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| Bipartisan plan would end ACORN electioneering |
| 2009-09-02 |
| Two frequent political rivals are joining forces to pursue radical changes to the nation's voter-registration system, a bid aimed in part at eliminating massive voter drives by groups such as ACORN that last year saw people fraudulently registering under the names of cartoon characters and sports figures. The two prominent election lawyers - who advised Sens. John Kerry and John McCain during their respective presidential campaigns - want states to place the name of every eligible citizen on the voter rolls, rather than having people affirmatively register to vote, as they do now. Another key objective: to modernize the registration process so it no longer depends so heavily on postcards and paper forms, said officials at the Pew Center on the States, a nonpartisan group that is backing the effort. Marc Elias, who served as Mr. Kerry's lawyer, said there is at least one point on which campaign specialists from both parties can agree: "There ought to be a better way to do this." Mr. Elias said he became convinced the registration process needed an overhaul while he was representing Al Franken during his protracted legal effort to be declared the victor in the 2008 Senate race in Minnesota. The court, he said, waded through more than 18,000 documents, often with the goal of gleaning whether someone who cast a ballot was properly registered. As the case evolved, Mr. Elias said, lawyers on both sides found a rare sliver of common ground in their shared frustration with the voter-registration system. Trevor Potter said his frustration with the registration system blossomed while he represented Mr. McCain during the 2008 election. While Republicans raised vocal concerns about the potential for voter fraud during the final weeks of the campaign, he said his worries had less to do with fraud. When the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) hired volunteers to fan out with clipboards and then flooded elections officials with registration forms as Election Day approached, Mr. Potter said he worried it would result in the election system being overwhelmed. That, he said, could have led to the vast use of provisional ballots, or to scenarios where elections officials simply allowed people to vote without having had time to verify that they were officially registered. Worse still, he said, was that it was later determined that only about one-third of the late registration forms submitted were from legitimate, new voters. "I want to be clear, I do not have a vendetta against ACORN," Mr. Potter said. His beef, he said, is with a registration process that feels like something "left over from the horse and buggy days." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 the distressing issue is how 50+% of our populace pays basically no Fed income tax now. They have no "skin in the game" and remain beneficiaries of the killing the golden goose attitude that the Donks have specialized in as a party platform. Until punitive tax policies hit home with them, it's all "get the rich!". Pretty soon there'll be no rich. Who'da thunk that Ten Years After would be economic geniuses? (ed: anyone who listened) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-02 21:23 |
| #7 IMHO there are just some people who should be allowed to vote. For instance if I am on welfare why would I not vote for more benitifts or to recieve them longer? If I am a criminal I would vote for lighter sentencing. If I were king there would be a civics test (IN ENGLISH) that citizen would be required to take before voting. 10 really easy questions, such as "What are the houses of Congress" or "Who was the first President" or "What is income tax and who pays it". Can't pass the test? you no vote! And you can re-apply eash year. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-09-02 21:17 |
| #6 “He said his worries had less to do with fraud…Mr. Potter said he worried it would result in the election system being overwhelmed.” ACORN’s voter rights tactics follow the Cloward-Piven Strategy: ·Register as many democrat voters as possible, legal or otherwise and help them vote, multiple times if possible. ·Overwhelm the system with fraudulent registrations using multiple entries of the same name, names of deceased, random names from the phone book, even contrived names. ·Make the system difficult to police by lobbying for minimal (or NO) identification standards. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-09-02 10:13 |
| #5 We've had positive ID and registration in Georgia for years. The federal gummit has directed that it be discontinued. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-09-02 08:30 |
| #4 CF's got it right. NO automatic registration. Make it strict, with ID, proof of residence and citizenship required. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-09-02 08:21 |
| #3 Where do they get the names of every eligible citizen? How are the rolls kept up-to-date with deaths, in-migration and out-migration from the district? How is a person's citizenship determined? What's to keep ACORN from simply filing thousands of names as being 'residents' of a district (no ID and likely no proof required...) and having them automaticaly registered to vote? A better system would be to require voters to get off their fat asses and physically go to a center (which may be, for example, the DMV) and register (with proof of citizenship AND positive ID) unless they are disabled - in which case a registration employee will come to their home. Also require re-registration every 4 years. Besides if you are too lazy or stupid to get your ass down to a registration center in time then you probably probably shouldn't vote. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-09-02 06:58 |
| #2 want states to place the name of every eligible citizen on the voter rolls, rather than having people affirmatively register to vote, as they do now. That is similar to the system used down under and the problem of voter fraud is just not an issue. However there is a sting in the tail, that being compulsory voting. If you register to vote you must vote, you will be fined if you don't. Kind of concentrates peoples minds and eliminates issues like voter drives. Once you are on the roll, you are on it for life. |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-09-02 02:30 |
| #1 I see the hand of the Clinton mob in this. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-02 00:33 |