by jhwygirl
Rep. Ted Washburn of Bozeman has proposed to eliminate same-day voter registration. Under the provisions of HB88, registration would close 30 days before an election, and the Friday before a school election.
Why, pray tell, do school elections get those extra days and regular elections don’t?
A hearing is set for HB88 before the House State Administration committee on Tuesday the 13th.
Why is it important to maintain same-day registration? Promotion of the democratic process is one excellent reason. All citizens should want to include as many people as possible in the public process. In 2008 more than 10,000 Montanans took advantage of same-day registration. 10,000. Why would anyone want to discourage that many people from voting. Consider this, from Forward Montana:
Many voters have to turn to Election Day Registration because of no other options. Federal law requires that state agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles offer voter registration to citizens, but these forms don’t always get routed correctly. Other Montanans register to vote with third-party organizations. Sometimes bad handwriting can lose a form. In these instances, voters would be disenfranchised with no recourse.
What can you do? One easy way to act right now is to sign Forward Montana’s petition.
Secondly, please take a moment – and I rarely directly ask ya’all to do something like this – to forward a link of this blog post to 2 or 3 (or 5) people that you know. Ask them to do the same.
Finally, email Rep. Dennis Himmelberger, who is the Chair of the State Administration committee (dhimme1045@aol.com) along with Rep. Ted Washburn (ted@tedwashburn.com) and staffer Sheri Heffelfinger, (sheffelfinger@mt.gov). Ask that your comments be entered into the record of public comment. Missoula Representatives Betsy Hands and Sue Malek are on the House State Administration committee – the committee which is hearing HB88. Rep. Malek, though, does not have an email address posted. A list of all House committee members is here, while you can access information on all legislators here.
Let’s not close out this legislative session by reducing voter opportunity for Montanans.
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Recent Comments
Big Swede on Whose Economy??? Lizard on Whose Economy??? Anon on Whose Economy??? Anon on Whose Economy??? lewis kelley on Whose Economy???
January 11, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Of the 365 days in a year (less weekends of course) why is election day the only day that people seem to find the time to register?
January 12, 2009 at 3:42 am
“Why, pray tell, do school elections get those extra days and regular elections don’t?”
Out of state college students don’t care about local school elections.
January 12, 2009 at 7:28 am
1% of the electorate, Rusty. I volunteered for healthcare at the polls that day, and about a half-dozen people came by to vote, believing themselves to have been registered, but due to some sort of error, they weren’t – but they were able to hoof it on down to the courhouse and cast their legitimate vote.
Why – WHY? – do the regressives seem intent on stiffling votes? What legitimate reason do you have? Because what you cite above isn’t legitimate.
January 12, 2009 at 9:09 am
We’re hearing and compiling a ton of stories from voters and election judges of individuals who believed themselves properly registered after mailing in a registration card, going to the DMV, or being registered on the streets. Individuals who believe they are properly registered really shouldn’t be criticized for not trying to register again before Election Day.
As for your question, I’d also say we should think about this differently. Voting is a very, very core right in a democracy. The question isn’t why can’t voters register in advance. The question is why would we make voting more difficult. There may be fair reasons for doing so, but there should be a high burden on proving a need to do it and there’s simply no good reason to do it in Montana. There’s absolutely no evidence of fraud from the late registration system.
January 12, 2009 at 9:09 am
Who gave me that sweet avatar?
January 12, 2009 at 10:29 am
i see repubs fear the new young voters these days….well, they should- and with good reason. 2 to 1 for independent or democrat candidates vs repubs is the reason they would like to supress this particular demographic….no matter what BS reason the repubs give for this – we all know the true reason. and that sort of politics makes my neckhairs bristle….
January 12, 2009 at 12:14 pm
The process that jhwygirl describes would be in place regardless of deadlines; the casting of a provisional ballot based on some problem with registration not the fault of the would be voter.
Let’s reduce the argument to the absurd. Why have any rules about elections? Why have boundaries for…school districts and fire districts and city wards and cities, counties, states or even this country, (the latter seems a lot less absurd these days).
We need to have an orderly election process in which the electorate has confidence. That’s why we have rules. This rules are certain to disenfranchise someone from voting somewhere…right? I know lots of business owners who want to vote in city elections but live in the county. Should they claim residency at their business and vote as if they lived behind the store? City residents, for example vote in city elections. Ward residents vote for within each ward. These rules are to satisfy two things; one person one vote, and that those who are elected from and by those in a particular geographic location. These wards are carefully designated by precinct population to meet one person one vote constitutional requirements. In addition, they have to meet dilution of protected minority requirements as well.
The system should not be gamed. Not by bribes or other inducements, not by loosening the residency rules, not by challenging residency with dubious methods in democratic districts only. Certainly not by shipping voters from one legislative district to another, or allowing voters to claim residency in a district without some kind of positive affirmation. That defeats the one person one vote rule and the (gerrymandering) careful attention paid to redistricting which is constitutional. It dilutes the vote of those who actually do reside within the district.
I’m in favor of mail ballot elections, myself, with provisions for central voting for those who want to vote otherwise on election day. The Oregon model has resulted in greatly increased voter participation, “turnout” if you will. I hope all those who are standing up for increased voter participation agree it’s a good thing. If they’re opposed to this increased voter turnout, then we all would know the true partisan reason as well, and should, again, give us the warning goosebumps against those trying to game the system.
If I were a young person, like my sons, I’d be insulted, as they are, by claims that they lack the responsibility or foresight to go register to vote or investigate in advance the election process and issues. It’s almost ageist, we have to look after those stupid youngsters who are too busy to think about the election except on election day.
January 12, 2009 at 1:11 pm
henry – You are wrong about the provisional ballots. If Ms. X goes to the poll and finds that she is not listed as a voter due to what she believes is an administrative error, under the current law she can go cast her ballot at the courthouse. Under your scenario, she would only have the option of casting a provisional ballot – and if, due to the administrative error, Ms. X was not registered to vote, the provisional ballot would not be entered.
There are any number of reasons how someone could think that they are registered to vote and come to find that they are not – any number of reasons beyond their control, because, ultimately, the registration process relies on humans to enter the data. It also relies, on occasion, for a volunteer (paid or unpaid) to take the registration to the courthouse. Sometimes that does not occur.
Now, say what you want about any of those things, but regardless, the end result of Representative Wasburn’s proposal is that there would be people that could not cast a valid ballot should election day registration be eliminated.
Do I think that people should be registered to vote months, even years, before an election? You betcha. But the vote that is cast by someone who registered on election day is just as valid as my vote, cast by me who registered to vote several years ago.
Your disdain for same-day registration implies that those voters are less worthy – that they don’t deserve to vote because of the date of their registration. By that logic, we’d be weighing votes based on the number of times someone has voted, and newer (younger?) voters votes wouldn’t be worth as much as an older persons.
January 12, 2009 at 5:06 pm
“Your disdain for same-day registration implies that those voters are less worthy – that they don’t deserve to vote because of the date of their registration. By that logic, we’d be weighing votes based on the number of times someone has voted, and newer (younger?) voters votes wouldn’t be worth as much as an older persons.”
Not at all. The whole young/old thing, that’s YOUR spin. I have every confidence in young adults; I know they are quite capable of registering in a timely manner.
I’m talking about restoring faith in elections, something, between the Governor’s bragging about interfering with elections and other manipulations such as “actions” to engineer the crossing of geographical lines to vote in other precincts, I don’t have anymore.
The administrative error is what is fixed with a provisional ballot. It’s the person’s own error that is fixed by current law; they just go down to the courthouse and register again. That would change; in other words, those postcards we pay for the Clerk and Recorder to mail out would mean something.
Like I said, why have any rules, because each rule is sure to disenfranchise somebody.
January 12, 2009 at 8:42 pm
So henry? What’s wrong with a rule that says people can register on election day?
I still dispute your claim that provisional ballots fix all administrative errors. Ms. X registers with a volunteer collecting signatures on campus. Said volunteer never hands the ballots in – volunteer loses them, volunteer simply forgets the 5 he collected from Comp I class – so Ms. X never gets registered despite her best efforts. Provisional ballots don’t work for her.
Ms. X registers to vote online through one of many websites. Only, said website’s server crashes. Ms. X doesn’t know that, and, again, assumes she’s been registered to vote because she’s filled out forms.
See where I’m going?
But getting back…what is wrong with a rule that allows same-day registration?
January 12, 2009 at 10:32 pm
at LITW rusty brings up a good point – even if this ill-conceived bill were to pass through the house and senate, schweitzer would just veto it so it is probably a waste of everyone’s time. i just have to ask mr washburn et al why continue the mean-spirited politics of division? and then waste our time doing it? it only makes your party look bad again only months after the republicans embarrassed themselves trying to suppress votes during the past election and being summarily and quite eloquently rebuffed by judge malloy. seems like the sore you raised with all montanans last fall was beginning to scab over. why pick at it and risk making newer montana voters angry all over again?
January 12, 2009 at 10:50 pm
A reflection on same day registration and who, through my direct experience, it benefits, why it is not a tool that is easily subverted, and why it is not enough to protect this essential right in a participatory democracy. And why efforts to stop same day registration are undemocratic, unpatriotic, unAmerican, and unsupportable.
A young man came to the polls with family in tow. Wife, two kids, two parents, six in all, four registered voters (they assumed). Parents voted, wife voted, kids yelled and young man was held up at the entrance because his name didn’t appear on the list of registered voters for the precinct.
My job for the day was to ask questions and assist poll workers in facilitating the vote of every qualified elector in MT. So I walked over and asked what’s up.
Young man had just returned from Iraq, Baghdad in particular, 23 years old, grew up in Missoula, had registered to vote when he joined the ARMY at 18, had not ever voted in an election. He and his growing family had been moved about the world over the past five years with him ending up in Baghdad for his last tour with his wife moving with the kids back to MSLA to be close to family.
We called MSLA County, and they were responsive and informative (they did well, in my opinion, through the day) but this was a head scratcher. They acknowledged that he had been registered to vote but was removed through “inactivity.” My thought at the time, with no explanation why he was scrubbed from MSLA County and no law that I’m aware of for disenfranchisement for “inactivity,” was he got caught in a 2004 under-the-radar voter caging effort. Pure speculation.
But MSLA County said “no problem, come to the Courthouse and show us some ID and you can register and vote regular today.”
He registered an official complaint and left with his family to go to work. He didn’t vote, as far as I know. Effectively disenfranchised, and he might have voted for McCain. I didn’t ask, of course.
But the procedure for same day registration was available to him, and many others who found themselves possessing valid US and MT citizenship, interested in participating in the democratic process, and unregistered to vote on the day of the election.
Three levels of complaint come from the sponsors of bills such as this, and we know them all by heart. 1) Voter fraud! “We” have been victims of this since the Butte days (though many more of the unknowns that registered and voted on the same day were well paid by the Anaconda Company and voted right in line with the interests of the sponsors of this type of undemocratic legislation, especially if they couldn’t read the ballot); 2) Procedural gridlock! Gridlock! All those students and ne’er do wells thinking they can vote in MT (just because they are citizens of the state by law when they haven’t been here for 4 generations like my family…) will clog up the county system on voting day; and 3) the real reason – if they are motivated to vote late in the election cycle, if they are students, or recent arrivals in MT, if they are nominal citizens by our standards, then we know who they will vote for and we can’t have that.
Same day registration requires all the procedural protections of 30-days prior to election day registration. They still have to show ID. They still have to prove residence. And what more is required by law?
If they register on the same day as voting, incidentally, their name doesn’t show up on a nice list that can be conveniently caged 30 days before a federal election either.
As for provisional ballots – from the Jim Crow days there is a tried and true reliance of vote suppression advocates on disenfranchisement as enough discouragement to prevent the steps needed to get your vote counted if you have to vote provisionally. Do you have time the next day, or within 3 days, to go to the courthouse, tell them you voted provisionally, and provide the necessary ID to validate your legal registration? Who’s votes are discouraged by this? Those that work 2 or 3 jobs and, when it comes to voting in an election, in a political system when you know you are at the bottom of the ladder, and when your vote is one in 100,000 in MSLA county, and when you think your vote has never counted for shit, maybe.
Which begs the question, should the most elemental, the most fundamental right of any citizen of a participatory democracy be made more difficult to exercise through legislation, or should our elected representatives strive to facilitate the vote of every person entitled, through the US Constitution, the Montana Constitution, and every notion of a civilized society governed by the rule of law, to vote?
January 13, 2009 at 8:40 am
Rusty was being cynical, problembear. He’s a Republican.
January 13, 2009 at 9:56 am
Maybe you guys are right. Lets say you’ve been “penned up”, so to speak, and you just got let out. Same day registration, helps those unfortunates.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1217081mugyear20.html
January 13, 2009 at 4:12 pm
i think you mean to say that rusty is extreme right wing republican j-girl, i just like taking every opportunity i can to partisan bash-(pull the pin and throw it back) i love to take every opportunity i can to shine a light on the way extremist republicans look when they try to supress votes.
i am actually quite delighted that they don’t have more political sense than they have shown so far. talk about rubbing salt in the wound with montanans. we can always count on rusty and the extreme right wing of the republican party to continue to look mean-spirited and anti-freedom and that can only drive more voters to indy or demo. bad behavior on their part is good news for us.
January 13, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Okay, you got your issues, I got mine. Bottom line, the legislature should meet once every ten years.
Here’s another example:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/01/13/news/state/24-bridgebill.txt
I lost the tutorial about links.
“He’s writing an amendment so his clients win”.
January 14, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Goof, this (if I do the WordPress trickery right):
Will give you this: Group wants to change bridge bill
Or to put it generically:
January 14, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Always a gotcha–ignore the [blockquote] tags.
The WordPress interpreter wants to do the source code examples single line instead of wrapping them and inserting them in a blockquote.
And you can ignore the rel=”nofollow” part of the url. I didn’t put them there, the HTML interpreter did.
January 14, 2009 at 4:00 pm
If you are going to blockquote, use .
darn..that isn’t working…..use the “less than” and “greater than” signs.