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Legislating Early Voting and Universal Registration Create Partisan Rifts
As we spend the day recounting yesterday, there were no incidents of voter fraud in the states where the GOP made a fuss over ACORN and other voter registration groups.
In fact, voting went remarkably smoothly, despite the surge in turnout -- a result, many voter experts say, of the use of early voting in key states.
Which raises key questions -- why isn't there early voting in all states? And after all of the debate over voter registration fraud, why not just institute universal voter registration?
"The single most important thing that Congress can do right now is create universal voter registration, which would mean that all eligible voters are automatically registered," said Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, in an article on the subject in the New York Times this morning.
The majority of states -- 32 -- have early-voting, with Congress discussing its expansion, the Times reports.
In fact, legislation for universal registration is already in the works in Sen. Hillary Clinton's office -- which would minimize long lines and the problems created by third-party groups like ACORN, which might sate the appetite of the GOP who has long accused ACORN of propagating voter registration fraud.
But, as the Times points out, even though making voting easier might sound like a non-partisan issue accepted by both sides of the aisle, it is anything but:
Lorraine C. Minnite, a political science professor and voting rights expert at Barnard College, said Republicans had generally resisted such efforts in part out of concern about ineligible voters like noncitizens being permitted to vote."But the bigger reason that Republicans have resisted expanding the franchise," Dr. Minnite said, "is that the new people who are likely to come into the electorate are more often of lower income and are people of color, who tend to vote Democratic."
Tom Jensen, a Democratic pollster based in Raleigh, N.C., said early voting gave Mr. Obama the edge for his narrow victory in North Carolina by offering his campaign more time to organize rides and get people to the polls. Mr. Jensen noted that Mr. Obama won early balloting by 178,000 votes but lost among Election Day voters by 165,000 votes.
"Obama had a great ground game," he said, "but if you only have 13 hours to get everyone out, it's much harder."
Josh
Zachary
Screw the REpublicans if they're against it. There is an overwhelming majority in the House. The Dems in the Senate are close enough to 60 and just need to peel off a few Senators to get there. The key is targeting GOP Senators who are up for election in 2010:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Senate_elections
There's a balance between finding some you can work with, and the tacit agreement that if they work the "middle" away from the hardline GOP'ers that you'll go easier on them come 2010. That's actually a hard one for Dem's.
You want to be able to target McCain with Governor Napolitano. That's a seat Napolitano could hold for decades (she's just 51 later this month), and it's entirely possible that if she has a strong enough push between now and then that McCain may just retire rather than go through another brutal campaign.
You want to be able to target Mel Martinez in Florida to build off this year.
So just who from the GOP side that you pick as being willing to work with... hard question.
John
November 7, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well said.
Dems should move on this right away - it's sure to be a winner with the majority of the voting public. Strike now while people still have that "Obama high".
November 7, 2008 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
November 7, 2008 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Important to remember that early voting systems were long seen as something GOP excelled at, so it is an open field. Obama just had the better ground game and young and minotry voters may have feared Election Day problems more than others. So, GOP should not really fear this, if they're resonable.
November 7, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Important to remember that early voting systems were long seen as something GOP excelled at, so it is an open field. Obama just had the better ground game and young and minotry voters may have feared Election Day problems more than others. So, GOP should not really fear this, if they're resonable.
November 7, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Early voting may be a good idea, but what can be done to prevent Republicans from losing votes after they are cast? The returns from Alaska, where one poll predicted that Sen. Stevens would lose by a 22-point margin, are extremely questionable.
November 7, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
It begins with someone having the will to make voting work. Right now I'm not sure either party really wants that.
Then it continues with creating a culture of democracy that raises voting to the importance and integrity that it deserves - things like recognizing and correcting the idiocy of having partisan secretaries of state who might be participating in a partisan campaign responsible for the election process.
And finally, if we start throwing some asses in jail that interfere with the electoral process, that's going to go a long way to solving it.
November 7, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
"what can be done to prevent [anyone] from losing votes after they are cast?"
I agree completely. I am not a fan of early voting. It did NOT making voting easier for many, viz. the multi-hour waits widely reported during early voting this year. Having polls open on two days might be warranted, but ballot security remains a legit issue. Making voting easy is good. Educating voters is good. Diebold is bad.
And I also find Alaska suspicious since three races are off by about the same fractions.
November 7, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
The voting calculus is simple: every citizen of age has a right to vote and the government has an obligation to count each vote accurately.
Registration itself functions as a roadblock to exercising that right. I don't have the perfect answer to solving this, but I do know that issues of voter fraud (as opposed to election fraud) largely go away when the myriad restrictions and blocks to voting are eliminated.
But this has been a conservative touchstone since the birth of the country. The right always wants fewer voters. Can't have the rabble confusing the issues after all.
November 7, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Automatic registration when one turns 18 would be logical.
Voting on-line should be facilitated soon.
Having a week end or a week of voting would be so much better. Mail in voting should be encouraged too.
Universal paper ballots, no more Diebold machines.
Its a Federal election, states should have no say in remaking rules to suit their "special interests".
Clean up this mess before we call ourselves a Democracy for gawd's sake.
November 7, 2008 6:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Automatic registration when one turns 18 would be logical."
You mean like a national identity card?
States Rights means states SHOULD have a say.
November 7, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
My two sons were automatically signed up for the Selective Service. Why not automatic voter registration? There is no reason. If a person then doesn't want to vote, or doesn't care enough to vote they can stay home, but the privilege should be in place AUTOMATICALLY.
I agree that early voting is a good idea, especially since voting polling places are woefully unprepared for a high percentage of voters showing up on one particular day.
Voting day should either be a National Holiday, or it should be moved to a weekend. Why should people have to miss work to vote? It is ridiculous to have an election on a day when the majority of people are in the workplace from 9 - 5 and polls are open 6am to 7 pm. Think about it -- it is a no-brainer!
But the main, overwhelming issue is this:
The voting machines are hackable, and voting officials are "hackable" too. That is how Bush "won" twice," There is no excuse for this continuing.
States' rights have nothing to do with this. Why should states have an investment in doing things differently for national elections? Standardization, and paper trails would help, but I am certain there are technologies that nerds know about that would make the voting system secure. I hope Obama will put this issue on his "To Do" list-- it's not like he'd have to personally solve it; it is delegatable.
If this isn't addressed, however, the republicans, if they end up with a candidate they LIKE (instead of McCain) may decide to steal the next one, and THEN where will we be?
November 8, 2008 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I cannot support any form of electronic voting, either online or using a touchscreen voting machine (e.g. Diebold AccuVote TSx). We computer professionals are nearly unanimous on this position. Noted computer security expert Avi Rubin discussed his involvement with the SERVE (internet voting) effort in his book "Brave New Ballot". Fortunately for democracy, they shelved the notion. Because online voting can never be secured or audited.
The best available solution for the USA is casting a paper ballot at a poll site, where it is counted on a precinct-based optical scanner. Not perfect, mind you, but the best available solution.
Cheers, Jason Osgood
November 10, 2008 2:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
My question is not why doesn't every state have early voting, but why should any state have it? It was said upstream that we're on an Obama high right now, but if significant early voters had locked in their views by voting early when McCain was up just after the R's convention, we could have been singing a different tune. If they want to have an early voting period, then make it just the last week prior to the formal election day so that there is time for a full campaign to discuss important issues. How does the saying go, 'Act in haste, repent at leisure'? Vote before you have ample time to hear all the pros and cons of candidates, and you might end up with George Bush again, a guy you think you'd like to have a beer with, but who is going down in history as the worst president ever.
November 7, 2008 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you didn't learn all the information you needed to make an informed decision in the 2 years before the early voting period, you're retarded and maybe shouldn't be voting at all.
November 8, 2008 1:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
To the above discussion I'd like to add this insightful early analysis on the turnout and the impact of convenience voting on the election (I recommend reading the article but also clicking through to the linked-to-report, which looks big but is mostly the numeric data after you get past the first half-dozen pages).
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2008/11/07/4454/the_big_jump_in_turnout_that_wasnt
November 8, 2008 3:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think the other part of reforming voting registration has to be setting standards for how votes are cast and counted. Diebold has got to go!!
I have worked in the high tech industry for a long time and I have seen the development of touch screen systems. Some work okay, some never do.
It is possible to create secure systems that cant be easily reprogrammed but in the end you wind up having to rely on the vendor to fix them, upload software and updates. If a company like mine cant get a straight answer out of a vendor about what the software parameters of a system are how do you think City or State administrators with limited or no technical backround are going to?
BradBlog and Velvet Revolution are doing excellent work on vote stealing. We really need to press the politicians like Hillary to fix this.
November 8, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
HEY! EVERYBODY! -
Get out that unused credit card (use it so that the bank doesn't close your account out) and go right now to Jim Martin's campaign website and make a contribution. Help defeat god damned Chambliss! -
http://www.martinforsenate.com
November 8, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm from Oregon. Vote by mail is awesome. We got our ballor about two weeks before the election and could return it by mail, or on election day, drop it off at the polling sites, which we still have. Libraries keep ballot boxes too. So procrastinators have options!!!
BUT, keep in mind there is an automatic counting machine, and I think it can be rigged too, but if there are too many questions, these are paper ballots. We have a hand count option. I think paper ballots are indispensable.
November 9, 2008 1:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, about national registration. I think maybe states should have more rights. I look at an issue like Fair Marriage, and I see the Defense of Marriage Act, allowing states to ignore one another's marriages. If marriage was federal, would same-sex couples be allowed to marry anywhere?
It seems states can learn from one another and create civil freedoms, but making things federal just tunes national policy to the current ideologues.
November 10, 2008 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have studied the voter registration system used in Washington State. The resolution to the "voter fraud vs purged voters" debate is universal voter registration. This is for both legal and technical reasons.
Here's my position Universal Voter Registration, including responses to commenters.
Interestingly, I originally got the idea from Curtis Gans. Since then, Fair Vote, Progressive States Network, and others have begun to promote universal voter registration.
(Note: I was the Democratic candidate for Washington's Secretary of State. Here's my home page. I've been fighting for years to restore integrity to our elections and reclaim our democracy.)
Cheers, Jason Osgood
November 10, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink