Case Against Same-Day Registration
The bill to permit voter registration on election day passed the House state government committee yesterday 12-8, but not before opponents argued the case against it.
I heard two arguments against the bill on radio news coverage. Neither one said there would be chaos in the polling place or that auditors couldn’t handle the change due to administrative constraints. So why oppose the bill?
Opponents pointed at undesirable voters.
One committee member said people should make an effort to vote, not just remember at the last minute. His patronizing attitude would make certain personal habits a criteria for voting. Call it the “plan ahead test”.
Another member warned about serial voters who could roam from poll to poll, registering and voting, registering and voting, registering and voting from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. She didn’t say how this criminal would obtain photo ids (which will be required for same day registration) showing various addresses, but we know one thing: THAT voter would have to plan ahead.
Perhaps better arguments were made in the committee and the radio just didn’t get the proper sound bites. I doubt it. The case for a law much like Minnesota and Wisconsin already have is too strong for the silliness I heard coming from opponents yesterday.
March 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 am
You are completely right. We are working on same-day registration in Massachusetts, too — it’s long past time that a common sense measure like this became the law of the land nationwide.