Voter Registration

I’m from Ohio and remember all too well Ken Blackwell’s voter suppression shenanigans from the 2004 election. He did a lot of stuff, some of it worse than others and some of it just stupid. His nonsense about trying to ignore voter registration cards because they weren’t printed on 80lbs cardstock was absurd then as what Ohio’s current secretary of state is up to. She’s disqualified about a thousand McCain printed voter registration cards because people didn’t check the box that says, “I would like to register to vote.” That’s just silly. It’s clear they intended to register. This is an awful reason to disenfranchise someone. Not as bad as the foreclosure thing in Michigan, perhaps, but not something I want my state engaging in, either.

We should not be in the business of trying to disqualify legitimate voters. People voting twice or more, dead people voting: fine. But that wasn’t Blackwell was after, and that isn’t what’s going on now. Just because a group of voters is less likely to back your pick doesn’t mean you should try and prevent people who have a legitimate reason to vote from voting.

Beyond that, why do people have to register to vote anyways? It’s always baffled me that there are so many things we could do to encourage and increase voter turnout – moving the day to a weekend instead of Tuesdays, making registering easier. The BMV has a huge list of state residents and they know how old they all are. You have to have a driver’s license in the United States today, or if not, at least a valid state ID (also issued by the BMV). Why don’t we simply register people to vote when they turn eighteen? The only objection I can think of is that people often move and don’t update their driver’s licenses. That seems like a fairly minor objection to me, however.

So: is there any legitimate objection to automatic once-you’re-eighteen voter registration?