Universal Voter Registration, As you may have listened, Hillary Clinton is now leaning into the constantly simmering fight over voting. Her Democratic allies are preparing to wage a national fight in court against GOP state-level voting restrictions, and she is calling for a national 20-day early voting period.
Yet, now, Clinton is rolling out another proposal in her push for an expansion of voting access: In a speech in Texas that is in progress at this moment, she is calling for universal, programmed voter registration.
Programmed voter registration for citizens has long been championed by voting reformers as a key piece of modernizing our voting system. Clinton's proposal would require the registration of all citizens in every state when they turn 18 years old, unless they quit. She is also endorsing the general objective of universal registration for those more than 18, without endorsing a specific mechanism to accomplish this. According to the Brennan Center, there are various ways to add individuals to the voter rolls, such as when changes of address are documented. States can also actualize obliged universal registration for individuals of all ages, as Oregon has done. Clinton refered to Oregon as a sample today.
Voting change advocates support universal, programmed registration as an approach to streamline and simplify the registration process, to eliminate matching problems between state databases, decrease the possibility of voter registration extortion, and amplify voter cooperation.
In political terms, Clinton's call for universal voting registration appears to be an offer to empower millennial voters. As it is, the more extensive voting access push — like her late moves leftward on movement, environmental change, and sentencing change — is halfway about mobilizing center Obama coalition groups, including minorities. Today's proposal is all the more vigorously focused on the youthful. Truth be told, one of the key unknowns of the cycle is whether Clinton will have the capacity to turn out Obama voters on the same levels he did, and youthful voters — who were energized by the historical way of Obama's appointment — are critical to that.
"There's a decent strategy reason why Clinton may support universal voting, but at the same time there's a decent political reason," Rick Hasen, a voting law master, tells me. "These are issues that inspire the Democratic base. Talking about Republicans suppressing the vote gets Democrats energized, just like talking about voter extortion motivates Republicans."
Indeed, Clinton's proposal today seems liable to draw opposition from conservatives and Republicans. First and foremost, they would presumably seize on the opportunity to assault her for favoring another government command and elected infringement on states, furthermore to contend that legislature commanded registration could deliver other types of extortion. The Clinton camp will most likely attempt to pitch this proposal — and her push for all the more voting access all in all — in a manner that rebuffs GOP efforts to turn independents against it, casting it as key to maintaining the integrity of the process.
For another thing, as Hasen has noted elsewhere, the fight over voting access revolves around a much more profound dispute, in which some opponents of increased access have unequivocally contended that making voting harder really leads to less voter extortion as well as to more informed choices.
"There are two ways of thinking about voting," Hasen tells me. "The first, which is associated with conservatives, is that voting is about choosing the best applicant. In the event that you take that view, you may need restrictions that winnow out uninterested or uneducated voters. Democrats and liberals are more inclined to take the second view — that we should all have an easy approach to vote and share in political force."
That seems like a contention the Clinton crusade may
Yet, now, Clinton is rolling out another proposal in her push for an expansion of voting access: In a speech in Texas that is in progress at this moment, she is calling for universal, programmed voter registration.
Programmed voter registration for citizens has long been championed by voting reformers as a key piece of modernizing our voting system. Clinton's proposal would require the registration of all citizens in every state when they turn 18 years old, unless they quit. She is also endorsing the general objective of universal registration for those more than 18, without endorsing a specific mechanism to accomplish this. According to the Brennan Center, there are various ways to add individuals to the voter rolls, such as when changes of address are documented. States can also actualize obliged universal registration for individuals of all ages, as Oregon has done. Clinton refered to Oregon as a sample today.
Voting change advocates support universal, programmed registration as an approach to streamline and simplify the registration process, to eliminate matching problems between state databases, decrease the possibility of voter registration extortion, and amplify voter cooperation.
In political terms, Clinton's call for universal voting registration appears to be an offer to empower millennial voters. As it is, the more extensive voting access push — like her late moves leftward on movement, environmental change, and sentencing change — is halfway about mobilizing center Obama coalition groups, including minorities. Today's proposal is all the more vigorously focused on the youthful. Truth be told, one of the key unknowns of the cycle is whether Clinton will have the capacity to turn out Obama voters on the same levels he did, and youthful voters — who were energized by the historical way of Obama's appointment — are critical to that.
"There's a decent strategy reason why Clinton may support universal voting, but at the same time there's a decent political reason," Rick Hasen, a voting law master, tells me. "These are issues that inspire the Democratic base. Talking about Republicans suppressing the vote gets Democrats energized, just like talking about voter extortion motivates Republicans."
Indeed, Clinton's proposal today seems liable to draw opposition from conservatives and Republicans. First and foremost, they would presumably seize on the opportunity to assault her for favoring another government command and elected infringement on states, furthermore to contend that legislature commanded registration could deliver other types of extortion. The Clinton camp will most likely attempt to pitch this proposal — and her push for all the more voting access all in all — in a manner that rebuffs GOP efforts to turn independents against it, casting it as key to maintaining the integrity of the process.
For another thing, as Hasen has noted elsewhere, the fight over voting access revolves around a much more profound dispute, in which some opponents of increased access have unequivocally contended that making voting harder really leads to less voter extortion as well as to more informed choices.
"There are two ways of thinking about voting," Hasen tells me. "The first, which is associated with conservatives, is that voting is about choosing the best applicant. In the event that you take that view, you may need restrictions that winnow out uninterested or uneducated voters. Democrats and liberals are more inclined to take the second view — that we should all have an easy approach to vote and share in political force."
That seems like a contention the Clinton crusade may
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