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We've Got Some Weird Voting Laws…

2018-10-05 · list · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta, self promotion

Ahead of the US elections, Hank explains that election law is set state by state, a weakness but also a strength, lists six of the weirdest state voting laws he found making How to Vote in Every State, and says registering and voting have got easier over the years.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Election time; election law is made by the states, a system with weaknesses, and How to Vote in Every State

  • ★★ Hank says the US is 50 different states plus some confusing things, and most government, including election law, happens at the state and local levels. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★ A weakness of state-run elections is that some things might be done poorly or even in bad faith to manipulate outcomes. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Because no single video can explain registering and voting in every state, Hank and friends made dozens of videos so viewers can look up their own state. — 00:00:00 · How to Vote in Every State

00:00:44 — The strength of 50 systems: states adopt what works; intro to the weirdest election laws

  • ★★★ The strength of the system is that 50 states can try 50 systems: what works is adopted by other states, and what fails is not tried elsewhere. — 00:00:44
  • ★ Hank says a historical preservation society has declared the whole of Vermont an endangered place. (playful) — 00:00:44

00:01:13 — Six weird laws: Vermont's voter's oath, vote by mail, North Dakota, Nevada's pop-up early voting, online and automatic registration, New Hampshire

  • ★★ In Vermont you must take a voter's oath to register; it once had to be heard by a notary, but now you can administer it to yourself. — 00:01:13
  • ★★★ Three states, Colorado, Washington and Oregon, have no polling places: everyone votes by mail, which cuts election costs and increases participation. — 00:01:43
  • ★ Hank notes that all three vote-by-mail states have legalized marijuana, maybe coincidentally. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:43
  • ★★ In North Dakota you don't have to register to vote: you just vote. — 00:02:12
  • ★★ Nevada has pop-up early voting locations, for example in a mall outside Hot Topic, one reason over 60% of Nevadans vote early. — 00:02:12
  • ★★ Online voter registration has exploded: more than half of states now allow it, usually if you have a driver's license. — 00:02:41
  • ★★★ In 2015 no state automatically registered people to vote with a driver's license; three years later, 13 states do. — 00:02:41
  • ★★ Hank says it is not true that people who don't register to vote avoid jury duty. — 00:02:41

00:03:10 — Registering and voting have got easier, some push back; the right to vote and the How to Vote in Every State pointer; sign-off

  • ★★ In New Hampshire you cannot register online, by mail or automatically: you must register in person at your town clerk's office. — 00:03:10
  • ★★★ Hank says registering and voting have got easier over the years, though in some places people are trying to push that back and have had some success. (hedged) — 00:03:10
  • ★★★ Having the right and the ability to vote in the elections that matter most locally and to the world is a wonderful thing. — 00:03:10
  • ★★★ Hank tells viewers to learn how best to vote where they live at youtube.com/howtovoteineverystate. — 00:03:39 · How to Vote in Every State

In the description and comments

Humor (significant)

  • Vermont now lets you administer the voter's oath to yourself. — 00:01:13

    “Quietly just whisper, whisper the oath to yourself and then sign the little form.”

  • All three vote-by-mail states have legalized marijuana. — 00:01:43

    “Some people maybe don't want to go out.”

  • Why North Dakotans don't need to register to vote. — 00:02:12

    “One assumes that this is because there's only a few dozen North Dakotans.”

  • New Hampshire makes you register in person at the town clerk's office. — 00:03:10

    “Thank you, New Hampshire, for reminding us how bad it used to be for everyone.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Federalism · voter registration

Also: Projects: How to Vote in Every State

Organizations: Hot Topic

Concepts: Automatic voter registration · drug liberalization · early voting · jury duty · Postal voting · suffrage · voter suppression

Places: Colorado · Nevada · New Hampshire · North Dakota · Oregon · United States · Vermont · Washington

Only in the description or credits: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing · The New York Times

Also centred on voter registration: Our Massive Project: How to Vote in Every State · Why I Didn't Vote (And Six Reasons You Might Not)

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