons currently in prison or on parole can't vote almost anywhere). 

US in some ways is a rather flawed democracy compared to others, especially when it comes to voting rights.  You have direct removal of voting rights for some people, you have indirect attempts to prevent some people with voting rights from getting into the booth, and you also have widespread cases where voting requires you to spend hours waiting in line, which is really a form of indirect disenfranchisement in its own right. 

Unfortunately, any attempt to fix it, or prevent it from being deliberately regressed, is viewed as a political issue rather than a fundamental system legitimacy issue.  Therefore, short of GOP being obliterated in elections and giving Democrats the power to enact some sort of voting rights act, we'll be lucky if the current situation does not regress.