If voting is a valued action, and something we should all do

[SoCalDem]

a voter should have to opt OUT, instead of having to take deliberate actions to opt IN.

A voter should receive a card in the mail on or near their 18th birthday, that identifies them as a registered/eligible voter.. This could be accomplished by having school districts do it. They know the ages of all their students.

Naturalization paperwork should also include a voter ID.

Any "encounter" with government paperwork should also include mention of that voter ID (and if someone slipped through the cracks and did not get one, a card should be issued )

The constitution does not mention party..but it does give us the right to vote. It should be automatic.

18 yr old males still need to register for a non-existent draft.

The registration should always be as independent until that person votes in their first primary which would link them to a party...or they could always change to a party online or in person at the registrar's office.

ONCE a vote is cast, in any election, that should be verification enough to continue to vote, since the name is already there in the records.

New flaming hoops should not be allowed to be added with every whim of some idiot legislature..

Registrars could surely be allowed to have their computers search databases for birth certificate verification without having to make people "send away" for them so someone can eyeball it for a millisecond ..(although school registration, marriage, sports participation these days requires that BC).

For people who do not have a photo ID, one should be provided to them by the registrar's office...for FREE.. Costco manages to give you an instant photo ID, so it's surely possible.

[PETRUS]

1. Some countries impose fines for not voting. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Like Australia. To give a concrete example.

[TheWraith]

3. In countries like Australia, voting is mandatory.

Nothing actually HAPPENS to you if you don't vote, but it's sort of a principle thing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. There is a fine

[TheWraith]

7. It's my understanding that that's more theory than fact.

I.e. you can be fined, but it's not all that common.

[PETRUS]

8. Various business contacts of mine have been fined. nt

[TheWraith]

9. Perhaps I've heard wrong. nt

[PETRUS]

10. All I have are anecdotes... not sure how representative they are. nt

[TheWraith]

14. Well, mine are anecdotes as well.

And unfortunately I don't have any Australians handy to ask for firsthand data. For that matter, both could be true: in some areas it might be ridiculously rare, other places it could be standard procedure.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Registering after naturalization is easy

Tables and forms were outside of the hall.

[SoCalDem]

6. Maybe not anymore, though with all the new restrictions

:(

[Old and In the Way]

11. Without restricting the right to vote, how will Republicans win future elections?

They can't focus on their private service if they have to worry about future election results.

[valerief]

12. Our bought and paid for government wants as few people to vote as possible.

An unengaged populace is a slave populace.

[alc]

13. I agree with most of your points

But, I don't think all people should vote (actually I think they should all vote but should educate themselves first). Too many don't have a clue and are pushing D or R or whatever their friend/boss/priest/etc told them to do. Even if you're happy they're pushing D in the generals, they're probably going to mindlessly push the party-favorite D (or I for incumbent) in the primaries which isn't going to help unless you are happy with the party where it is and don't want it to go further left.

Also, claiming the Constitution gives us the right to vote is likely to cause you more trouble in and argument than it will help. While most of us know what you mean, anyone who wants to argue can latch onto that and distract from the real issues. If you don't know what I'm talking about and don't trust the links below, google it
http://www.salon.com/2006/09/21/no_right_to_vote/
http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html