Bipartisan agreements seem possible on immigration and perhaps even on guns. Could election reform be next? Is there an opportunity to move past the partisan rancor of the voting wars and modernize America’s out-of-date election system? We all know it needs improvement. Long lines on Election Day are only the most visible symptom, as some voters from Florida to Virginia to Ohio waited up to seven hours to make their voice heard in last year’s election. The culprit often turns out to be the old-fashioned, paper-based registration system used across the country. According to the Pew Center on the States, approximately 51 million Americans are not registered to vote but should qualify to do so. One in eight registrations contain errors or are no longer valid. Nearly 2 million dead people appear on the voter rolls. In 2008, estimates are that at least 3 million voters who thought they were registered showed up at the polls, only to be turned away because of registration problems.
This echoes a study a decade ago, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former President Jimmy Carter, which found that America’s registration rules are “among the world’s most demanding” and are “one reason voter turnout in the United States is near the bottom of the developed world,” and our voter lists are “riddled with inaccuracies.”
Voter Registration Modernization approach would offer something for everyone — conservatives worried about fraud, liberals worried about access, and small-government advocates worried about cost.
I saw this firsthand as the general counsel to the McCain for President campaign in 2008. Endless disputes — often in court — over voter lists and registration rules helped nobody. We can do much more to bring our paper-based registration system into the modern era, curbing the potential for fraud while making sure everyone who is eligible can vote (but only those eligible can vote). There is always plenty of politics in politics. Still, we ought to be able to run elections without the system itself being the subject of constant battles between Republicans and Democrats. That makes only the lawyers happy.
In fact, there is a better way to run elections. If we bring our systems into the 21st century, especially voter registration, it would have significant positive impact for voters — and also for the election officials who are charged with running our system.
Here’s how Voter Registration Modernization would work. Government would give citizens the choice to be electronically registered to vote at the same time they do business with a government office, such as applying for a driver’s license, Social Security, or state veterans’ benefits. The voter would enter the information directly into the system electronically — no paper to misread or lose. Nobody would be registered without consent, but, by using modern technology, far more would have the chance to do so than today.
Full Article: A Simple Plan to Drastically Improve Voting, Stop Fraud, and Save Money – Trevor Potter – The Atlantic.