Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate a Republican wants online voter registration — and initiated a project to try it out. In the meantime Iowa Senate Democrats passed a bill on straight party lines out of that chamber this week. Its prospects in the Iowa House are uncertain but unlikely. KCCI TV news reports:
The legislation would allow a person to register to vote online through the secretary of state’s website if the person has an Iowa driver’s license number, a state-issued identification card number or a Social Security number.
So we have a key Republican wanting to make voter registration involve as minimal an effort as possible. How this is important to good government to anyone with any serious civic mindedness as opposed to whimsy escapes us . Iowa already has election day voter registration. So if one has any intention of voting one just shows up and votes. Online registration adds nothing to turn out as if that was a proper thing for Secretary of State to pursue as opposed to concentrating on the integrity of the vote. Why is requiring some minimal volition for registering and voting inimical to good government? It is not. Just the opposite. By the way, back not too long ago, when voter registration was straight forward enough . . . ten days before the election, and absentee voting was restricted to “good reason” infirmity and being out of the area . . . voting turnout was higher.
The only thing worse than effortless registration to sentient elections is mandatory voting, as that requires even those with no opinions to vote or who would otherwise have the discretion not to vote, to vote. Thus Obamacrats favor it.
George Will has a pretty good article critiquing Obama’s thoughts of its coolness.
These posters say enough for us:
now, isn’t that just ducky! a “key” GOP wants “minimal” voting regulation. where was he when the GOP pushed so hard 4 UNNECESSARY ADDITIONAL voter ID and no more church buses to the voting booth? what a joke!