American Voter Registration

[Monoriu]

The two things that are baffling me are that the government is not actively seeking to register all citizens itself, leaving that process up to NGOs; and that it seems that it seems to be a legitimate political activity to prevent the other side from registering voters likely to vote for the other side.

Voting is considered a individual right.  Therefore, individuals have responsibility to register themselves.  A lot of people, myself included, will be mightily pissed if they are automatically registered as voters just because they renewed their driving licence.  That is not a clear demonstration of consent to be registered.  A lot of people don't want to be registered and they should have the right not to participate. 

Here in HK, the government spends a lot of money to try to get people to register.  We did everything we could.  We hired legions of temp staff to get random people on the street to register.  We spent millions on advertisement.  We twisted the arms of celebrities for them to say a few good words for us for free.  But I am happy that I have never registered, and I don't need to.   

[dps]

I suggested that any interaction with local, state or federal agencies includes a registration to vote. Add checkboxes for "Are you a US citizen" and "Check this box if you do not want to be registered to vote" and there you go. If you tick the right boxes applying for a license to handle explosives gets you registered to vote if you aren't already.

Registering to vote is quick, simple, and easy.  Having to fool around with checking a bunch of extra boxes for ever single interaction you have with the government, while no big deal in any individual interaction, would cumulatively be a major hassle.

[Capetan Mihali]

I think allowing same-day registration, rather than the current system or automatic registration, would be a good idea.  Would keep the Monos and militiamen of the country satisfied, while allowing anyone who wants to vote to be able to.  I imagine there would be huge logistical problems with this. 

But I do think that being able to vote in any election for the people governing you should be a basic entitlement of citizenship, regardless of how "bad" or uninvolved a citizen you are. 

I also think Election Day should be a national holiday.  Voting when you have to work a full day can be an enormous pain in the ass depending on your hours and your polling place, and there's no principled reason why people should have a harder or easier time voting based on their employment.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Just consolidate the populationregistries and domicile-registries and be done with it. when election comes every citizen is registered automatically. send them a nice card. If they then vote or not it's their problem. But no more hassle with wether or not there's illegal registration going on. and the advantage is that no new info is made knowledgeable to the state either. top it off with firing excess bureaucrats after database consolidation.

[garbon]

I think allowing same-day registration, rather than the current system or automatic registration, would be a good idea.  Would keep the Monos and militiamen of the country satisfied, while allowing anyone who wants to vote to be able to.  I imagine there would be huge logistical problems with this. 

But I do think that being able to vote in any election for the people governing you should be a basic entitlement of citizenship, regardless of how "bad" or uninvolved a citizen you are. 

I also think Election Day should be a national holiday.  Voting when you have to work a full day can be an enormous pain in the ass depending on your hours and your polling place, and there's no principled reason why people should have a harder or easier time voting based on their employment.

You seem to have a lot of idealistic thoughts.

[garbon]

Just consolidate the populationregistries and domicile-registries and be done with it. when election comes every citizen is registered automatically. send them a nice card. If they then vote or not it's their problem. But no more hassle with wether or not there's illegal registration going on. and the advantage is that no new info is made knowledgeable to the state either. top it off with firing excess bureaucrats after database consolidation.

The government doesn't keep a registry of where every citizen lives...

[Grey Fox]

Just consolidate the populationregistries and domicile-registries and be done with it. when election comes every citizen is registered automatically. send them a nice card. If they then vote or not it's their problem. But no more hassle with wether or not there's illegal registration going on. and the advantage is that no new info is made knowledgeable to the state either. top it off with firing excess bureaucrats after database consolidation.

The government doesn't keep a registry of where every citizen lives...

They do, they just don't call it that.

[garbon]

Just consolidate the populationregistries and domicile-registries and be done with it. when election comes every citizen is registered automatically. send them a nice card. If they then vote or not it's their problem. But no more hassle with wether or not there's illegal registration going on. and the advantage is that no new info is made knowledgeable to the state either. top it off with firing excess bureaucrats after database consolidation.

The government doesn't keep a registry of where every citizen lives...

They do, they just don't call it that.

Not sure how any every ten year census would help.  Or perhaps you're thinking of when people register for state IDs and the like? Those can be woefully misleading about where a person actually resides.

[garbon]

A lot of people, myself included, will be mightily pissed if they are automatically registered as voters just because they renewed their driving licence.  That is not a clear demonstration of consent to be registered.  A lot of people don't want to be registered and they should have the right not to participate. 

Well at least in New York/California you have to opt in for voter registration when you get a license. Doesn't automatically happen.

[Grey Fox]

I was thinking of the IRS.

[garbon]

I was thinking of the IRS.

Not always the best record (especially if one has little to no income in a given year) and it also picks up non-citizens. Case in point - my last tax return had me paying taxes in California and the address I had when filling out taxes is different from my current one.

[dps]

I was thinking of the IRS.

There are probably millions of eligible voters who don't file income tax returns (the retired, full-time college students, the chronically unemployed, etc.), and a lot of people who aren't eligible to vote who do (resident aliens, minors who hold jobs, felons who has lost their voting right, etc.).

[Grey Fox]

I was thinking of the IRS.

There are probably millions of eligible voters who don't file income tax returns (the retired, full-time college students, the chronically unemployed, etc.), and a lot of people who aren't eligible to vote who do (resident aliens, minors who hold jobs, felons who has lost their voting right, etc.).

Aye. I wasn't arguing that it was a complete list to use as a Electors list. Just that the IRS probably has a list of where citizens live.

[garbon]

Aye. I wasn't arguing that it was a complete list to use as a Electors list. Just that the IRS probably has a list of where citizens live.

Wouldn't it be better to simply have individuals register themselves than an inaccurate, incomplete list?

[Grey Fox]

Aye. I wasn't arguing that it was a complete list to use as a Electors list. Just that the IRS probably has a list of where citizens live.

Wouldn't it be better to simply have individuals register themselves than an inaccurate, incomplete list?

Maybe. I haven't followed this thread much.