For those Americans who do not want to see voting end up like navigating a DMV phone-answering tree, the Brennan Center this fall put forth the idea of universal voter registration.
Worth a read; here's a summary:
In a universal voter registration system, it would be the government's obligation to ensure that every eligible citizen was registered to vote.
Individual citizens could opt out if they wished, but the registration process itself would no longer serve as a barrier to the right to vote.
Here are some of the important ways that federal policy can and should encourage the states to improve on the current voter registration system:
- Mandate that the states put systems in place that would phase in universal voter registration, while preserving the states' ability to experiment with different systems.
- Require states to immediately implement permanent registration, so that voters wouldn't have to re-register if they moved within a state.
- Require states to implement Election Day registration, as a fail-safe mechanism for eligible voters missing from the voter rolls for any reason.
- Provide the funding that states would need to ensure that every eligible voter is registered.
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