SENATE BILL: Deregistration Amendment (AFV)

[homelycooking]

Yes, it's quite simple. The "purpose of determining citizens' eligibility for deregistration" is very limited - meaning only that one can't be deregistered (by me, the RG) in whole or in part because one has missed a referendum election.

However, I believe that since a referendum is preceded and followed by federal Senate and/or Presidential elections, we are really setting a very low standard for citizen participation. Ideally, citizens should be required to vote in every (or almost every) election or expect to be deregistered. If they'd like to become active citizens again once their registrations have lapsed, they should be welcomed back into the fold and encouraged to reregister without delay or penalty, as they are now. But this bill is an attempt to accommodate the concerns raised by those who believe that referenda do not yet have the visibility or importance to warrant mandating citizen participation in them.

[homelycooking]

I support Talleyrand's proposed constitutional amendment, and agree entirely with his rationale. But the entire reason for this bill's introduction in the first place was to propose to redress a grievance regarding deregistrations after referenda, which came with the attached threat of litigation. Seeing that several Senators have expressed their support for this introduced bill, I suppose that the two should be considered separately.

For the record, I do not support this bill. I merely proposed it to NCYankee as a way to make amends for perceived wrongs perpetrated by my office.