Posted on 04/22/2003 10:44:03 AM PDT by 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
Just because voter fraud isn't reported doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
If someone is paying attention during the election cycle there is no reason why s/he can't register prior to election day. And if you don't think the parties will round up people to vote on election day because they can register at the same time, you are in denial.
Personally, I could care less about the percentage of people who actually vote. My only concern is that those who vote understand and know what they are voting for. If this means fewer people participate in the voting process, so be it.
It doesn't get more people involved in politics. If they are involved, they would have already been registered because they cared enough about it to be part of the process. It will get more people voting, but not more people involved in politics.
Anybody who doesn't take the time/effort to register under the existing liberal laws doesn't care enough to inform themselves on the issues and people being voted upon.
So, who needs more uninformed voters pulling the levers? (answer:"Democrats")
This indicates that those who will most benefit from election-day registration are those who probably aren't regular voters, those who have a particular ax to grind, and will likely vote for the hell-raiser on the ballot. Obviously, I'm not opposed to people voting for whomever they want, I would hope that the vast majority of voters would cast their votes after serious and long consideration, and not just on a whim that hits them on election day. As long as there are no structural or institutional barriers to making the voting franchise available to all, I have no problem with people having to register to vote well in advance of election day; in fact, that's my preference. As I said earlier, I don't want my well-considered vote being cancelled out by someone who comes to the polls at the last minute, probably votes in ignorance, and didn't have enough interest in the election to register earlier.
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