March 19, 2015 7:03 AM

Making voting as easy as possible: What a novel concept

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Sweeping first-in-the nation legislation making voter registration automatic in Oregon was signed into law on Monday by Governor Kate Brown, potentially adding 300,000 new voters to state rolls. The so-called Motor Voter legislation will use state Department of Motor Vehicles data to automatically register eligible voters whose information is contained in the DMV system, with a 21-day opt-out period for those who wish to be taken off the registry. Supporters say the legislation’s goal is to keep young voters, students and working families who move often from losing their right to vote. Republican lawmakers, who unanimously voted against the bill, complain it puts Oregonians’ privacy at risk.

This is something that should be self-evident…unless, of course, you’re a Republican- in which case, I suspect your primary interest lies in putting up as many barriers to voting as possible. Let’s face it; when turnout is low, Republicans do better, so why wouldn’t the party of “NO!!” want to suppress the vote as much as possible?

Except that’s not how democracy is supposed to work, is it?

I’ve always felt the idea of having a driver’s license AND having to register to vote to be redundant as well as being a needless expense to taxpayers. If you already have a government-issued ID, you’re a person in the eyes of the state…as well as being a legal resident. Why should such a person be forced to jump through yet another hoop in order to vote? Why isn’t the effort to make voting as easy and accessible as possible? Why not doing anything and everything feasible in order to create the highest voter turnout possible…and decrease costs while you’re at it?

Oh, right…because Republicans don’t actually want people to vote.

The argument that “Motor Voter” will put the privacy of Oregonians at risk is a red herring at best and patently ridiculous at worst. The bill contains an opt-out provision; if a citizen truly doesn’t want to be listed on the voting roll, they can request their information be removed. Republican objections are also somewhat disingenuous. Rather than admitting that they feel threatened by legislation designed to increase voter participation, they throw up ridiculous, easily debunked arguments about privacy and whatever thin gruel they manage to cook up. The truth is that if Republicans feel threatened by increased voter participation, that says more about them and their inadequacies than anything. If they came up with policies that voters could support, they wouldn’t be whining about privacy.

“I challenge every other state in this nation to examine their policies and to find ways to ensure there are as few barriers as possible for citizens’ right to vote,” said Brown, a Democrat who took office last month after John Kitzhaber stepped down amid an ethics scandal.

The current legislation, which Brown had pushed for as secretary of state, goes further than a 1993 federal motor voter law that required states to make voter registration available for people getting or renewing a driver’s license.

Under the state law, the Oregon Secretary of State will use the DMV data, which includes information on whether a person is a citizen, to register voters, who would then be sent a postcard with information on how to opt out of registration altogether.

The postcard will also instruct voters on how to choose a political party, and those who do not choose will be registered as unaffiliated under the law.

Oregon has already made voting a simple act which doesn’t even require a citizen to leave their home. All elections here are conducted by mail ballot. A voter receives their ballot in the mail, they fill it out, and they return it the same way they received it. Pretty simple, eh? Too simple for Republicans, who seem to believe that anything which makes voting easier and more accessible is a threat to “privacy,” which should be read as “the fear that increased voter turnout will render them unelectable.”

Oregon consistently has one of the highest voter turnouts in the country. Why wouldn’t you vote if you don’t even have to leave your house to do it? That’s the beauty of the way elections work here in the Beaver State. We don’t have to figure out where our polling place is…because there are none. Why this idea even needs to be considered radical or controversial defies understanding. If simple and easy is bad, then perhaps you need to change the way you look at things, because in most walks of life, simple and easy are very good things.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on March 19, 2015 7:03 AM.

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