Just before Election Day 2008, I wrote this Slate piece calling for universal registration, in which the government proactively registers all people to vote. Pointing to the ACORN controversy and perennial disputes and litigation over registration issues, I said: “The solution is to take the job of voter registration for federal elections out of the hands of third parties (and out of the hands of the counties and states) and give it to the federal government. The Constitution grants Congress wide authority over congressional elections. The next president should propose legislation to have the Census Bureau, when it conducts the 2010 census, also register all eligible voters who wish to be registered for future federal elections. High-school seniors could be signed up as well so that they would be registered to vote on their 18th birthday. When people submit change-of-address cards to the post office, election officials would also change their registration information.”
Fairvote has been interested in universal voter registration, but it is a tough sell nationally, likely to invite opposition from state and local election officials who would not want to lose power, as well as some Republicans (though I proposed in 2005 that universal voter registration be coupled with a national voter identification system, which could attract some Republican support).
It is clear that universal voter registration on a national scale is not coming. But what is going to be on the national agenda very soon is “voter registration modernization” (“VRM”), which is essentially universal voter registration on the state level. The Brennan Center has been working on this effort, apparently in coordination with Senator Schumer’s office (he is the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee). The details are not clear yet–there’s no legislation circulating. At the ACS panel I chaired on the topic of universal voter registration (video not yet available), Susan Liss of the Brennan Center gave just a few details (one of which is apparently no plan for interoperability of voter registration between states—this is a big deal). Nina Perales on the panel also brought up some very tricky citizenship issues that need to be addressed.
While the details are not known, the Brennan Center is putting out a load of stuff on this in anticipation of the impending legislation.
One thing to watch is if this effort will be bipartisan or not. As I’ve noted, good proposals like The Democracy Index thus far have only gained the support of Democratic sponsors in Congress. There’s a lot to entice Republicans about on VRM: limiting the role of third party voter registration groups, fixing our embarrassingly bad system for allowing military and other overseas voters to vote, using a federal rather than national model, etc.
I will be watching this issue closely as it develops.