[EL] mandatory voter registration

Wed Jan 16 13:22:07 PST 2013

Which states (or parts of states) ever did this?

Richard Winger

415-922-9779

PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

--- On Wed, 1/16/13, Michael McDonald <mmcdon at gmu.edu> wrote:

From: Michael McDonald <mmcdon at gmu.edu>
Subject: Re: [EL] mandatory voter registration
To: "'law-election at UCI.edu'" <law-election at uci.edu>
Date: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 12:54 PM

It is good to remember that Rick's proposal is nothing new: the government
used take primary responsibility for registering voters. When voter
registration laws were first imposed on urban areas where immigrants could
be found, urban localities responded by using government employees such as
tax assessors to proactively register their populations. And even prior to
voter registration, the government often would effectively manage the voting
eligible list where eligibility was determined by property assessments.

A friendly amendment to Rick’s proposal: a number of states have adopted
“preregistration” programs that register persons as young as sixteen so that
they will be on the rolls when they turn eighteen. These programs are often
tied into high school civic education programs, student poll worker programs
where being a registered voter is a requirement to be a poll worker, and I
have found they have a beneficial effect on voter turnout. I would hope that
a federal preregistration requirement would be part of the discussion. 

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor
George Mason University
4400 University Drive - 3F4
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

703-993-4191 (office)
e-mail:  mmcdon at gmu.edu               
web:     http://elections.gmu.edu
twitter: @ElectProject     

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 3:36 PM
To: Doug Hess; law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] mandatory voter registration

(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 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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