"That would be a welcome change from past practices that discouraged the youth vote."
Some challenges young people face when registering to vote or voting at the polls include proof of citizenship and voter identification requirements. Both were sold to lawmakers and the public as ways to stop so-called "voter fraud," a crime that rarely occurs. Government records show that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005. That is out of 214 million ballots cast for elections to federal office in the same period. The bigger loss of valid votes is among young people, four million of which do not have valid proof of identity that includes current address in order to cast a ballot, according to a 2006 study by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. And despite proof that voter fraud is virtually non-existent, voter ID bills were pushed in 20 states this legislative session. Currently, three voter ID proposals have made significant progress in the legislatures, including two Kansas bills (SB 169 and HB 2019) and Oklahoma's H 2956, which made headlines this week after passing the House.
The study also found that about 13 million individuals do not have ready access to documentary proof of citizenship, a voter registration requirement that lawmakers pushed in 18 states this year. Currently, Missouri's House Bill 1317 is moving in the legislature. Progress of this bill may be monitored at Project Vote's bill tracking Web site, ElectionLegislation.org (registration required).
Other historically disenfranchised groups would benefit from the acknowledgment of today's "highly mobile society," include low income and minority voters. With such intense voter engagement occurring across the board - the sign of a healthy and vibrant democracy - it is worrisome that partisan activists and lawmakers in state legislatures would pursue policies and laws that institutionalize aggressive voter roll purges, and restrictive proof of residency, identity, and citizenship requirements. Most of these restrictions are expressly designed to perpetuate the imbalance of the electorate under the seemingly innocuous guise of protecting "election integrity."
"Voting in America is not restricted to taxpayers or property owners," Krislov said. "And in our highly mobile society, millions of voters do not live where they grew up. Denying such people the right to vote, which even the homeless are guaranteed, would be unthinkable."
Quick Links:
Oklahoma House of Representatives and SenateKansas House of Representatives and Senate
In Other News:
How Republicans Quietly Hijacked the Justice Department to Swing Elections: The GOP may have committed massive vote fraud in plain sight by encouraging widespread voter purges and restricting registration campaigns - AlterNet
States Failing to Implement Critical Voting Rights Laws - OMB Watch
Advocate group: Florida voter registration not adequate - Bay News 9
House OKs voter identification measure - Associated Press
Voter ID Apparently Dead for 2008 - Associated Press
Erin Ferns is a Research and Policy Analyst with Project Vote's Strategic Writing and Research Department (SWORD).
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