Registration on day of election considered Backers say plan would draw more voters

Winston Salem Journal ^ | April 17, 2003 | Dana Damico

[Kuksool]

Registration on day of election considered Backers say plan would draw more voters

By Dana Damico JOURNAL RALEIGH BUREAU

RALEIGH

Hoping to lure North Carolina's 1 million unregistered voters to the polls, state legislators are considering a proposal to allow people to vote on the same day that they register.

The proposal's supporters say that most people pay scant attention to candidates until the last few weeks of an election. And if they get motivated to vote then - but have not registered - they are out of luck. Current law requires people to register 25 days before an election.

Under the proposal, people qualified to vote could register and vote at one-stop voting sites that open 19 days before Election Day.

On Election Day, they could register and vote at a central site picked by county elections officials.

Six states offer so-called same-day registration.

"I'm one of the advocates that North Carolina should be the seventh state and remove this barrier (to voting)," said Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth. "It will help younger people get involved." Parmon said.

To discourage voter fraud, people would be required to show identification and proof of residency, and sign a statement swearing that the information they gave is accurate. They could be prosecuted for perjury - a felony - if they lie.

"There's more checks on this kind of voting than on any other kind of voting that you do in this state," said Rep. Deborah Ross, D-Wake, a chief sponsor of the bill that is scheduled for debate in a House committee today.

Chris Haggerty of the N.C. Center for Voter Education said he was initially skeptical of the proposal, given the history of voter fraud in North Carolina. But he said that the multiple security provisions put his doubts to rest.

To register, voters would have to show more personal documents than would be required to open a checking account or apply for a driver's license, he said.

"This is a proposal that has won me over," Haggerty said.

Democracy North Carolina, a campaign watchdog group that supports the legislation, says that 1 million North Carolinians 18 and older are not registered to vote, and 400,000 of them are between the ages of 18 and 34.

More than 200,000 of that group are under the age of 25.

"This is a bill that could really reach across a wide spectrum," said Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina.

Sen. Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, said that the proposal would not favor parties but help the hardest-working candidate.

"It's not a partisan issue," Ballantine said. "All parties are going to work to register people up to the last minute. This just extends the game into overtime.

"With the new technology, we ought to be able to handle it," he said.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, agreed.

"If they're eligible to vote, qualified to vote, present themselves to vote - only once - then they should vote," Hartsell said. "Anything we can do to assist voter participation is useful for democracy. I'm not going to say it will significantly increase participation but it will."

Proponents figure that the proposal could improve North Carolina's voter turnout by 5 percent or more and pull the state from its near-bottom ranking in national voter turnout. Democracy North Carolina reports that state voter turnout ranked 44th in presidential elections from 1980 to 2000.

The six states that allow same-day registration - Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming - had an average voter turnout rate of 61 percent in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections, Hall said. About 47 percent of North Carolinians eligible to vote went to the polls in the two elections.

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research released a report today on voter turnout that calls for a series of election reforms, including legislation to allow workers time off to vote and experimentation with voting by mail, as Oregon does, and by Internet, a process already in place in Alaska.

• Dana Damico can be reached in Raleigh at (919) 833-9916 or at ddamico@wsjournal.com

[My2Cents]

Bull. Those interested in voting have already registered. This plan will only make it easier to promote voter fraud.

I think we need to challenge this idea that it's a black mark on our political system that not enough people vote. I figure that those people who take the time to educate themselves about the issues and candidates, have also taken the pains to register, and then turn-out to vote. Frankly, I hate the thought that some organization has worked to turn out someone who is essentially apathetic and ignorant, who will thereby cancel-out my vote. Our election system no longer discriminates against people, or places barriers to citizens in terms of their right to vote (all the fuss about Florida in 2000 notwithstanding). As long as everyone is treated the same, i.e., fairly, efforts to turn-out the apathetic and ignorant should be opposed.

[SAJ]

Exactimundo.

[Kuksool]

{Sen. Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, said that the proposal would not favor parties but help the hardest-working candidate.
"It's not a partisan issue," Ballantine said. "All parties are going to work to register people up to the last minute. This just extends the game into overtime.
"With the new technology, we ought to be able to handle it," he said.
Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, R-Cabarrus, agreed.}

The GOP is definitely the stupid party.

[HIDEK6]

Where do I start?

I don't think young people voting is a particularly good idea. Most of them are too stupid to understand what they are doing. and besides, if they've paid scant attention to the campaign up to voting day, the occasion of their being registered to vote will not endow them with a supernatural grasp of the issues.

The vaunted safeguards against fraud are meaningless in total rat precincts, where the person doing the registering can neglect to ask for proof of residence, age, citizenship, etc.

This still won't stop the rat from just fraudulently register a bunch of corpses or imaginary people.

It's enough of a battle to counter rat fraud in the runup to the election without having to go overtime with them every year.

[goodnesswins]

I'm with you......we need INFORMED VOTERS....not just bodies filing into the voting booth to vote for what/whomever they've been TOLD/PAID to vote for....this only means MORE VOTER FRAUD....like you said. I think the voting age should raised to 21, or else mandatory classes (or pass a test?) in economics and taxes before you vote. Yeah, like that'll ever happen.....LOL....I know...people are going to call it a "poll tax."

[Kuksool]

{To discourage voter fraud, people would be required to show identification and proof of residency, and sign a statement swearing that the information they gave is accurate. They could be prosecuted for perjury - a felony - if they lie.}

If showing ID and signing an affidavit is required when a person wishes to register to vote on election day, then why not apply the same rule to everyone who wishes to vote.

[Slyfox]

Registration on day of election considered Backers say plan would draw more voters

I am a precinct chairman. I know from 19 years of personal experience that the biggest hassle I have to contend with is the fact that people try to vote who are not registered to vote. That's bad enough, but how in high heaven am I supposed to determine whether they are even citizens of the United States? I can't do that and manage an election.

The reason why we have registration with a time period attached before someone can vote is that we need time to determine whether the person is a U.S. citizen, and we need to find out if they are a felon. This same day crap is for the birds, I mean democrats.

[Blood of Tyrants]

To prove that NC is tough of voter fraud, they can publish the na of people that have been prosecuted for voter fraud in the past 20 years. It would be a very small number. Most likely less than one.

[My2Cents]

I agree. Funny thing is, in the primary in 2002, I required to show ID to vote. In the general election (same polling place), I wasn't required to show ID. I asked about the discrepancy, and no one at the polling place had an answer. It doesn't encourage confidence.

[nicmarlo]

For more information on what FReepers are trying to do to fight voter fraud, please see this thread, compiled by sweetliberty:

FReepers Against Voter Fraud

[Blood of Tyrants]

They are trying this same garbage in Tennessee. Two years ago the legislature gave ILLEGAL ALIENS driver's licenses. This year they tried to pass election day voter registration where the ILLEGAL ALIENS could use their Tennessee DL's for an official ID and show some other proof of residency BUT NO PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP and no provision to for money for the various state and county election commissions to cross check the names.

The Rats KNOW that the only reason for this is to ENCOURAGE voter fraud and to stuff the ballot box.

Do you think the morons over at DU are upset about the possibility of more elections being stolen?

[Kuksool]

{They are trying this same garbage in Tennessee. Two years ago the legislature gave ILLEGAL ALIENS driver's licenses.}

Surprise, NC has the same driver license law. Do I detect a pattern here?

BTW, has that crazy pro-fraud bill passed in TN or is it just stalled for the moment?

[Servant of the Nine]

We need to make it harder to vote, not easier.

If you have to make an effort and think ahead to get to vote there is a better chance you will actually think about which candidates you want to vote for.
Of course, that is why the DemonRats hate the idea.

SO9

[RayBob]

I'm all in favor of this proposal provided that it is combined with ID requirements at both the registration and the voter booth. Proove that you are John Smith who lives at 123 Main Street when you register and when you vote. Oh, yeah, and one other thing, some technology that prevents multiple voting, like retinal scans, fingerprints, a big red dot on the right hand like they do in some latin american countries...

Until those protections are available, election day registration will allow the dems to take busloads from polling place to polling place and vote multiple times (yeah, I know they do that already, but this will make it worse.)

[johnb838]

BAd idea.

[My2Cents]

Right. I'm sure NC has had only ONE case of voter fraud in the last 20 years. Enforcement of the laws depends on whose ox is actually being gorged, I suppose.

[TheLion]

As I have stated before, anything the Democrats do in the name of "increased voter turnout" is a smokescreen for setting up the system for increased vote fraud. It would be very simple to put a real crimp in vote fraud but that, unfortunately, that is not what it is all about.

These proposals have been going on all over the country. This is feel good legislation and makes the Democrats appear to be helping people get involved in the voting process and at the same time, tackling the vote fraud issue.

All the plans to increase voter turnout haven't increased voter turnout. The Democrats are very clever with their criminal enterprise. Lower turnout favors them due to the increased impact of the fraud.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I think that enough pressure has been put on the General Assembly to kill the bill for now. But or Rat controlled G.A. really hates to be told that they can't do something and WILL bring this up again if not this year, then next year.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Just think if all laws were enforced with such a political slant. It would literally be open season to murder white christian males at will. The rape of white Christian women would be ignored as if it never happened (as long as the rapist was not white, that is).