Voter Registration Backlash

Are you in trouble for registering someone to vote? Politicians, we can’t live with them or without them. Every now and then, it seems like we might want to try. Incumbent partisan politicians are honked off that so many people and groups are working on voter registration, so they are tightening the rules. Now this is just plain dumb. It is so difficult to get people registered and keep them motivated to participate in the first place – why would any decent citizen do anything to discourage civic participation? The politicians claim they want to protect the precious system from fraud. So they have passed laws in a few states, like Ohio, to make it a penalty if you fail to immediately hand in a voter registration form to the board of elections or the Secretary of State. The law is being challenged in court as it should. It is a typical case of political overkill. This kind of overkill is happening all over the country. In Florida, politicians and business interest groups are trying to take away the right to pass a constitutional amendment by a simple majority vote. They want to force the people into a 60% vote to amend their constitution. There are campaign finance laws going up all over the nation that severely impact the rights of people to free speech and participation. All these kinds of laws claim the same noble purpose “to protect the system” but in reality we have to ask if they really exist to protect incumbents from facing the voters on fair ground. When politicians start talking about reform – look out for your rights.