Centerfield

If there is a good argument why there should not be same-day registration, I have not heard it.

Fraud. An objection that can be at least partially overcome by actually requiring positive ID with current address at time of voting. (A good idea for ALL voters, IMHO.)

Work overload--an extra step in the process that can greatly slow down voting if too many people are registering on the spot, especially during heavy turnout. The polls are staffed with volunteers, and often there aren't enough of them even without adding a new step.

I agree with the fraud potential. I observed polls inside the city of Richmond here in Virginia back in the '90s, and I've seen with my own eyes people vote, leave, and return a few hours later, at the same precinct, wearing the same clothes, to try to vote again. (Fortunately, the officers of election turned them back without any prompting.)

I think that ID should be required of all voters, but that may be a distinct issue from same day registration.

Some of the election reform proposals floating around include providing a free federal voter ID card for federal elections, to circumvent the protests that lower-income (often Democratic voters) would be disenfranchised if forced to obtain a fee-based state-issued ID.

That about covers it, doesn't it? People should be allowed to vote, but not allowed to cheat.

I agree with establishing a voter ID sytem of some type. We should be able to find a reasonable way to allow people to register and vote same day, and also a way to make cheating really hard. And the solution requires making the choice in favor of IDs.

Or if the people decide that anonymity is especially important to avoid intimidation etc, they they have to be wllling to also accept other bureaucratic mechanisms that prevent the sort of fraud that anonymity enables. It's really that simple.

Frankly, as time goes by, I have a hard time seeing the value in some sort of vaguely expressed right to anonymity. Seems to me it's usually rooted either in paranoia or disingenuousness. Of course, I might feel different if they were after ME. :-)

Oh, BTW Todd, hats off to all Minnesotans. The state should be very proud to generate such numbers. They are putting the other states to shame.

It might be fun if state governors had bets about turnouts instead of just for sports teams. I think a campaign to increase turnout by invoking state pride could be kind of fun. It's too bad that increasiung turnout is viewed as more favorable to democrats, maybe this election will put a dent in that. I just think everyone should vote, and that they shoudl view it as an important enough thing to make themselves familiar with what's going on.

There is also a more philosophical argument against things like same-day registration that some conservatives will make. Basically, the argument is that voting should be a considered act by people with some involvement in the process and knowledge of the issues. Same-day registration and other similar things bring in more people who don't really know much about the issues and whose vote isn't well informed. If people don't care enough to meet the rather minimal requirements necessary to register in advance, why should we beg them to vote? In general, as someone mentioned several weeks ago on this blog, this is a basic philosophical difference between conservatives and liberals. Of course, in practice, it often gets down to which side benefits from higher turnout (and, as this election showed, that is by no means obvious anymore).

True, Marc. I've made the argument that those who can't be bothered to intelligently exercise the franchise are those whose votes won't be seriously missed--but I have no desire to STOP them from voting, just to make them obey basic rules meant to prevent fraud and abuse. Whenever I hear the cry "Let every vote be counted" my knee-jerk reaction is "Let every LEGAL vote be counted, and prosecute illegal voters!"

I'd have no great objection to same-day registration if it were coupled with requiring photo ID--driver's license or state ID card and one or two other forms of ID, same as you have to give to write a check in most businesses.

Otherwise the argument against it is that it encourages fraud. It also can make it possible for someone to just import a bunch of young people from another state into your state just to vote for candidate X, which apparently some groups have tried in those six states with same-day registration.

I don't recall ever hearing allegations of fraud. Here is the MN statute:

201.061 Registration on or before election day.
* * *
Subd. 3. Election day registration. An individual
who is eligible to vote may register on election day by
appearing in person at the polling place for the precinct in
which the individual maintains residence, by completing a
registration application, making an oath in the form prescribed
by the secretary of state and providing proof of residence. An
individual may prove residence for purposes of registering by:

(1) presenting a driver's license or Minnesota
identification card issued pursuant to section 171.07;

(2) presenting any document approved by the secretary of
state as proper identification;

(3) presenting one of the following:

(i) a current valid student identification card from a
postsecondary educational institution in Minnesota, if a list of
students from that institution has been prepared under section
135A.17 and certified to the county auditor in the manner
provided in rules of the secretary of state; or

(ii) a current student fee statement that contains the
student's valid address in the precinct together with a picture
identification card; or

(4) having a voter who is registered to vote in the
precinct sign an oath in the presence of the election judge
vouching that the voter personally knows that the individual is
a resident of the precinct. A voter who has been vouched for on
election day may not sign a proof of residence oath vouching for
any other individual on that election day.

For tribal band members living on an Indian reservation, an
individual may prove residence for purposes of registering by
presenting an identification card issued by the tribal
government of a tribe recognized by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs, United States Department of the Interior, that contains
the name, street address, signature, and picture of the
individual. The county auditor of each county having territory
within the reservation shall maintain a record of the number of
election day registrations accepted under this section.

A county, school district, or municipality may require that
an election judge responsible for election day registration
initial each completed registration application.