From
http://MOVELEFT.COMIn Minnesota, we can register to vote on Election Day.
So can people in Wisconsin, Maine, Idaho, Wyoming, New Hampshire, and North Dakota.
This a good voting reform, because it avoids problem with provisional ballots.
For example, 11,310 provisional ballots were recently tossed in North Carolina. People were told on Election Day 2004 that they weren't registered and had to use provisional ballots. But a court ruled their ballots wll be discarded on the grounds that they weren't cast in the right precinct ("
11,310 ballots cast out" by Mark Johnson, Feb.5, 2005).
Mistakes like these aren't necessarily the voters' fault.
I don't know the specifics of how some people in North Carolina voted in the wrong precinct.
However, in Ohio in November 2004, there were cases where voters were in the
right building, right room, but directed to the wrong table and therefore had their provisional ballots tossed ("
Provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County"
by Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., Ohio Free Press, Dec. 24, 2004).
A letter published in the New York Times this summer supports Election Day Registration ("
Register on Election Day, published Aug. 26, 2004):
To the Editor:
"The New Hanging Chads" (editorial, "Making Votes Count'' series, Aug. 19) outlined the many flaws in provisional balloting: for example, many votes are discounted, especially if the ballots are cast in the wrong polling place. Another problem could occur if the race outcome were very close. It could take weeks of wrangling over each vote to decide who wins...
Six states have enacted Election Day registration laws, solving the provisional vote problem before it ever emerges. The states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Idaho, Wyoming and New Hampshire - let voters with proper identification register and vote on Election Day.
The result? No one is turned away for not being on the list, no provisional ballots need be cast, and turnout in these states was 9 percent higher than the national average in the last presidential election. And implementation of uniform and shared election databases required under the Help America Vote Act will mean that opportunities for voter fraud will be lessened.
Every state should enact Election Day registration, so that we are truly encouraging everyone to vote.
Miles Rapoport
New York, Aug. 23, 2004
The writer is president of Demos, a nonpartisan public policy group.
The letter says that "no provisional ballots need be cast" but it would be more accurate to say that Election Day registration makes the need for provisional ballots
rare. There can still be cases in which a person wants to register to vote on Election Day, but his or her eligiibility is in dispute, and then a provisional ballot would be appropriate.
The above letter also doesn't include North Dakota, where every voter who hasn't voted previously in a precinct registers on Election Day. I count North Dakota as an Election Day registration state.
Anyway,
the good news is that New York state's Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, said Monday that New York should adopt Election Day Registration ("
Spitzer: State Legislature must act on vote system overhaul" by Marc Humbert, AP via New York Newsday, Feb. 7, 2005).
I hope Election Day registration spreads to all 50 states.
Eliot Spitzer is running for New York governor in 2006, and has a good chance of winning ("
Poll: Pataki doesn't look good for fourth term, or Senate" by Marc Humbert, AP via New York Newsday, Feb. 7, 2005).
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
