No one said that that was being "cajoled or bribed into registering to vote." Are you going to sit/stand there and assert to me that there have been no dishonorable voter registration efforts-- much less voter registration fraud?
Necessary steps should be taken to avoid voter fraud. We should also do every single possible thing to make voting as easy as possible. We are supposed to be the beacon of democracy for the world. When only half of our country (or less) participates in elections, that is an embarrassment. And it is a shame. Technology being what it is, is there any good reason our driver's licenses (or other state ID) can't be encoded with our SSN? If they could, and if that technology was used for that purpose only (to avoid possible violations of civil liberties), I would advocate eliminating voter 'registration' altogether. And I would advocate checking in voters with a simple ID swipe. Once an ID had been swiped the SSN that was read there would not work again until the next election. This should not be a tough thing to master technologically. When money's involved, technology always rises to the occasion. When fair elections are involved, it should do the same. Nothing should stand in the way of any American citizen voting legally. There should be no hurdle, no hassle, no test and no 'registration.' The goal should be that all of our citizens participate in democratic elections. And citizenship should equal 'registration.' Every previous hurdle to voting in this nation's history has been knocked down as unconstitutional. The notion that apathy right up until the last minute should be a disqualifier is unconstitutional as well. And we don't defeat the enemy of apathy by telling people who become interested at the last minute that they're out of luck because they didn't care early enough. We need more voting in this country, not less. And American citizenship should be the only necessary qualification for participating our elections. Today, in this country, we have the best technology in the history of the world. And there is no better or more important place to put it to use than making sure that as many citizens as possible participate in our elections legally and that we can be sure of a fair result to those elections (a thing which has thus far, unbelievably, eluded us). We should never argue over which citizens should be eligible to vote on election day. We should be arguing over the best way to make sure they all do.
I guess you could call voter registration initiatives partisan, so long as one partisan is represented by many and the other by a few. Oh, I just remembered the names to those parties. The WINNING party, and the LOSING party! Nice try though.
*nods* It's actually pretty depressing how the basis for campaigns is to send a simple message that can reach everyone, rather than giving concrete ideas and plans. I was too young to care about elections before 2000. But the Bush victories have totally turned me off on election campaigns. But the truth of the matter is, if you want to reach a greater audience, you pretty much need to "dumb down" everything so even the most apathetic voter can get behind. The answer? Dictatorship of course.
One of the reasons for voter registration and voter rolls is logistical. The swiping a driver's license idea is nice, but if power goes out on election day, you have to keep the polls open, and you have to have a back up plan.
"Cajoled" and "Bribed" are not the same thing. Cajole: to persuade by flattery; coax Bribe: Something, such as money or a favor, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct. Cajole is fine bribe is not.
I find voter registration to be a pain in the ass. I'd like to just walk up, prove my identity, and then vote. I don't like cut-offs, since it's just an arbitrary way to limit the potential number of voters.
God! I'd forgotten how remote Minot, North Dakota was! My dad was stationed at an Air Force base there for three years when I was a child in the 70s. Cold as hell, in the middle of no-where! I have memories of snow drifts coming up to my second floor window.
I don't see the big deal with voter registration unless you happen to be moving into a new precinct very close to an election day or get called away on business or some sort of emergency right around election day. We all know about voting. We all know that some sort of registration is generally required. When I moved to Minnesota 17 years ago and got my new license, I registered to vote and didn't have to re-register or do anything else until I moved to another city 2 years ago. As far as I know, once you register, you don't have to re-register unless you move. Is this not true across the country? Again, why is it so difficult? Folks have plenty of time to register and there are often a number of local elections throughout the year to participate in as well.
