Voting Rights Roundup: Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. Here's how to register
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Leading Off ● Voter Registration: Election Day is swiftly approaching, and Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. Consequently, it's a great time to double-check your voter registration online to make sure you're on the rolls, as well as a timely oppoVoting Rights Roundup: Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. Here's how to register
Leading Off ● Voter Registration: Election Day is swiftly approaching, and Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. Consequently, it's a great time to double-check your voter registration online to make sure you're on the rolls, as well as a timely opportunity to encourage your peers to do the same, and to register if they haven't. Each state has its own laws governing registration, and deadlines are coming up soon in many of them. Organizations like Rock the Vote provide online information and forms specific to each state, but you should also check with your state’s secretary of state or elections board website to review its particular registration rules and double-check to make sure you're still registered. Campaign Action As we wrote in a previous Roundup regarding the history and origins of voter suppression in America, voter registration itself first came about in Northern cities the mid-1800s as a way to suppress the votes of Catholic immigrants and the working class, and the relative ease of voter registration today is a significant factor affecting turnout. Even today, many states still have specific barriers to the ballot, such as Florida’s disenfranchisement of those with felony convictions for life, or Michigan’s penalization of college students by forcing voters to register at the address on their driver's license and requiring those who register by mail to vote in person the first time. However, not every state makes registration a pain, and North Dakota doesn’t even have it at all, only requiring that voters legally swear they’re eligible and prove their residency. Furthermore, many states have recently enacted policies to make voter registration less of a burden, and as the map at the top of this post displays, 11 states and Washington, D.C., have passed measures to automatically register eligible voters who interact with certain government agencies, such as driver's license offices, unless they opt out. Additionally, Michigan and Nevada are both voting on ballot initiatives that would enact automatic registration if they pass. Most states still put the burden on voters to register instead of allowing the government to do it for them, but 37 states now allow voters to register online. Furthermore, 18 states and D.C. let voters cast a ballot at the same time as they register, although Maryland and North Carolina only allow it during the early voting period. However, Marylanders will vote on a state constitutional amendment in November that would enable voters to register on Election Day itself. So go make sure you, your family, and your friends are registered to vote. And hopefully, more states will pass measures like the ones noted above to make the registration process as simple as possible and encourage citizens to do their civic duty and vote. Read more