[EL] mandatory voter registration

[Rick Hasen]

(Note that I changed the subject heading of this thread to be 
descriptive.  Please remember to do that when you post.)

The government would take over the job of registering voters.  For new 
voters (voters who turn 18), the government would register voters at 
high schools (and track down high school dropouts to register them as 
well).  The government would also have a one time large drive to 
register all eligible voters, going out in the field like the census.  
It would be a large initial effort, and then a much smaller effort to 
deal with new voters, changes of address, correcting mistakes, etc.

As far as the thumb print, I'm imagining each station with an ink pad.  
A voter who forgets id signs in the book and leaves a thumb print.  The 
thumb print could then be matched at a later time to a voter's thumb 
print on file.  Anyone who would think about voter impersonation (I 
don't think there are many such people) would likely be deterred by 
having to leave a fingerprint at the scene of the crime.

I also talk in the book about how to create a nonpartisan, independent 
federal agency to administer elections.



On 1/16/13 12:27 PM, Doug Hess wrote:
> "One of the key recommendations I make in /The Voting Wars 
> <http://www.amazon.com/Voting-Wars-Florida-Election-Meltdown/dp/0300182031/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1329286945&sr=1-2-catcorr>/to 
> fix the problems with our election system is universal voter 
> registration conducted by the federal government combined with a 
> national voter id card.  The i.d. card would assign each potential 
> voter a unique voter id number, which would stay with the voter her 
> entire life as she moves across the U.S.  The id card would give 
> voters the option of providing a thumb print, so that if a voter ever 
> forgets or loses the card she can use a thumb print for voting. "
>
> Rick:
>
> 1) I don't see how this would obviate the need for there to be third 
> party advocates assisting voters with voter registration. Our current 
> (nearly) universal SSN system doesn't obviate the need for people to 
> get help from lawyers, etc. to straighten out their problems with the 
> paperwork, name changes, etc. In addition, a friend who works with 
> Social Security programs reports that there is a HUGE number of 
> duplicate or other problematic SS numbers out there.
>
> In short, I don't see how a national ID or "universal" voter 
> registration reduces the need for something similar to voter drives 
> (under your plan, I would imagine a need for canvassing to find people 
> that don't have the right paperwork to get the ID in the first place, 
> people who had problems with their ID number, etc.).
>
> I'm not sure what the thumb print would do. Are you picturing 
> thumbprint scanners at voting booths for biometric identification of 
> anybody in the nation who may show up?
>
> 2) Regarding fears of federal government running elections: I too 
> would worry about a federal agency making too many decisions over 
> elections. Federal commissions working on elections in the US tend not 
> to work out so well, and the DOJ Voting Rights Section was rather 
> heavily manipulated under a recent administration. I think the real 
> reform is to remove important election direction activity from the 
> hands of partisan officials. Otherwise, I'd rather continue to risk 
> foul ups here and there, instead of some massive foul up at the 
> federal level. Better the federal government set the terms for rights 
> and some standards.
>
> -Doug
>
>
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-- 
Rick Hasen
Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org

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