Perhaps I should start a series on things Republicans are afraid of and shouldn’t be. If I did, it would be appropriate to start with voter registration, specifically online voter registration. I briefly mentioned it in this post about the most recent meeting of the Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee but didn’t follow up on it.
The resolution stating opposition to online voter registration passed overwhelmingly. I was very disappointed to hear from the chair of the Ballot Security committee, Alan Vera, that Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Mike Sullivan was not only in favor of the resolution but helped draft it. I’m guessing that comes as a surprise to Sullivan’s new friends on the left as well. Oh well.
Fortunately, there are a few reasonable Republicans left in the Texas legislature. A few of them have signed on to push legislation to make online voter registration a reality with a new group called, appropriately, Texans For Online Voter Registration.
- Rep. Patricia Harless (R – Harris)
- Rep. Geanie Morrison (R – Harris)
- Rep. Lyle Larson (R – Bexar)
- Rep. Kyle Kacal (R – Brazos, Falls, Limestone, McLennan, & Robertson)
- Rep. Gilbert Peña (R – Harris)
- Rep. Phil Stephenson (R – Fort Ben, Jackson, & Wharton)
- Rep. James White (R – Hardin, Jasper, Newton, Polk, & Tyler)
- Rep. John Zerwas (R – Fort Bend)
Kudos to these Republicans for not being afraid of making it easier for Texans to register to vote. They are going to be attacked viciously for their stance.
But it isn’t only about making it easier to register. It is also about conservative yardsticks such as lower cost, higher accuracy, and higher efficiency. And yes, even more security. After all, which one of these methods of registering has the lowest chance of someone stealing your identity? You, entering your own data over a secure network connection OR you filling out a card with your information on it and giving it to someone else, who, after copying your data for their own use, must then turn it over to the government, and then a clerk has your information and has to input it into a computer. I think I’ll take option one, thank you very much.
I have my doubts about this issue passing the Texas Senate, a place where Republicans seem to be afraid of anything and everything except giving crazy folks the opportunity to carry pistolas on their hips.
I don’t understand why, in a state where people are clearly more conservative than not, Republicans are afraid of expanding their voter base. The more people that we register, the more opportunity we have to spread the conservative message.
Right?
Speaking as a strongly conservative voter I have absolutely no problem with online voter registration – as long as it requires voters to provide proof of residency and citizenship. Granted that we do a poor enough job of that now, but I see no need to do any worse
Now this is an idea we can(or should) all agree on.
What a wonderful idea, let’s make it easier for illegal aliens and other non-citizens to vote, motor voter registration has done the same thing. If you think it doesn’t happen, look at the stats on the number of illegal aliens and other non-citizens who registered to vote through motor voter registration and few years ago when there was close scrutiny of the voter rolls, it turned out that not only weren’t they citizens, but they were in this country illegally. This is an initiative that has had the left salivating for years. David, you talk about lower costs because people can register on-line. How many more people will need to be hired to verify the citizenship of the registrant? You think they’ll do it for free? How about the new systems that will need to be put in place, you think the systems will be free? This is a stupid idea and so is motor voter registration.
I agree with Janet Thomas. This leaves the door wide open for fraudulent voter registration. Given a vote, I’d vote NO!
Please note the caveat in my reply above “as long as it requires voters to provide proof of residency and citizenship”. Realistically I don’t think that can actually happen on-line. I don’t think it’s happening today – even though it should be.
Here’s an experiment about voter roll integrity. Type in the address of you local Post office or PO box store, or a major building, such as where you work, here:
http://www.hctax.net/Voter/Search
Those are illegal registrations. Easily enough to affect a close race. The precinct chairs among you can look at the D/R split. Instructive, no? Some registrations are a decade old.
Making it easier to cheat, when not enough safe guards are in place is a mistake.
And anyhow, the whole voter registration issue a distraction from the fundamental problem that most folks don’t like gov’t or voting.
I’ve always thought registering to vote should be automatic when you apply for a drivers license or state ID. A person has to show up in person with documents proving residency and citizenship.
Our recent efforts to pass Photo I.D. produced great successes and result.ed in huge margins for Republican victories. Now Democrats would like to sabotage that success with online voter registration.
Don,t look online for security, there isn’t any. Identity theft is real.
John Walker