Brickbat: Agent of the State

Ljupco

The Seattle City Council has unanimously voted to force landlords to give voter registration information to all new tenants.

Comments

[some guy]

How will the Seattle City Council respond when this doesn't change voter participation rates at all? At some point they'll start making voting mandatory, right?

[Cyto]

Well, maybe. But first they'll mandate that polling locations be located in all public housing, government office buildings and union companies. And voters in those locations will be allowed to cast their votes there even if it is not their home polling station.

Oh, and maybe we don't need those polling monitors from the political parties so much either. That might be driving down voter participation too.

[rudehost]

That is what Australia does. We are getting close to that utopia where everything is either mandatory or illegal.

[DJF]

Hopefully the new voters will vote the City Council out of office.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Even Trump supporters?

[Libertarian]

Ha! Seattle Trump supporters. That's a good one.

[prolefeed]

Trump got 23% of the vote in Seattle. Kind of an asskicking, but that's still a lot of voters.

[prolefeed]

Now, downtown Seattle might be a different story. Like here in Austin, where the skyscraper part of the city is deep blue, but the doughnut of the burbs all around it are much more Republican.

[Longtobefree]

As a landlord, can I just fill out the form for the tenants as a convenience?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Part of the concierge service.

[John C. Randolph]

"Hey there, welcome to the building. Did you know you can register and vote? Ok, see ya."

-jcr

[Jerryskids]

While they're handing out the voter registration info they might as well check for any signs of sex trafficking, right?

[Libertarian]

And head lice.

[SQRLSY One]

Yeah man, good idea!
Also, the landlord should be required to inquire about the non-physician-sanctioned use of dangerous medical devices such as cheap plastic flutes? AKA the "lung flute". To learn about the "lung flute" (a cheap, simple plastic flute), see http://www.churchofSQRLS.com ? And use "lung flute" as search string.
(Tenants engaging in such dangerous behavior should be mandated to attend several week's worth of obedience training).
You can NOT make this stuff up!

[Citizen X - #6]

Since they're now employees of the City of Seattle, all property owners get to join the public workers union and get a city pension, right?

[I can't even]

On a related note - Trump was probably right - millions of noncitizens had illegally voted in the U.S. election.

http://www.investors.com/polit.....-that-way/

[Rhywun]

And that's based on a sample where some people admitted voting illegally. Yikes.

[crufus]

"...In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were 21.0 million adult noncitizens in the U.S., up from 19.4 million in 2008. It is therefore highly likely that millions of noncitizens cast votes in 2016..."

"It is therefore highly likely" Who can argue with that leap of faith?

[Princess Trigger]

Now provide them with Healthcare you filthy Kulaks!

[Fine Print] Provision of healthcare requires 6-12 years of education, hands on training and certification from multiple state and professional boards. Violating statues on medical certification can incur up to 15 years incarceration.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

With their $15 minimum wage and a host of other progressive initiatives, I think it is entertaining to watch the real world outcomes vs. the predicted utopia of good intentions.

[cgr2727]

Sounds like compelled speech to me. If I were a Seattle landlord with a ton of money to burn on lawyers, I'd fight this one just for the fun of it. I can't be forced to tell someone that they can vote. I realize I'm not being forced to tell them who to vote for, but that's not the point. Simply forcing me to tell them sounds like compelled speech. I'd also try to get my lawyers to argue that there's no connection between the commercial transaction of renting an apartment and registering to vote, because I'm sure the Seattle council will claim they're just regulating a business.

Seems like the blackrobes have gotten slightly better lately about realizing that compelling someone to speak is the problem, rather than weaseling out by saying "well, the state is compelling you to say something, but not what to say, so that's ok."

[Brandybuck]

Not enough people voting for Democrats! If only more people were registered to vote, more people would vote for Democrats!