American Voter Registration

[Martinus]

A lot of states have 'motor voter' laws where you can register to vote when you apply for or renew your driver's license.

What about people who have no driver's license?

The DMV isn't the only place you can register to vote.

Oh sorry, for some reason I misread his post as stating that it's only when you can register.

[Martinus]

What if you move to a different place?

The rather than registering to vote in the new area, they just report a change of residence.

I thought that's where we are heading, and all anomalies aside, I prefer the US method.

In Poland there is still a communist era law which states that you have to notify the authorities when you change your place of residence - something that is rarely enforced anymore, but still there. Most people who move for work ignore it, and it is a blight on free society, but that's the reason why you do not have to register to vote. People who want to vote somewhere else than their registered place of residence (which includes a lot of residents of Warsaw for example who are still formally registered in their original places of origin) still need to register for voting so it's just a convenience for those who vote where they are registered.

As I said, I prefer the US approach.

[Martinus]

Keep in mind Puff that the US doesn't have a single Gestapo-run database of the names and addresses of its citizens.  And the IRS, which probably has the most complete set, is forbidden by law from sharing personal information.

This however smacks of luddism.

[Razgovory]

What if you move to a different place?

The rather than registering to vote in the new area, they just report a change of residence.

We call that "registering".

[Martinus]

Paying taxes or having a driver's license isn't the same as being a citizen eligible to vote so automatically being allowed to vote because you do those things doesn't make sense.  They also have to know where you are, so you don't vote in every polling place the county.  Incidentally, if you are male you have to send a selective service form to the government after your 18th birthday in the unlikely occasion they want to draft you.  You aren't automatically added to the rolls of that either.  Or at least you weren't in 1999.

Well, put a checkbox for citizenship and an address line to all government forms. You can talk about the details of how the government makes no effort to register voters. I say that the government should being making serious efforts to register all citizens that could be allowed to vote.

I think that's not enough. The government should be making serious effort to have each citizen equipped with an unremovable location detection chip, which also serves as a surveillance camera. Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear. 

[Razgovory]

I'm not sure what the big deal is really, ( as I said though, I don't know anything about the Florida law).  It's not like filling out a voter registration form is that difficult.  It takes a full five minutes to fill out and sign your name.  There is no test, or poll tax or anything.  Hell, you don't even have to be literate.

I admit though that reducing the amount of time to send it in from 10 days to 2 days seems odd.

[Sheilbh]

I'm not sure what the big deal is really, ( as I said though, I don't know anything about the Florida law).  It's not like filling out a voter registration form is that difficult.  It takes a full five minutes to fill out and sign your name.  There is no test, or poll tax or anything.  Hell, you don't even have to be literate.

Same.  Personally I think that it's not done by local government or some other independent body could make it more open to abuse and I think grumbler's right that it could do with being streamlined.  But I don't think this seems somehow undemocratic or a big issue. 

[dps]

I'm pretty sure you have to prove you live in a district to vote there.  Every time I voted they had a list of registered voters in the district.  When I voted, they checked my name off the list.  They also asked for some form of ID.  I reckon if my name wasn't on the list they probably wouldn't let me vote.  There are some requirements for voting in a certain district.  You have to live there, you can't be a felon, and you must be over 18.  Registering with the state seems a logical way for the government to enforce these requirements.  What would you have us do?

I don't know enough about the Florida law to know what it actually says or does.

What would I have you do? Well, automatically register all people eligible to vote automatically. Use IRS, Medicare, Medicaid, DMV etc. records to register. You pay taxes? Well that registers you to vote as part of the process.

Ideally, you'd set up unified database like scandinavia does. You have SSN's which presumably every citizen has. If your address is on any government database (at any level) you should be automatically registered.

First of all, Americans really don't want any sort of unified federal data base that contains all of our personal information.  Second, such a database would be useless anyway, because the federal government doesn't actually conduct any elections--they are all done by state and local governments.

And all the stuff you keep talking about--paying taxes, owning a home or business, etc., has nothing to do with being eligible to vote.  A foreign national can do all those things legally, but still isn't eligible to vote.  But if you're, say, an 19-year old full-time college student who lives with your parents and doesn't work, you might not pay any taxes or do any of those other things that you keep mentioning, yet you're still eligible to vote.

[Viking]

First of all, Americans really don't want any sort of unified federal data base that contains all of our personal information.  Second, such a database would be useless anyway, because the federal government doesn't actually conduct any elections--they are all done by state and local governments.

And all the stuff you keep talking about--paying taxes, owning a home or business, etc., has nothing to do with being eligible to vote.  A foreign national can do all those things legally, but still isn't eligible to vote.  But if you're, say, an 19-year old full-time college student who lives with your parents and doesn't work, you might not pay any taxes or do any of those other things that you keep mentioning, yet you're still eligible to vote.

1 - I'm not suggesting that the federal government register for the states, but rather that it communicates that person with ssn X that is a citizen is resident in a certain district if it learns this through normal activity.

2 - The idea is not to make the ONLY method of registration government interaction or to register non-citizens to vote. But to make registration automatic. If the government knows where a citizen lives then that citizen gets registered automatically in his or her local district.

In that case there is no more ACORN, no more Jim Crow and no gerrymandering through registration.

[Razgovory]

I don't think there is anymore ACORN or Jim Crow, and I don't think think gerrymandering is done through registration.  In Missouri you don't register a political party when you register to vote.

[The Brain]

I wouldn't register to vote in the US. So that the courts can give the victory to Bush regardless of election result? Fuck that.

[Viking]

I don't think there is anymore ACORN or Jim Crow, and I don't think think gerrymandering is done through registration.  In Missouri you don't register a political party when you register to vote.

No, you gerrymander by preventing socioeconomic groups from registering you can fix elections.

[Razgovory]

I don't think there is anymore ACORN or Jim Crow, and I don't think think gerrymandering is done through registration.  In Missouri you don't register a political party when you register to vote.

No, you gerrymander by preventing socioeconomic groups from registering you can fix elections.

I think it's based on Census data.

[garbon]

First of all, Americans really don't want any sort of unified federal data base that contains all of our personal information.  Second, such a database would be useless anyway, because the federal government doesn't actually conduct any elections--they are all done by state and local governments.

And all the stuff you keep talking about--paying taxes, owning a home or business, etc., has nothing to do with being eligible to vote.  A foreign national can do all those things legally, but still isn't eligible to vote.  But if you're, say, an 19-year old full-time college student who lives with your parents and doesn't work, you might not pay any taxes or do any of those other things that you keep mentioning, yet you're still eligible to vote.

1 - I'm not suggesting that the federal government register for the states, but rather that it communicates that person with ssn X that is a citizen is resident in a certain district if it learns this through normal activity.

2 - The idea is not to make the ONLY method of registration government interaction or to register non-citizens to vote. But to make registration automatic. If the government knows where a citizen lives then that citizen gets registered automatically in his or her local district.

In that case there is no more ACORN, no more Jim Crow and no gerrymandering through registration.

I'm against adding to the bureaucracy. No thanks.

[grumbler]

What if you move to a different place?

The rather than registering to vote in the new area, they just report a change of residence.

  But this is "voters registering themselves," which you oppose.  The change of residence form is the change in voter registration, as well.  In fact, changing voter registration is the only reason to change one's residence, insofar as I know.