[EL] mandatory voter registration

[Lorraine Minnite]

Michael is right, and Prof. Keyssar's book is an excellent source for more
information on these early registration laws.  However, they were not
without their critics, some of whom worried that government employees might
not practice due diligence, and that the real purpose of the new laws was
to cut down the vote among the urban lower classes.

>From chapter 2 of my book, *The Myth of Voter Fraud*:

"...Allegations of voter fraud have been used to justify electoral rules,
such as voter registration, that impose unequal burdens on the right to
vote among different classes of eligible voters, however laudable their
other administrative functions.

"In fact, allegations of fraud justified some of the earliest efforts of
self-proclaimed reformers to enact registration laws. In 1836, Pennsylvania
ratified its first registration law, but applied it only to the city of
Philadelphia. It required city assessors to compile a list of qualified
voters and prohibited anyone whose name did not appear from voting.
Supporters claimed the law was needed to prevent the “gross election
frauds” that prevailed in the city. But at the constitutional convention
the following year, the law was assailed as a partisan move aimed at
cutting down the Democratic vote in Philadelphia and cutting out the poor
and the laboring classes. James Madison Porter, a delegate from a prominent
political family and later founder of Lafayette College, stated:

'The effect of this law is to restrain and restrict the right of suffrage.
It is not to be disguised, for the fact is unquestionable, that one of the
leading characteristics of distinction between the two great and leading
political parties of this country, when we had parties formed on principle,
was the fact that the federal party was for restraining the right of
suffrage . . . while the democratic party was for giving the largest extent
to the exercise of the right of suffrage. . . . This act was . . . passed
to carry out the sentiments of those who do not wish the right of suffrage
extended to all. . . . It was got up for political purposes, to produce
political results that could not otherwise be attained.'

"Porter was an old-fashioned federalist, a strong supporter of Henry Clay
aligned with the Whig Party. He nevertheless opposed the new registration
law on the principled grounds that it discriminated against the poor.  He
went on to say, “Its effect is to give advantages to the rich and the
knowing, to the prejudice of the poor laborer, who, toiling for his daily
bread, has not time to run after these registering officers and their
lists, and may not have information enough to study out the complicated
provisions of this law; and thus it tramples under foot the rights of the
poor and the humble.”

"In the nineteenth century, the property and tax-paying requirements that
impeded the right to vote established the rationale for the scattering of
registration laws on the books at the time. They also provided the means
(the tax rolls) for compiling names of eligible voters. But by the 1850s,
these had mostly been eliminated..."

Lori Minnite


On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 5:01 PM, Michael McDonald <mmcdon at gmu.edu> wrote:

> Alexander Keyssar discusses government registration starting on p. 64 of
> “The Right to Vote.” He mentions places like Philadelphia and Connecticut
> where local governments were responsible for registering their voters and
> concerns that some voters would be excluded from the lists.
>
> ============
> 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: Richard Winger [mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 4:22 PM
> To: 'law-election at UCI.edu'; mmcdon at gmu.edu
> Subject: Re: [EL] mandatory voter registration
>
> 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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