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In reply to the discussion: Baltimore’s Election Results Are Decertified as State Investigation Is Launched [View all]Human101948
(3,457 posts)Other democracies are not so incompetent. Both Sweden and Australia, for example, manage to get more than 96 percent of their citizens on the books. The Swedes pull this off through virtually automatic enrollment. Instead of relying on its shiftless inhabitants (accustomed to luxuries like universal health care) to get their paperwork in order, the Swedes maintain a national database that includes the name, address, place of birth, and marital status of each individual. The Swedish Tax Administration is responsible for updates, but the police and the municipalities help provide details. (Individuals pitch in by informing the local tax office of alterationslike marriages, divorces, or a change of address.) Prior to every election, the Swedish Electoral Authority simply extracts information from this database to compile an electoral roll for each district. The Electoral Authority then sends proof of registration to each eligible voter, which contains the address of the correct polling station and its hours.
Australia's system is closer to ours. Individual Aussies must fill out their own registration forms and wait for an acknowledgment card. However, as in Sweden, a centralized authority maintains a single national registration database, which the states and territories use to compile local election rolls. And since voting is compulsory (there's a $20 penalty for those without a good excuse), the government feels it has a responsibility to help out with the process. It does this by getting in your face.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/how_they_do_it/2008/10/doing_democracy_right.html