Welfare For Voters: Is Universal Voter Registration The Solution To Voter Registration Fraud?
I certainly think that one way to stop voter registration fraud is to stop letting third-party interests, who typically have vested interests in how elections turn out, register voters. But I’m not sure that universal voter registration is a good idea.
The nation’s much-maligned election system passed a major test last week when more than 132 million Americans — a record — cast ballots with few reports of problems.
But now, election reformers are calling for a move toward a “universal voter registration” system, in which the government takes the lead in ensuring that all eligible citizens are registered to vote.
“This means the registration process would no longer serve as a barrier to the right to vote,” said Wendy R. Weiser, a lawyer for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “It would also eliminate the ACORN issue and all the gaming of the system.”
In the United States, unlike other major democracies, citizens, not the government, are responsible for seeing to it that they are registered to vote. And when people move, even if across town, they must update their registration, usually with a local office.
This sounds about as dumb as mandatory voting.
I think that everyone should be allowed to vote, but I don’t think we should be forcing people to vote. If a given voter can’t be bothered to get down to the polling place on election day, or fill out an absentee ballot, then the chances are he/she hasn’t bothered to get informed about the candidates and issues on the ballot. Meaning that requiring that person vote is basically inviting random stupidity into the ballot box.
By the same token, citizens who can’t even be bothered to register themselves to vote probably shouldn’t be voting either. Voting is a freedom that all Americans of appropriate age enjoy, but as with all freedom it comes with responsibilities. That responsibility should not be shifted onto the government.
