this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2024
166 points (97.7% liked)

News

22958 readers
3948 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

With Election Day just a few weeks away, longtime church members Lucky Hartunian and Janie Booth sat outside the Revival Christian Fellowship’s sanctuary in Menifee, California, inviting congregants to register to vote.

The women urged those streaming into the evangelical church’s Saturday morning civic engagement event to “make their voices heard as Christians.” After mail-in ballots go out statewide, Booth and Hartunian will be among church volunteers collecting completed, sealed ballots and dropping them off at the county office the next day.

It’s a practice known as ballot gathering - or ballot harvesting — that’s been a source of national controversy over the years.

Robert Tyler, a California-based attorney who represents conservative churches and pastors, said he still believes “ballot harvesting and universal vote by mail creates opportunities for fraud.”

“But the rules of the game have changed,” he said. “Until the law changes, we have to get out and gather ballots like they are doing.”

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 5 points 8 hours ago

Robert Tyler, a California-based attorney who represents conservative churches and pastors, said he still believes “ballot harvesting and universal vote by mail creates opportunities for fraud.”

And is therefore going to prove it by committing that fraud himself.

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 27 points 16 hours ago

Republicans Harvesting Ballots is PROOF that DEMOCRATS Harvested Ballots!

[–] OCATMBBL@lemmy.world 92 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

We really need to start taking away tax exemption for churches that pull political stunts. Want to break the agreement? Fine, be as fiscally bankrupt as you are morally.

[–] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 61 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

We really need to start taking away tax exemption for churches ~~that pull political stunts~~.

Fixed.

[–] orclev@lemmy.world 36 points 15 hours ago

I've said it before I'll say it again, churches shouldn't automatically be tax exempt, if they want tax exempt status they should have to register as a 501c3 or similar like any other organization and follow the same rules. Automatically qualifying for tax exempt status allows them to get away with so much shit.

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 39 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

“This method of voting is bad and could be abused, but if it helps us win I’m all for it.”

- Robert Tyler, Attorney representing Conservative Churches/Pastors

[–] Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world 19 points 14 hours ago

The Church treats mail in voting like an abortion.

"Only mine is valid"

[–] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 14 points 13 hours ago

“But the rules of the game have changed,”

What has changed? From my understanding, mail in ballots have existed as far back as the civil war. This biggest changes to this came in the 70's when you no longer needed a reason to use this method. If anything, the fact that they are jumping on board and collecting the ballots for them seems extremely shady...

[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 5 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

If the rule is "ballot harvesting is OK" you're going to get this kind of behavior. And it rewards whichever of the megaparties builds the most efficient political machine.

I'd personally rather have an actual election day with mandated work leave for the entire day, and rare application of absentee ballots for people with extenuating circumstances.

[–] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 7 points 15 hours ago

In Canada we have early voting days (usually a couple of weeks before the actual election day and often on weekends) for anyone who can't vote on the actual day.

But we also have a functioning judicial system and far less right-wing self-righteousness than America does (so far anyway, but it is migrating up here at an increasing pace).

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I want absentee to be the norm. It means that voters can take their time and research what they are voting for based on more than just the voter's pamphlet.

[–] OlinOfTheHillPeople@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

My state has been like this for years, and there haven't been any problems.