On the other hand, there must be citizens who are educated by the campaigns and the press, and grow excited enough by the contest to want to vote-even though the whole election-engendered debate has followed the final dates for registra
tion.
TPotter

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Levine, Lloyd [mailto:Lloyd.Levine@asm.ca.gov]
Sent:	Wed Dec 21 02:44:10 2005
To:	ban@richardwinger.com; election-law@majordomo.lls.edu
Subject:	Re: Judge says legislature, not courts can enact same-day registration

The one thing I find interesting about all this talk of same day registration is what isn't said.  Usually the concept is discussed as a cure for declining participation. It is often rejected because of "fraud concerns."  It seems to me there is one other significant problem with same day voter registration: lack of voter education.   Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who argued that what the country needs is an informed citizenry?  Exactly how informed of the issues will a person be if that person didn't bother to register until Election Day?  They will not have received any of the information from the state, including candidate statements, and arguments for and against initiatives, nor will they have received any information from the candidates or ballot measures themselves.  How is someone supposed to cast an informed vote under those circumstances?  The current voter registration laws of most, if not all, states are such that it is relatively easy to register to vote.  I believ!
 e the appropriate question is: do we prize participation more than we value informed participation? 


--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu <owner-election-law_gl@majordomo.lls.edu>
To: election-law@majordomo.lls.edu <election-law@majordomo.lls.edu>
Sent: Tue Dec 20 16:16:41 2005
Subject: Judge says legislature, not courts can enact same-day registration

      December 20, 2005, 5:56 PM EST
      HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ A federal judge ruled
Tuesday that it's up to
the state legislature, not the courts, to decide
whether Connecticut should
allow people to register to vote on Election Day.

      Two voters, the Connecticut Working Families
Party and six public
interest groups _ some active in voter registration
_ sued the state,
arguing that Connecticut blocks people from
registering at the very time
politics is at its peak.

      They also claimed the U.S. Constitution
guarantees citizens the right
to register to vote on the same day they cast their
ballots. Connecticut's
law, they argued, violates their rights to equal
protection, to vote, to
associate and engage in political speech.

      But U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz said
Connecticut's system is
already liberal because it allows people to register
to vote up to seven
days in person before an election. He said the
process is easy and the
deadline is not discriminatory or severe.

      "Most other states requiring pre-election-day
registration require
their citizens to register to vote three to four
weeks before a general
election," he wrote in his 60-page opinion.
"Therefore, if Connecticut's
shortest-in-the pre-election-day registration
requirement cannot pass
constitutional muster, it is doubtful that any
state's can."

      Six states in the nation allow same-day
registration. Advocates claim
it is a way to significantly increase voter
participation.

      In 2003, Connecticut lawmakers passed same-day
registration, but
then-Gov. John G. Rowland vetoed the legislation. He
said, at the time,
there were not enough protections in the system to
prevent fraud.

      Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said
Tuesday that she supports
the concept of same-day registration. Since
Rowland's veto, she said, the
state has a computerized voter registration system
that prevents people from
voting twice or committing other types of fraud. But
Bysiewicz said it
should be up to the legislature to enact the change.

      She predicted the issue will likely come up in
the next legislative
session, which begins in February.
      Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.

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