On May 26, the Connecticut House passed HB 6435, to let people register to vote at the polls on election day. Such voters would need to show a drivers license or a utility bill, confirming their address. Now the bill goes to the Senate.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Those voters who actually take pride in participating in the election process, therefore register ahead of time, shouldn’t have their votes canceled out by these apathetic, lazy, compulsive, zombie-voters. Do we let candidates file the day of the election? Do we let high school graduates take the SAT, apply for a college, and register for classes the first day of class? Whether or not it can be done isn’t the issue, the issue is whether or not we should give a break to those who don’t seem to care.
Jesse Ventura would not have been elected if Minnesota had not had same-day registration. The average turnout in the United States in November 1998 was 38%. But in Minnesota, because Ventura motivated people to vote who usually don’t vote, the turnout was 62%.
Martin’s argument is the same as those who are in power and know they’ll stay in power by letting as few people vote as possible. That’s right Martin, keep supporting the dictatorship!
If someone doesn’t even bother to register to vote until Election Day, what are the chances he is informed on the candidates and the ballot questions? Don’t we have enough ignoramuses voting already?
These ideas to make voting “easy” and “convenient” remind me of the old saw about the “easy” college. You could drive by the campus, and they would throw a diploma in your car window.
By the end of Gov. Ventura’s one term, he had an approval rating of about 40%. But, of course, he was elected with 37%.
Ventura was a good Governor. He had a low approval rating at the end of his term because he foolishly got angry at the press, and seemed to have a vendetta against the big newspapers and TV stations. He said they were picking on his family.
Yes, the press said that Ventura’s son threw wild parties at the mansion when the governor was out of town.
So, if an illegal alien presented a utility bill, he would be allowed to vote? Is that how it will work?
Also, I have heard that 17 of the 19 9/11 hi-jackers were registered to vote. Is this true or false. I’ve also read that all 17 were allegedly registered as Democrats. Is there any truth to that, or is it a myth?
#7: False.
This is a good reform. Making it easier to register to vote is an important part of increasing voter turnout rates.
My only problem with same day registration is that in my opinion it leads to a less informed electorate. If you do not care enough to register you probably have not researched any candidates. In Connecticut you can currently register until noon the day before.
Richard in #2 how do we know who the same day people voted for?
#3: Where did you get the hair-brained idea that the minority put the idiots into power because the majority was too busy to register 30 days before an election?
If I had to register 100 days before an election, write a 5-page essay, pay a $30 filing fee, and wait in line for 2 hours to pick up my registration card I would do it, because that’s how much I care about my country and the voting process.
As a Registrar of Voters, I believe that this is a bad bill all the way around. Towns are strapped for money and budgets have been slashed; why then would the legislature add another unfunded mandate to the mix? Who will pay for the polling places for those who didn’t take the 354 other days of the year to register to vote? How will we check to see if these people are legitamate residents? Should this bill pass the senate, I can no longer assure the legitamacy of our elections. HS Wise, GOP Registrar, Ridgefield.
We know about Jesse Ventura benefitting from late-registering voters from exit poll data.
As to aliens voting, election-day registration has no impact on that. If an alien is determined to break the law and vote, he or she is just as capable of registering before the election, as on election day. The process is the same, except as to timing. And for illegal aliens, believe me, no illegal alien will draw attention to himself or herself by trying to register. Registration forms ask for the place of birth and are signed under penalty of perjury.
Minnesota has this and i think its a good idea. We had little, if any, fraud problems and its important because a citizen may not plan on voting until a certain speech or issue comes to the forefront, which may happen later on in the campaign.
If we really wanted people to be ‘educated’ or ‘informed’ voters we would go back to class based restrictions and maybe require an essay to be written and graded on some reality tv game show…
Turnout in 2002 was up 9.5% over over 1998 when Ventura ran. So it actually appears that 1998 was more a case of mainstream apathy, and Ventura’s ability to get younger voters to actually vote. By 2002, people had recognized the cost of that apathy.
More voters actually registered on election day in 2002 than had on election day in 1998 when Ventura was elected, but as a percentage share, election day registrants declined, suggesting that conventional or long-term registrants returned in greater numbers, which was what spurred the 9.5% growth in voters casting their ballots.
Minnesota has had election day registration since 1974. In presidential election years, election day registrants represented around 20% of voter turnout in presidential election years. It would appear rather than new registrants, that it is more a case of election-day change of address.
The primary in 2006 had the lowest numeric turnout in any non-presidential primary since at least 1950. As a percentage of the potential electorate, participation had declined by almost half in only 12 years to only 14.0%. Election day registration was only 7% of the turnout, indicating that primary voters are overwhelmingly aging voters who live in their own homes.
Everyone who regularly follows the threads of this blogsite should realize that as advocates for opening access to third parties and independent candidates we
are also advocates for opening and democratizing the whole way elections are done in America. This means not only supporting laws breaking down ballot access barriers, allowing fusion, and opening up debate stages and providing public funding to minor candidate but also laws to bring about the popular election of the president (right now the best thing out there is the NPV compact movement, as it is so hard to pass an amendment just sacking the electoral college). We should oppose the movement toward requiring photo id’s to vote. We should demand that if the powers that be won’t hold still for PR, at the least single-member districting be handled by non-partisan commissions untainted by the will to gerrymander. And yes, we should push for and support bills to allow election-day voter registration.
#16:
I’ve said my piece on election-day registration, but how does NPV benefit 3rd parties? They haven’t cracked 10% of the vote since 1992 (due to Perot’s riches and getting into the debates) and before that it was 1968. With our current system a candidate only needs to receive ~11% of the vote [theoretically speaking]. Is ~33% really an easier goal to achieve?