Cam Kerry: Voting made easy

[paineinthearse]

I have been working with another DU'er and Deval Patrick's staff towards making Massachusetts the model state for clean and fair elections. This piece by Cam Kerry on the state party site came as a pleasant surprise.

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http://www.massdems.org/hotissues/mdppr_79_votingeasy.htm

Voting made easy
October 3, 2005
By Cameron F. Kerry

THE TIME has come for Massachusetts to adopt same day voter registration, that is, legislation permitting voters to register on Election Day. The reason is simple and compelling for a Commonwealth with a long history of standing up for freedom: Same day registration enfranchises more voters.

Look at its track record. This system has been implemented successfully in six other states, including New Hampshire and Maine . These six states have 9 percent higher voter participation than other states and, of the five states with the highest voter turnout last November, four have same day registration.

Two same day registration bills are pending in the Legislature, one filed by Representative Gloria Fox, the other by Senator Cynthia Creem. These bills offer a common-sense way to streamline registration, reduce confusion, and increase voter turnout and access to the polls. The Legislature has the important opportunity to allow some pilot programs in municipal elections and to implement same day registration statewide in 2006.

There was a time when voting in Massachusetts was the exclusive privilege of white, male landowners. The more we have expanded voting, the more we have lived up to our democratic ideals. But we have more to do. Excluding citizens who have not registered 20 days before an election is an unnecessary barrier that does not improve the efficiency or fairness of elections.

The current 20-day restriction is a relic of the days of paper records. But Massachusetts was ahead of federal requirements in adopting a statewide voting database that streamlines registration and cross-checking of voter lists. With 21st century technology in place, we can have a voter-friendly registration system.

Historically, efforts to enfranchise additional voters have met with arguments that those excluded are somehow unfit to vote. The suggestion that people who don't think to register before Election Day are just not informed enough to vote calls to mind baseless arguments that women should not be allowed to vote because they supposedly were unqualified ''for the sterner duties to be performed by the intellectual faculties."

It is illogical to assume that registered voters who make up their minds to vote at the last minute are better informed than those who do the same but are not yet registered. All of us live in a hurried, mobile, 24/7 society. Even citizens who are fully engaged and aware of political issues may lose track of voter registration deadlines or fail to realize the need to reregister after changing addresses. And restrictive deadlines have historically had a greater impact on underrepresented racial minorities, the poor, and newly eligible voters.

Under our current system, campaigns target the all-too-narrow segment of the population that is registered and has voted frequently in the past. As voter turnouts shrink, the political playing field gets ever narrower. Same-day registration would include more people in the political conversation.

The many Massachusetts activists who saw same day registration in action in New Hampshire and Maine during the 2004 presidential election will tell you it generally worked well. It simplifies the job for election officials by avoiding the complicated and time-consuming process of filling out and validating ''provisional" ballots for eligible voters whose names do not appear on the voting list. This process confuses many voters and creates additional responsibilities for election workers, and many provisional ballots end up not counted in the final tally. Often, this is because election officials cannot verify that a voter registered in time.

With same day registration, if an eligible voter's name is not on the voting list on Election Day, the voter simply registers and votes. No wonder, then, that many city and town clerks support it.

Same day registration does not increase the risk of fraud. Under the bills being considered on Beacon Hill , registrants will need to present documentation of residency and identity as well as take an oath that the information they provide to election officials is accurate. This is more than is required of other registrants, much less of registered voters who simply show up at a polling place and announce a name and address to vote. The statewide voter database provides an added check that a new registrant has not voted elsewhere in the state that day. Stiff penalties for voter fraud will also deter and punish wrongdoing.

This is a key issue for me as a prospective candidate for secretary of the commonwealth. I believe Massachusetts should lead the way in making elections live up to our democratic ideals. Same day registration is an important step to this goal.

[shraby]

1. We have same day registration here

in Wisconsin. Works good.