Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown recently has introduced a bill that would have Oregon's voters automatically registered (provided that the DMV has their identification information). Oregon currently has a mail ballot system, and Brown maintained the position that "[voting] should be easy, not hard."Perhaps the government, not the voters, should bear the burden of voter registration, suggested by Jonathan Bernstein, a political scientist.An automatic voter registration is already in existence in other democracies. The requirement of voter registration seemingly unnecessarily complicates the election process. Bernstein even went so far as accusing that certain politicians are perhaps using the voter registration system as block to stop certain population group from voting, those who move more constantly ( which happens to coincide with those who are "younger and poorer.")
Even though Bernstein claimed that "Voter registration is hard in most states because someone who didn’t want people to vote passed a law," the voter registration system has its merit. Namely, it could protect the election process from frauds. A voter, who does not have to register to vote, could potentially vote more than once. And are the Americans ready for an automatic registration system? If you can recall a post by Mr. Silton during the presidential election day, you must have remembered the various voting frauds and irregularities occurred on that day.
However, although an automatic registration system has its cons, it would definitely allow more people to vote, making the election result more representative of the will of the people. What do you think? Do you think the benefits of an automatic registration system outweighs its cons? Should California and the rest of the nation follow suit? Are we ready for such a change?
Go to here and here to learn more about Oregon's proposed automatic voter registration system.
7 comments:
If people are cheating the system right now, I would assume there will be a far greater number when automatic voter registration takes place. Those determined to vote will vote and those unable to do so will unfortunately be unable to cast their opinions. I personally believe that opening a gate towards a path with more potential for cheating is too great of a risk. Automatic voter registration does allow for faster and easier elections, but I think we should take a safer route rather than a risky one. However, if Oregon pulls off record numbers with minimal voting frauds, I think the change will be worth trying.
I agree with Jaehee. This would make fraud much more likely and easier to do. I also agree with his point that people who actually want to vote will register and vote. We shouldn't make it easier to vote for people who are unmotivated to register. One great thing about having these two levels of government (state and federal levels) is that we could use that to our advantage to see how a piece of legislation works out in one state. If the results are positive, then the states could look into the possibility of implementing that legislation in their own states as well (as Jaehee also said).
The current amount of voter fraud is very very low. This is why people put up a fuss when politicians started wanting voters to show ID to "stop voter fraud" when they were actually disenfranchising black voters- voter fraud isn't prevalent enough to warrant those sorts of restrictions. To that same extent, withholding automatic voter registration just because of the possibility of fraud isn't enough, especially when we can assume that there will be safeguards in place. And in reference to what Ali said, people who don't register to vote aren't necessarily "unmotivated." They could just be badly informed, or someone who moves around a lot. Besides, the really unmotivated people aren't going to show up at the polls even if they're registered, if they're that unmotivated.
I don't think fraud is a huge issue or will become one even with this new system. even if there are thousands of fraud votes, that is a extremely small percentage of the many millions of Americans voting. I think Oregon is already ahead of the curb in making voting easier and this will push them even farther ahead. We should look up to Oregon and implement this in more places.
The increased voter participation will likely outweigh the negatives of fraud, especially because America has such a problem with low voter turnout. As was discussed earlier in the year in gov, voter turn out in part stems from voter apathy. Will making the process easier really make these people decide to vote? Certainly, when voters can access the polls easier, I can see that as leading them to potentially overcome that apathy and vote.
While I agree with Ali and Jaehee that voter fraud could result from this change, I still think that it would be more beneficial than detrimental for more people to be able to vote. Having people automatically registered would probably increase the percentage of voter participation in elections and allow for a more democratic process where more people are having their say in the government.
I don't believe that voter fraud usually has a serious effect on the outcome of an election, though I could be wrong. I'm also not sure if every state should follow Oregon's example. However, states with historically low turnout rates during elections probably should at least consider having an automatic registration system.
No system is completely foolproof. Fraud will always be a risk regardless of whether people are automatically registered or not. Still, at least people would be able to vote more easily. As Wyatt noted, voter apathy is a notable factor during elections in America. Moving one step closer to encouraging more voter participation is better in the long-run, at least in my opinion.
Overall, I tend to agree with what President Roosevelt once said: "Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting."
I agree with those who are saying that the issue of fraud isn't a huge deal right now, and this won't really change that. Though I feel like the bill is interesting, I wonder how much it will actually help raise the number of people who vote. Millions of registered voters don't vote each year for excuses ranging from laziness to frustration with the parties. There are other ways to increase voter turnout. If Brown wants to make voting "easy", maybe voting places should be located more conveniently for people and available for more hours.
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