Archive for January, 2010

It’s a new election year and you know what that means? Messed up voter registration systems. It’s getting old – it’s time once and for all to modernize the way we register to vote. Ever gone to your polling place only to be told that you weren’t on the voter rolls? Did you skip voting in an election because you didn’t know if you were registered at your new address? Did you get purged from the voter rolls, but don’t know why it happened? Are you concerned that 65 million eligible voters aren’t registered to vote?

Yeah – it’s messed up. We are pushing for reform and want you to join us.

Please vote for our plan to modernize our voter registration systems on Change.org and the top vote getters will have their idea presented to top decision makers in Washington, DC.

The United States is one of the few major democracies that puts the onus of voter registration on the people who wish to exercise their right. Our antiquated, confusing, expensive and unnecessarily complex voter registration system has been called “the single greatest cause of voting problems in the United States.” There is a better way: universal voter registration that is both automatic and permanent.

(Like what you’re reading – vote for the idea now.)

What does that mean? It means that state governments would be responsible for building and maintaining complete and accurate lists of voters by using available databases. It means that when you move, you don’t get kicked off the rolls. (How come the IRS and every company sending you a catalog knows that you’ve moved, but the Secretary of State doesn’t?) It means that deadlines don’t get missed, forms don’t get lost in the mall, and data doesn’t get entered wrong. It means that if you show up on election day and for some reason aren’t on the rolls or discover an error, you can fix the problem, cast your ballot, and have your vote counted.

(Sounds rational and reasonable to me! Vote.)

We can have a modern, accurate, reliable voter registration system that gets rid of paperwork, saves taxpayers millions of dollars each year, reduces the burden on both citizens and government officials, and guarantees that everyone who is eligible to vote is registered to vote. Our democracy demands no less.

Amen.

~Mary

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